D A S B L A U E L I C H T

Das Blaue Licht .Net editor, Patrick Zarate at Leni Riefenstahl burial site, May 2004 [photo by Horst Kettner]

The Associate Press reported on September 9, 2003 "Leni Riefenstahl, the legendary filmmaker reviled and revered for movies she made about Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich, has died one of the last confidantes of the Nazi dictator. She was 101. Riefenstahl died Monday night at her home in the Bavarian lakeside village where she had lived for 20 years, the kind of idyllic setting that reflected the well-groomed aesthetic of her films and art."

Eight months after that terrible news broke, I was able to take Horst Kettner (longtime companion of Leni Riefenstahl) up on his offer to come to see he and Leni one more time.

I took the U-Bahn down to the main train station in Munich, knowing that Horst would be arriving at my hotel to pick me up soon. I managed to get some thoughts out to the young woman at the flower shop as she listened with much patience. An amazing bouquet was carefully designed for me to take to Leni's final resting spot. Precisely at 2:00 pm, Horst called, saying he would be pulling in to the hotel parking lot, preferring not have to get out of the car. I advised him that I would be waiting. The large blue BMW lumbered in as I stood looking up and wondering at the smattering of rain.

We exchanged our pleasantries and began to talk, like old friends having just been here to visit he and Leni in their home only 16 months earlier. As we exited the car in this beautiful cemetery Horst related the activities that led he and Leni to choose this place, truly a beautiful spot with green and trees and privacy. I could see that although not widely publicized, people had found the site, trampling down the perimeter grass with the amount and frequency of their visits. In fact, tragically the "blaue licht" crystal that emblazoned her headstone so dramatically, had been long since chipped out by thieves. Replacing it was a resin version with a note indicating the relative worthlessness of stealing it. Our time there was not rushed and we shared moments and had them individually as well.

We came back into town and Horst invited me to a late lunch in old part of Munich, the Marienplatz. We shared good conversation and laughs and tears. I appreciate the time he has let me in his life and Leni's.

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