Modern History
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MODERN HISTORY CASE STUDY: Leni Riefenstahl “Asses the importance of the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 and Leni Riefenstahl’s film ‘Olympia’ for Nazi propaganda purposes, both nationally and internationally.” When Hitler came to power in 1933, there were fears that he would cancel plans for Germany to host the 1936 Olympics which had already been awarded to Berlin in 1931. It was true that Hitler and many other Nazi officials held the Olympics in low regard, one describing the 1932 Games in Los Angeles as an “infamous festival organized by the Jews”1. However, Hitler soon became a strong supporter after his Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Joseph Göbbels convinced him of the opportunity that the Games presented to show the world a ‘new Germany’2. To the Nazis, the Olympics became the ideal vehicle for propaganda both within Germany and more importantly, internationally. During Nazi Germany a huge emphasis was placed on sport and physical fitness in order to strengthen the Aryan race and unbeknown to the public, prepare German youth for war3. Propaganda in the form of colourful posters and magazine articles were used to promote the Olympics in Germany. In these images “athletic imagery drew a link between Nazi Germany and ancient Greece”4. This symbolised the Nazi ideology of Aryan racial superiority and physical power, with images of athletes possessing well-developed muscles and heroic strength, accompanied by the trademark Aryan features – blue eyes and blonde hair. For the German public, the Olympics was used in propaganda to further enforce the idea of a strong Aryan race. Besides promoting already accepted Nazi ideology to the German people, the Olympics in Berlin had much more significance for Nazi propaganda on the international stage. Germany's Propaganda Ministry also made certain that once foreigners arrived in Berlin; they would not read or hear any news that would cast Germany in a bad light. The Reich Press Chamber under Göbbels authority strictly censored the German press, radio and film industries. In the weeks prior to and during the Summer Olympics, the Chamber issued many orders to German journalists about the language to be used when reporting on the Games. For example in July 1936, reporters were told, “Press coverage should not mention that there are two non-Aryans among the women [on the German team]: Helene Mayer and Gretel Bergmann”. 5 Bergmann competed in high jump but was dropped from the German team just two weeks before the Games. Prior to the Games, reports from Germany had already reached other nations of the Nazi’s racial policies including the announcement of ani-Jewish laws, known as the ‘Nuremburg Laws’, in September 1935. In the lead up to the Olympics in August 1936, reports of Nazi discrimination against Jewish athletes became the central issue in a debate that developed over the United State’s participation in the Games6. The harsh racial policies the Nazis promoted seemed far removed from the Olympic ideals of racial equality and good will. Recognising the importance of the Olympics for portraying Germany as a strong and united nation, in order to encourage the participation of other nations, the Nazis undertook an extensive operation to conceal its racist policies and present a peaceful and tolerant Germany7. Measures included all such notices as ‘Jews not admitted’ were removed from the entrances to hotels and restaurants, the 1 S. D. Bachrach, The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 (United States of America: Little Brown & Co., 2000), p.32 2 ibid, p.32 3 ibid, p.28 4 http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005680 5 Bachrach, op. cit., p.83 6 ibid, p.45 7 http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005680 anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer (The Stormer) could not be purchased in the streets, and other aggressive Nazi propaganda devices such as posters either disappeared or were toned down8. In mid 1934, the Nazi government also attempted to show that German Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and established “Olympic training courses for Jewish athletes”9. These courses were a sham as none of the athletes from these courses would participate on the German Olympic Team, except for the half-Jewish fencer Helene Mayer. However, later that year when President of the American Olympic Committee (AOC), Avery Brundage was given a brief and carefully controlled tour of these facilities by Karl Ritter von Halt of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other Nazi officials, Brundage publicly stated that Jewish athletes were being treated fairly. In September that year, the AOC officially accepted the German Olympic Committee’s invitation to the 1936 Olympics10. Without these acts of disguise of the true nature of Nazi