Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well written John, Some people seem to forget that Fr Riefenstahl was a bit of a film star in her own right, before getting into the production and directing of films. This was what brought her into contact with Herr Dr.Geobbels, who was known to be after anything that didn't get up a tree fast enough. He, apparently, introduced her to AH who was impressed with her work and commissioned her to do the 1936 Olympic film. In fact the F?hrer was so impressed that he ordered Dr G. to give her an absolutely free hand in what she did, particularly film sequences with "Non-Arian" athletes. She remained under the protective hand of AH, against the wishes of Goebbels who was the de facto controller of the UFA fim studios at the time, and went through many of the top female stars at the time. If anything could have supported the beginnings of her arrogance, shown by Riefenstahl to her dying day, I think this was the trigger. She was definitely USED by the NsDAP, whether she was an "ARDENT NAZI SUPPORTER" ( grade 2 of the allied classification after WWII) may be doubted. I have always found her, in interviews and press articles , to be the epitome of intolerable arrogance, egocentric , utterly and immediately dislikeable in addition to the other attributes which John so plainly states below. Her photography of the Nubians for "Stern" Magazine (which also published the faked Hitler Diaries - Ha Ha , the initials on the front were A.K and the idiots idn't notice), managed to dig her out of semi-obscurity and put her back in the public eye. She always insisted that she was way above the political aims of the Nazis and was only interested in Art, she never once admitted to being in league with their motives. Her films, when compared with such blatant propaganda as Veit Harlands "J?d S??", are, IMO, works of art, idealising the dreams of what the Nazis wished and dreamed Germany to be, but could never be realised by the horde of corrupt, inept, inadequate and insane leaders holding absolute power over the German people . But since when does advertising give a true view of the actual product ? - do we blame the agency ? Douglas John Collier schrieb: > > 6. So wildly, selfishly ambitious that any concerns but her own > "destined by the the gods" advancement would never even occur to her > let alone seem significant. > > This is ably illustrated by the film Olympia where she worshiped the > body perfect regardless of skin colour or Nazi preferences. In her > mind the Nazi regime is just irrelevant to the preordained rise of her > talent. They served her purpose by enabling her dramatic form of > expression just as the rugged mountains did in her earlier films. She > was no more pro-Nazi than she was pro-mountain. The only thing Leni > was pro was herself. Like Norma Desmond she is vicious and unfeeling > and, most importantly, complete unaware of anything but her own raw > ambition. > > When she said she didn't know, I believe her. What was going on around > her would have seemed just as insignificant to her then as the > questions about it did right to her dying day. > > John Collier > > > On Aug 23, 2004, at 10:50 PM, Peter Klein wrote: > >> You make an interesting point, John. And if the French had only >> listened to Woodrow Wilson instead of sticking it to the Germans at >> Versailles, maybe the whole mess would have been less horrific >> later. Ditto if they'd paid heed to a young Ho Chi Minh. . . >> >> But seriously, I think it is perfectly appropriate to judge Leni >> Riefenstahl, because she became the visual spokesperson for Nazi >> Germany. "Triumph of Will" was not just German nationalism, it was a >> glorification of Nazism itself, and of the sublimation of self to the >> collective "Volk" under the supreme will of the Fuhrer. Meanwhile, >> the persecutions had already begun. Leni's Jewish friends in the >> German cinema were already fleeing. The central place of racism and >> Jew-hatred in Nazi ideology had been apparent from the Party's >> earliest days. And the whiff of conquest and Auchwitz are in the >> lines of "Mein Kampf." >> >> What irks me most about Leni is not just that she made those >> propaganda films. It's that to her dying day, she maintained that >> she did nothing wrong, she knew nothing of the Nazi barbarities, and >> what's all the fuss about, anyway? This tells me that she was (pick >> one or more): >> >> 1. The kind of artist who was a genius in her field, but not >> particularly bright to totally clueless about all else. >> 2. A "compartmentalizer" who blinded herself to all that was going >> on around her save what directly affected her. >> 3. Someone who, like Richard Strauss, thought she could make a deal >> with the devil and come out intact. Unlike Strauss, she lived >> another half-century, and had to create an internal fiction so she >> could live with herself. >> 4. Someone who got caught up in the Wagnerian pageantry of early >> Nazi Germany, and by the time she realized what the inevitable result >> was, it was too late. >> 5. A committed Nazi who knew exactly what she was doing, and has >> lied through her teeth about it forever after. >> >> Personally, I think the answer is some combination of 1-4. I could >> forgive Riefenstahl if she had acknowledged her complicity in evil. >> But she did not. It's telling to compare her with another German who >> turned to work in Africa--Albert Schweitzer. While Schweitzer healed >> the sick in Africa in part to atone for his feeling of collective >> guilt over German militarism, Leni found perfect black African bodies >> to glorify in the same way she had glorified perfect Aryan bodies in >> the 30s. A master stroke, as she could say "See, I'm not a racist" >> while using the same predilections that had served Hitler so well. >> >> --Peter Klein >> Seattle, WA >> >> >> At 09:06 PM 8/23/04 -0700, John Collier wrote: >> >>> The only comment I going to make is that Germany suffered under >>> egregious terms and conditions following the end of WW1*. The economic >>> miracle following the dreadful inflation of the late twenties must have >>> made for very giddy times. It is trite for us pinheads to judge her for >>> what we know now. This does not exonerate her or anyone else but it >>> should make you wonder what you might have done if you had been in her >>> shoes. >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > -- Ihre bevorzugten Shops, hilfreiche Einkaufs-Hilfen und gro?artige Geschenk Ideen. Erleben Sie das Vergn?gen online einzukaufen mit Shop@Netscape! http://shopping.netscape.de/shopping/