Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Aug 26, 2004, at 9:34 PM, Marc James Small wrote: > Well, I DO understand her chronological filmography: she made TRIUMPH > DES > WILLENS in 1934 and OLYMPIAD in 1936 and, thereafter, made nothing for > the > Nazis While I know you enjoy repeating this over and over, it's simply not true. The proto-Triumph in 1933, Triumph in 1934, Olympiad I and II (finished in 1938, premiered for Hitler's birthday), the stint as a war correspondent in Poland and the film Tiefland (wherein she's accused of selecting Rom from the camps for extras and sending them back to be slaughtered), not completed under the Nazi regime. That's just the filmography. > I am asking those who can show of any support by Riefenstahl for the > Nazi > Party or German Government after 1936 to produce some proof of this. You mean like all the stuff that's been posted? Aside from her film history, we have congratulatory cables at the capitulation of France, letters written to Hitler during his rise to power, relationships with ranking Nazis and Hitler himself, a latent investigation by German authorities into the Tiefland incident and Holocaust denial (ongoing at the time of her death). > Note that Riefenstahl's involvement is quite early, quite brief, and > quite > limited. She deserves evaluation of her entire opera, not just for one > 22-month period during which she made two movies. You're absolutely right, she shouldn't be evaluated solely on Triumph and filming Olympiad. She should also be evaluated on pre-Enabling Act relationships with the Nazi leadership. She should be evaluated on her Nazi rally film that preceded Triumph. She should be evaluated on the additional years spent working with and for the Nazis after filming the Olympiads (that pesky 'editing' thing). She should be evaluated on being a Nazi war correspondent and continuing to make films with them during the war. (And while her role in the selection of the Rom used in Tiefland is unconfirmable, the fact that her extras were sent to the camps after filming is a known fact.) And, though I may be alone here (no), she should absolutely be evaluated on her refusal, over more than a half-century, to repudiate her Nazi propaganda and relationships. Would a "my bad" have been so tough? When we evaluate her entire life and career we discover that your stated "22-month period" was, in fact, only a small portion of her collaboration with Hitler and the Nazi party. Good thing we've got all those other films and incidents to look at, huh? > Marc > > msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 > Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!