EDITORIAL

ON THE LIFE AND WORK OF LENI RIEFENSTAHL

By 

Patrick Zarate

Das Blaue Licht. Net

PAGE 3

The Power of Images

"Well", comes the retort that Riefenstahl "must have been aware" of how artists were being treated, how the Jewish people were having their livelihoods taken away, how some of her own crews were being told they could no longer work given their ancestry. This should have been an indicator to Riefenstahl that "evil" was at work. Her claim to not see the larger picture or of being naive doesn't wash for them.

In the United States during this time period the fact is that persons of the Jewish persuasion were routinely denied jobs, hotel rooms, promotions or ability to marry outside of their persuasion was the order of the day. 

Additionally, the Black race was similarly persecuted, lynched, prohibited from entering "white only" restaurants or bathrooms and certainly dissuaded from taking up a business, land or a white bride. In the American film business, the Black race was not allowed to work, except in roles wherein they were the most ludicrous of stereotypes ( remember Gone With the Wind , circa 1933 ?) , Uncle Toms ( Stepin Fetchit in the Shirley Temple - who was America's most popular actress during this time - film, "The Littlest Rebel"; about those lovable southern slave owners) or Uncle Remus ( Disney and his "Song of the South"). Eventually, Blacks formed their own "separate cinema" , producing films oversees ( the UK had a booming Black film industry during the 1920's and 1930's). 

The Black woman according to 1930's America and Hollywood

American Actors leave for England to obtain non racist roles 

America's beloved "Little Black Sambo" in the 1930's

Lastly, is these facts about American cinema should not be discounted as the most powerful media in the world at that time were movies. The most popular genre for over 30 years was the Western. The depictions of Native Americans continued to perpetuate the racist stereotypes of the "noble savage", "the drunken Indian" or       the "filthy redskins". The definition by appearance of what a  "real Indian" is or looks like is so closely in league with the Nazi vilification of the Jew that it can only be avoided by white Americans.  

Blood Thirsty Savage Indians Can Only Rape and Murder Whites in America's Cinema

So, given that we "honor" American film's past, how do we continue to hold an impossibly hypocritical standard for Riefenstahl ? 

The statements begin to shift at this point, "well,  Riefenstahl should take responsibility because whether she knew that the Holocaust and World War II were coming or not, her films glorified the Nazis". She should be held guilty as being in collusion with the agenda of the Third Reich and instilling hate into the German people towards Jews.

There is no doubt that Triumph des Willens was "used" , very effectively by Goebbles and the Nazi regime. It gave Germany its first real look at the Fuhrer and within her films, Hitler looked like an authority to be reckoned with. Films were the medium of the day. They had a power that is often difficult to gleam sixty years on. 

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