Germany and its racially charged propaganda, there was a very real threat that other nations, primarily America, would boycott the Games. America traditionally sent one of the largest teams to compete, so without their presence in Berlin, the likelihood of other nations supporting their boycott was a chance the Nazis did not want to take. Despite the Olympics giving the Nazis a chance to showcase Germany as a strong and successful nation, Nazi propaganda also took a blow with the participation of African Americans. One of the most well known sporting names that came out of the Berlin Olympics was Jesse Owens, winner of four gold medals; in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4 x 100m relay. Not only did the ‘racially inferior’11 athlete break 11 Olympic records but he also thwarted Nazi ideology of ‘Aryan supremacy’ by defeating German Lutz Lang in a very close long jump final. There were 10 African American members of the American athletics team. Between them they won 7 gold medals, 3 silvers and 3 bronze - more than any national team won in track and field at the Games12. Not only did the Nazi’s employ the Olympic Games as a propaganda tool for their regime but they also viewed Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia as the ideal propaganda film for Germany's national and international reputation. When the IOC approached Riefenstahl, already famous in for her Nazi documentary Triumph of the Will, Hitler was at first against the idea of her directing a documentary of the Berlin Olympics. However just like the Olympics themselves, his mind was soon changed when it was realised that her film could by used to present Germany in a favourable light to the world: as a “modern, unified and peaceful nation”13. In fact, this was the kind of film that Göbbels always wanted, a film that would portray a kind and positive image of the Nazi Party to the people, instead of the more unrelenting and blatant propaganda that can be seen in Triumph of the Will. After its premier on 20 April 1938, Hitler’s forty-ninth birthday, Riefenstahl insisted then and until her death that the film had been commissioned by the IOC and “ultimately had no ideological function”14 for the Nazi Party. However there is serious doubt over this claim as many have seen her celebration of the beauty and grace of the human body as a reinforcement of the ideas of the Nazi party: their concept of the struggle and triumph of the ‘master race’. Her film seems to focus more on the glorification of the Aryan form than on the events themselves15. Not only does Olympia express ‘the cult of the body’ – the Nazis obsession with physical perfection, but it also demonstrates their policy of ‘Strength through Joy’ (Kraft durch Freude) – the Nazi leisure movement, and presents Hitler as a ‘man of the people’. The way in which the German athletes and 8 Z. A. B. Zeman, Nazi Propaganda (United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 1964), p.109 9 Bachrach op. cit., p.47 10 ibid, p.48 11 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/1936_berlin_olympics.htm 12 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/1936_berlin_olympics.htm 13 K. J. Mason, Republic to Reich: A History of Germany 1918-1939 (Australia: MacGraw-Hill Australia, 2007), p.229 14 R. Rother, Leni Riefenstahl: The Seduction of Genius (United Kingdom: Continuum, 2002), p.81 15 Mason, op. cit., p.229 Hitler are presented is used to show both the German public and the world, the strong bond between the Führer and his people16. Riefenstahl’s emphasis on the beauty of the human body also reflects the official Nazi view of art and sculpture. In the beginning of the film, her images of the classic Greek gods and heroes coming to life embody ‘Nazi art’ where images of the perfect human form, derived from those of the ancient world, were used to depict racial perfection and the vision of the master race17. The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary of the event were of great importance for Nazi propaganda both nationally and internationally. They not only gave the German Government an opportunity to deceive the world for a fortnight into believing that Germany was a peaceful and unified nation, with a kind and loving leader; but more importantly, they gave the Nazis the chance to project their racial policies to the German people and international community in ways that would go unnoticed as pure propaganda and thus be accepted by all those that were exposed to it. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Bachrach, Susan D. The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936. United States of America: Little Brown & Co., 2000. Mason, K. J. Republic to Reich: a history of Germany, 1918-1945. Australia: McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd, 2007. Rother, Rainier. Leni Riefenstahl: The Seduction of Genius. United Kingdom: Continuum, 2002 Zeman, Z.