Leni Riefenstahl: guilty or not guilty - Article Example

IS LENI RIEFENSTAHL GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY? Introduction The Nazi regime came into power under the leadership of DictatorAdolf Hitler during his 1889 to 1945 rule. Otherwise known as National Socialist German Workers party, the Nazi party was totalitarian, initially established to promote anti-Semitism and German pride was against the Treaty of Versailles that had been put in place to stop the First World War. After it came into power, the Nazi party made big changes in Germany such as banning all political parties, opening concentration camps for political prisoners, overlooking the Treaty of Versailles, and withdrew Germany from membership of the League of Nations. However, the most known acts of the Nazi rule was the execution of approximately six million Jews who were seen as outcasts or political enemies. During this period, many important people emerged trying to save Germany or advocate for human rights where some were punished by Hitler and very few lived beyond the time. This study essay will focus on Leni Riefenstahl as one of the great people of the time and discuss what role she played during the era and what effect they had. In her story, this essay will discuss whether she was guilty of involvement with Nazi propaganda or not. Leni Riefenstahl was born in 1902 in Berlin, where she grew up studying painting, but later went into interpretive dancing as a career. She had not practiced this for long before a knee injury put her out of dancing after which she picked up film directing as her new choice of career. This was successful as she directed popular films with big motion picture studios like Arnold Fanck. One of her earliest feature in movies was in the “Bergfilme” where she acted as a female star and athletics lady. She was becoming popular every day and many Germans liked her films such as the one she directed called the Blue Light in 19321. This film was received by many Germans and among them was Adolf Hitler, who was still rising as a politician at that time. Hitler and Leni Riefenstahl had the love for art as a common thing. Hitler himself was used to saying that he had artistic ambitions while Leni Riefenstahl was attracted to Hitler’s ability to effectively communicate with masses of people. From this point in time, Hitler and Leni Riefenstahl began working together2. Similar to other artists, Leni Riefenstahl’s artistic career was controlled by the Nazi Regime. After his ascension to power, Hitler’s ideologies were spread everywhere and artists were expected to base their productions on them. In his claims of being excellent with art, Hitler stated that art was in two segments; Un-German, or For-German. “Un-German” art was that which was pure art and had nothing to do with the “good” of the Nazi ideologies and Germany as a whole. The power to control artists was handed to him by the March 1933 Enabling Act, and through it, he could enforce whatever Nazi ideologies he wished into the artists’ world, whether it was painting, drawing, dancing, performing arts, or architecture. In his abuse of the Act, Hitler directed that artists were to be “politically reliable”. This elaborated, Hitler meant that all art should praise him, and if one failed to apply this in their art, they would be denied the right to conduct their activities in Nazi Germany. This twist of events expelled many artists from Germany, but Leni Riefenstahl did not seem affected. The lives of artists were further made worse when Hitler displayed what he termed as “degenerate art”, which was a display set up in Munich in 1936 to act as a guide of telling artists what was acceptable and what was rejected. In concealing his agenda, Hitler hosted hundreds of art competitions and offered cash prizes to those who presented works with strong Nazi and German ideologies. Leni Riefenstahl was not spared either. Rather, Hitler tried to keep her as a friend of his Nazi party because he liked her way of applying aesthetics in film to direct motion pictures. His idea was to use her unique abilities of reaching the audience to spread his rule all over Germany and the world. Her tools of work included cameras and motion picture video captures unique in that she used to track rails and cranes to get amazing shots which were unique at that time. Amongst her first works for the Nazi regime was the Victory of Faith film, which she shot at a party rally in Nuremberg. Her work impressed Hitler, who offered her a large reward which she was hesitant in taking. She, however accepted his offer of providing her with full license to run her motion pictures and unlimited resources to foster her work. It is unclear whether the offers were responsible for her success which followed such as the shooting of Olympia which captured the Berlin Summer Olympic Games of 1936 which earned her several awards and global recognition3. However, her later relationships with the Nazi party were not as she expected, especially after witnessing the brutality and attacks of the British troops whom she accompanied at times. She was as confident as to approach Hitler and request him to end the brutality of his army, and from there, her association with the Nazis began fading. Leni Riefenstahl was different from the other artists in that one, in terms of her productions; she was unique after introducing new styles of shooting motion pictures and photographs. Second, her motion pictures and other productions were not banned and did not contradict the Nazi ideologies at any one point. In fact, Hitler liked her films, leading to his idea of using her as an influence to boost her political career in which she was seen accompanying German troops on their war voyages. No other artist was recorded in the Nazi regime following the troops. In addition, she was offered unlimited resources to further her artistic skills and received a different reward from what the other artists received. Third, she did not move from Germany when the other artists were escaping from Hitler’s implementation of the Enabling Act, but chose to keep addressing the Nazi’s praising campaigns. Finally, she was the only artist known to have approached Hitler and expressed concerns over the extension brutalities that the Jews were being subjected to by the German troops. There is controversy surrounding her role in the Nazi’s actions which remain a wonder even in the modern