Have you heard of any US release? Given what's going on here, with nightmares suddenly springing to life, it would likely be seen as "problematic." The company that owns "the Apprentice," about how the monster became the monster that he is, is afraid to release it and none of the streamers wanted to even look at it after last November.
Do you know if Riefenstahl crossed paths with Hanna Reitsch another German woman very talented in her field ,aviation ,but swept up in the Nazi era which she made no apologies for .
Did you ever see the 1993 film The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl. Quite a fascinating documentary as I remember it. I’d like to hear how the two documentaries compare. There was also a book Dietrich and Riefenstahl, a dual biography, that was uneven, by Karen Wieland. There were also two other books (probably more I’m sure) by Jürgen Trimborn and Steven Bach that I never read.
Interesting that you mention Speer - one assumes that you mean Gita Sereny when you speak of ‘rehabilitation’.
According to Sereny, having first met - and been impressed by - Speer in 1932, Riefenstahl eventually became friends (never lovers) with him. She vouched for his character and integrity with the Americans, and post-war tried to help him.
Sereny paints Riefenstahl as an unfortunate casualty of the Nazi apparatus. She despised Goebbels, and was never the subject of his voracious sexual activities because he was aware that Hitler liked her.
One hesitates to condemn Riefenstahl, she was a film-maker doing what she loved for her government. EVERY GERMAN was a Nazi in the mid-1930s. Similarly Speer…….who was well aware of the effects of Hitler’s charisma - which he discussed with Dönitz. Both purposefully limited their time in his presence.
I think Speer’s character deserves ‘rehabilitation’ - winners write history, arguably, for what they did to North Korea and MacArthur and Ridgway were greater war criminals, ditto McNamara and Kissinger in terms Laos and Cambodia
[Incidentally, today is the 55th anniversary of the shootings at Ohio State where 4 were killed protesting against US policy in India-China].
A really interesting piece, Katja, as were the comments so far. I can remember watching both Triumph of the Will and Olympia when I was at university in the 70s, and finding them both fascinating and shocking. I also remember quite heated discussions about whether it was possible to make beautiful films about the ugliest of ideas.
The issue about complicity and culpability is interesting as well. A number of artists, most notably Brecht but also several others, were able to flee the Nazi regime and work abroad, but that privilege, or simple good fortune, wasn’t available to everyone. Riefenstahl wasn’t the only one who was compromised. I believe the actor Gustaf Gründgens, famous for his portrayal of Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust, also continued to work under the Nazis. It’s easier, of course, to make our judgments with the benefit of hindsight, isn’t it?
I know very little about her other than the highlights so to speak. I have only seen brief snippets of her most famous works. I have a vague recollection of seeing a photograph of her, an image taken perhaps from a film, of her horrified appearance when she witnessed a mass shooting. Like Speer she cannot have been unaware of the crimes of the Nazi regime. It is disingenuous of her to claim she was a mere filmmaker. Similarly in her role she must have encountered Goebbels, an ardent Nazi. Indeed given his reputation for seducing young actresses I would be very surprised if he had not tried it on with her. I can completely understand why she approached Speer who, in his lifetime, pulled off one of the greatest historical confidence tricks. Whether she liked it or not she was in the service of a wicked regime and she ably aided them. Good read Katja with my Sunday morning coffee.
There is ambiguity about her. If she had moved to Hollywood like Fritz Lang for example, would her talent have been recognised? I've never seen Triumph Of The Will, I shall have to look out for it.
Have you heard of any US release? Given what's going on here, with nightmares suddenly springing to life, it would likely be seen as "problematic." The company that owns "the Apprentice," about how the monster became the monster that he is, is afraid to release it and none of the streamers wanted to even look at it after last November.
Do you know if Riefenstahl crossed paths with Hanna Reitsch another German woman very talented in her field ,aviation ,but swept up in the Nazi era which she made no apologies for .
Did you ever see the 1993 film The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl. Quite a fascinating documentary as I remember it. I’d like to hear how the two documentaries compare. There was also a book Dietrich and Riefenstahl, a dual biography, that was uneven, by Karen Wieland. There were also two other books (probably more I’m sure) by Jürgen Trimborn and Steven Bach that I never read.
Interesting that you mention Speer - one assumes that you mean Gita Sereny when you speak of ‘rehabilitation’.
According to Sereny, having first met - and been impressed by - Speer in 1932, Riefenstahl eventually became friends (never lovers) with him. She vouched for his character and integrity with the Americans, and post-war tried to help him.
Sereny paints Riefenstahl as an unfortunate casualty of the Nazi apparatus. She despised Goebbels, and was never the subject of his voracious sexual activities because he was aware that Hitler liked her.
One hesitates to condemn Riefenstahl, she was a film-maker doing what she loved for her government. EVERY GERMAN was a Nazi in the mid-1930s. Similarly Speer…….who was well aware of the effects of Hitler’s charisma - which he discussed with Dönitz. Both purposefully limited their time in his presence.
I think Speer’s character deserves ‘rehabilitation’ - winners write history, arguably, for what they did to North Korea and MacArthur and Ridgway were greater war criminals, ditto McNamara and Kissinger in terms Laos and Cambodia
[Incidentally, today is the 55th anniversary of the shootings at Ohio State where 4 were killed protesting against US policy in India-China].
A really interesting piece, Katja, as were the comments so far. I can remember watching both Triumph of the Will and Olympia when I was at university in the 70s, and finding them both fascinating and shocking. I also remember quite heated discussions about whether it was possible to make beautiful films about the ugliest of ideas.
The issue about complicity and culpability is interesting as well. A number of artists, most notably Brecht but also several others, were able to flee the Nazi regime and work abroad, but that privilege, or simple good fortune, wasn’t available to everyone. Riefenstahl wasn’t the only one who was compromised. I believe the actor Gustaf Gründgens, famous for his portrayal of Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust, also continued to work under the Nazis. It’s easier, of course, to make our judgments with the benefit of hindsight, isn’t it?
I know very little about her other than the highlights so to speak. I have only seen brief snippets of her most famous works. I have a vague recollection of seeing a photograph of her, an image taken perhaps from a film, of her horrified appearance when she witnessed a mass shooting. Like Speer she cannot have been unaware of the crimes of the Nazi regime. It is disingenuous of her to claim she was a mere filmmaker. Similarly in her role she must have encountered Goebbels, an ardent Nazi. Indeed given his reputation for seducing young actresses I would be very surprised if he had not tried it on with her. I can completely understand why she approached Speer who, in his lifetime, pulled off one of the greatest historical confidence tricks. Whether she liked it or not she was in the service of a wicked regime and she ably aided them. Good read Katja with my Sunday morning coffee.
There is ambiguity about her. If she had moved to Hollywood like Fritz Lang for example, would her talent have been recognised? I've never seen Triumph Of The Will, I shall have to look out for it.
I think she was a fellow traveller. Herbert Von Karajan was in the same position, it didn't seem to harm him so much.