Leni Riefenstahl Summary Part a Summary • Childhood • Helene

Leni Riefenstahl Summary Part A summary • Childhood • Helene Riefenstahl born in Germany in 1902 • Parents: • Mother: Bertha Riefenstahl • Father: Alfred Riefenstahl • Younger brother: Heinz Riefentahl • Father was successful businessman and a ‘conservative elite’ • Upbringing in Weimar Republic (1914-1933) • Middle-class life sheltered from the privation of the post-WWI years of: • Germany’s war reparations due to the Treaty of Versailles (1919) • The hyperinflation of the Mark (1919-1923) • Against her father’s wishes but with the support of her mother, as a young girl she attended the Grimm Reiter School for dancers • Alfred considered dance to be frivolous and when he found out about LR’s attending of dancing classes he threatened to divorce Bertha for her part in it • As punishment, Alfred sent Riefenstahl to boarding school – the Lohmann School in Thale with strict instructions to the Headmistress not to allow her to indulge in any artistic pursuits • These instructions were ignored, and so she continued to nurture her dancing talents • After completing her boarding school education in 1921, Alfred finally relented to LR’s wishes to become a dancer and enrolled her in the Jutta Klamt Dance School • Dancing career • LR performed around Germany in the free-form style of dancing of the Expressionist movement of her context of the Weimar Republic • Her career ended after just one year when she injured her knee when performing in Prague in 1925 • Acting career • Whilst waiting for a train in Berlin for a doctor’s appointment for her knee, she saw a poster advertising Arnold Fanck’s film ‘The Mountain of Destiny’. Fatefully, she missed her train and went straight to the cinema to see it instead. • She then audaciously confronted Fanck asking for a role in his next film, armed with her artistic background, physical attractiveness and her previous performance in the film ‘Ways to Strength and Beauty’ (1925) before her ‘official’ acting career began. This film is not mentioned in her memoirs • Fanck wrote ‘The Holy Mountain written in three days and three nights for Leni Riefenstahl’ for her to take the lead role in • ‘The Holy Mountain’ was a cinematic success and was the first of six bergfilms produced by Fanck in which LR had the lead role • These were successful films because they embodied an authentic Germanism in combining aspects of primitivism, athleticism, the body beautiful and also elements of Expressionism • First romance in 1922 with the Olympic tennis player Otto Froitzheim. LR has since surrounded herself with male admirers for purposes of self-aggrandisement, Fanck included. During the filming of ‘The Holy Mountain’, she became involved with both her co- star Luis Trenker and cameraman Hans Schneeberger. The Jewish banker Harry Sokal was another admirer who provided LR with funding for her artistic pursuits and purchased Fanck’s company in 1925 • LR hoped to star in the ‘The Blue Angel’ with director Josef von Sternberg but he chose Marlene Dietrich for the role instead. Riefenstahl saw competition in Dietrich in the acting industry and she always expressed a disdain for her • Directing career • Began with her first directed film ‘The Blue Light’ (1932) • It was an avant-garde film embracing the experimentalism of her Weimar context and the flourishing Expressionist movement of art • She had a particular type of film made for her called R-stock to enable her to film night-time scenes during the day, and this was pioneering for previously, the filming of night-time scenes was difficult or unrealistic • Movement permeated the film, as opposed to the static filming techniques that had previously dominated cinematography • ‘The Blue Light’ won a silver medal at the Venice Film Festival in 1933 and was also admired by Hitler • LR produced this film during the depth of the Great Depression (1930-40), so did not experience its effects like the rest of Germany • Nazi era and denazification • LR attended a Nazi party rally in Berlin and heard Hitler speak. After being wholly awed by his oratory abilities, she sent him a letter immediately requesting to meet him • Hitler agreed to meet LR. They met at Wilmershaven in 1933. Hitler told LR that she would make films for him when the Nazis come to power. She left with a large bouquet of flowers and pictures of him. This was the start of a friendship that never faltered until Hitler’s death in a bunker • The Nazi party accedes to power in 1933 • LR had increasing ties with the Nazi party after they gained power. Hitler visited her apartment to view her work and she attended Dr Goebbels’ house, though she maintains that she always had a poor relationship with him, in contrast to her relationship with Hitler • LR produced and released her first film with the Nazi Party – Victory of Faith in 1933. This is of the 1933 Nuremberg Rally. It is disappointing because of time constraints and opposition by party officials who had difficulty accepting a women in the role of a filmmaker. The rally itself was the first since the Nazi party came to power, so lacked the organisation and scale of future rallies. • Victory of Faith also contained footage suggesting a close relationship between Hitler and Ernst Rohm, the leader of the SA who was assassinated by the Nazi Party in the Night of the Long Knives (1934). This contradicted later Nazi revisionist historical narrative so the film was suppressed and censored by the Ministry of Propaganda • Triumph of the Will (1934) films the 1934 Nuremburg Rally and released later this year. It was LR’s role to present the image of a militarily strong and united Germany after the turbulence that Germany had been through since the end of WWI, especially with the party’s recent Night of the Long Knives blood purge of its own troops • Triumph of the Will was LR’s masterpiece. All aspects of the film related to its underlying message, of a strong Germany, united by Hitler. It was also entertaining to watch due to the movement that permeated. She created this by using pioneering filming techniques, such as filming panning shots with cameras mounted on tracks. The telephoto lens is also used to make soldiers appear more numerous in long-shots to heighten the grandeur. This is another example of her pioneering cinematography • The editing process of the massive lengths of film shot was an intense 5 months of work. This is due to her meticulousness in creating her masterpiece • Triumph of the Will was widely praised, despite the worsening international reputation of the Nazi regime. It received a Gold Medal at the 1935 Venice Film Festival and a Grand Prix at the 1937 Paris Film Festival. The latter is especially significant for one would expect the French, the main supporters of harsh war reparations after WWI, to be hostile towards a film that extolls German unity and military strength • LR films ‘Day of Freedom’ in 1935. This is a film created out of the footage of the German army which was not included in Triumph of the Will because it was not perceived to be of a high enough quality by LR • LR films the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. She then releases the film of these games in 1938 • Olympia showcased the same artfulness in cinematography that LR had contributed to other films. The diving sequences especially showcased her genius, for they were shot by cameras from different angles of three different speeds so that they could be played in slow motion, and they were even played backwards. An underwater camera was also used, which was the first of its kind ever created • Olympia received an Olympic Gold Medal in 1939 from the International Olympic Committee. It also collected the German National Film Prize (1938) and the Mussolini Cup (1938), but all these are tainted by the political motivations of the authorities that awarded them. It did not receive other international awards due to the growing international condemnation of the Nazi regime • LR is shunned in Hollywood in 1938 due to her involvement with the Nazi party that had by now gained a bad international reputation for their racist and despotic internal policies and their aggressive foreign policies. Both of her major films Triumph of the Will and Olympia were banned from Hollywood. Whilst she was in the US, Kristallnacht in Germany occurred and LR claimed that the news reports were false. This further worsened her reception in the US and the world • Beginning of WWII (1939) • LR goes into the invasion of Poland and witnesses the Kronski massacre of 30 civilians. She is horrified by what she sees so quits her assignment • LR goes back into Poland to film a Nazi victory parade in Warsaw in 1939 upon Germany’s annexing of Poland • 1940: LR begins filming Tiefland. This is to take her 5 years to complete • 1940: France surrenders and LR sends Hitler a congratulatory message of praise • 1944: LR sees Hitler for the last time in his private residence in the Berghof • LR marries in Peter Jacob in 1944 • 1945: release of Tiefland • 1945: end of WWII. LR endures a series of arrests by the American and French forces and she spent four years in a French detention camp • 1945: Her marriage with Peter Jacobs ended in divorce • She suffered a nervous breakdown • LR is officially denazified at the 1949 Nuremberg Trials by a French tribunal. She was declared merely a ‘Nazi sympathiser’ and was exonerated of any war crimes • LR lived in recluse with her mother for 20 years to avoid facing the international condemnation that had accumulated against her • Post-WWII life and career • In the 1960s and 1970s at the

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