world. One side of the controversy asks whether she was an advocate of the Nazi’s agenda and propaganda which include the genocide of the Jews. The second side of the debate questions whether she was anti-Nazi, using her influence only because Hitler was a dictator and she was an artist who had to act as per the ruler’s directions which covered all artists. One act that proves that she was not for the Nazi’s cruelty was observed when she accompanied German troops to Konskie where she witnessed the shooting of Polish citizens. Feeling this was inhumane she did not film or shoot anything that day, but went to convince Hitler to end the killings. In another event, she tried to separate herself from the Nazis saying that her duty was doing her art but not following orders from the authorities. However, the biggest piece of evidence was observed in her direction and shooting of the film Tiefland4 which was an anti-Nazi production and that which landed her into trouble with the Hitler administration. She was accused of preaching anti-Nazism and all her film materials were taken from her and she was placed in custody. She was later released and with the war over, changed her career to still life photography. She was a prominent photographer of the Nuba people in Sudan. Later on, she went into underwater cinema and held on to her artistic skills. She died at the age of 101 years in the year 2003. The Nazi pre-World War II era did not uphold of the women’s equality to the man. Rather, she was given the mandate of managing domestic affairs such as taking care of the children and the house. In short, she was the mother and wife, but not a career woman. Beyond the home, women were allowed minimal trainings but these were still connected to household chores. In complicated matters such as education and politics, the Nazi Regime did not allow women to lecture at universities, become medical professionals or even make any representations in parliament. There were however some exceptional women who prospered like men, but these were not ordinary women; they were women who were very close to Adolf Hitler and through him, they became exceptions. Examples of these women include Hanna Reitsch, Magda Goebbels, and most importantly Leni Riefenstahl. The closeness that these women had with the Nazi ruler as was the case with Magda Goebbels was determined by their status in life or by how much they had excelled in their fields of work. In the case of Leni Riefenstahl, she caught his eye using her excellent skills in film direction and photography and that is how she was treated differently than the normal women. Leni Riefenstahl played important roles in advocating for women’s rights. For instance, she was always at war with the Nazi party’s leaders who would not treat her as they were treating men, and in sticking with the party’s top leader, she influenced the positivity that women could be good leaders as well5. In addition, her success in her career meant a lot of the females because during that era, women were perceived of as inferior and unable to do complex duties. However, by overcoming that thinking, she inspired more women to work harder, and also made some anti-feminists to support feminism. In another area, she used her acting skills to get anything she wanted, including crying to convince someone to allow him some things6. This contributed to the granting of women’s rights in that rather than being looked at as weak or inferior; they were looked at as people who required special treatment, and those who could do anything if given the chance. Leni Riefenstahl might have done some things to prove her innocence, but still, there are some aspects of her association with Hitler that mark her as a propagandist. A propagandist in the Nazi times was someone who had the ability to influence large masses of people into embracing a particular political direction. Propaganda in her works was evident in that first, Hitler became a close friend because they liked each other’s way of influencing masses of people. This led to Hitler taking her up and controlling whatever she had to film, and this was released out to the world. Through her unique skills, Leni Riefenstahl must have influenced by brainwashing large numbers of people. More evidence is found in her film, Triumph of the Will 7which was a recording of a live Nazi event. The film was full of Nazi praises and methods, and it was later revealed that the Hitler government had financed it, in addition to providing all the resources and even commissioning it8. In the modern world, just as was in the ancient (Nazi) days, propaganda is just as bad in that it works by spreading negative messages or rumours about a person or group. It is usually aimed at promoting a political party or person and works to separate people in that some support the propaganda while others oppose it. All in all, propaganda is a negative force even today. Conclusion From the above essay, Leni Riefenstahl’s life in the Nazi administration is enough to highlight the type of life that popular people face during tough times. In this case, Leni Riefenstahl decided to go against the negative thinking that women are weak and rose above men to live with the highest ruler of Germany. Despite her association with Hitler was not clear, she has evidence that she both supported the Nazi ideas, and also that she was against them in some ways. On the question whether she is guilty or innocent, it is still confusing because she did things that were in the party and the people as well. Therefore, it is impossible to tell exactly where somebody would find her guilty or innocent. The true answer to this question is only known to her. Bibliography Butcher, Edmund. "To what extent are the labels of ‘propaganda’ and ‘art’ appropriate in the description of Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph des Willens (1935)?" OOCities.org 2002. Available at http://www.oocities.org/ebutcher1/ [13 April, 2014]. Chesire, Ellen. “Leni Riefenstahl”. Kamera.co.uk. (2000). Available at http://www.kamera.co.uk/features/leniriefenstahl.html [13 April, 2014]. Huener, Jonathan & Nicoosia, Francis. The Arts in Nazi Germany: Continuity, Conformity, Change. Berghahn Books, 2007. Hughes, Matthew, and Chris Mann. Inside Hitlers Germany: Life Under the Third Reich. New York: Chartwell Books, 2010. Leni-Riefenstahl. “Leni Riefenstahl” (2001). 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