Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The lady was and is a superb photographer. She did what was necessary at the time to have her work published. She was never a Nazi, in any regard, though she was a long-time lover of Albrecht Speer, Hitler's architect, and a favorite of Joseph Goebbels. Are we to condemn people because of the regime under which they must work? Let's not jump to any conclusions here -- there are documented US war atrocities in the Second Imbroglio, and I haven't heard a bit of condemnation of, say, Carl Mydans for photographing the war in detail. No, Leni did the best in troubled times. I doubt if any of us would have done much differently, given the tenor of the times in which she worked. Riefenstahl's "Nazi" work was at an early period, before the Camps, before Crystal Night, before the true nature of totalitarian rule was revealed. (A warning to those of us who worry in the night about the 'there oughta be a law' mentality which afflicts the US public: that was precisely how the Nazi's got started.) No, give MS Riefenstahl a rest. She is a magnificent photographer with a magnificent ouevre developed over seventy years of active work. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!