Leni Riefenstahl- Guilty or Innocent? (1 Viewer)

[braindrainedAsh]

I just wondered for those studying Leni if you thought she was guilty or innocent?


I personally think she didn't really intend the films to be so propagandist, and to some extent was naieve about what was going on.... I mean, once she saw what happened in Poland when she went there as a war reporter, she didn't really support the Nasties much after that....

Anyway, what do you think? Let's put our historiographical knowledge to the test!

 

[spin spin sugar]

definitely guilty, i cant fucking stand the woman

 

[s2ophie]

innocent yet fully aware of the propagandal potential of her films!

 

[Loz#1]

Propagandist. She must have realized what was going on, nobody is THAT naive and how did she get into such a high postion in Nazi Germany? If Hitler didn't intend to use her as a propgandist, she would not have had such a high position nor her job.

 

[Benno]

lol my friend at school thinks she slept with the whole 3rd riech to get to where she was lol.

 

[spin spin sugar]

Originally posted by Loz#1
Propagandist. She must have realized what was going on, nobody is THAT naive and how did she get into such a high postion in Nazi Germany? If Hitler didn't intend to use her as a propgandist, she would not have had such a high position nor her job.

thank god someone here has some sense!

 

[1freedom]

Originally posted by Benno
lol my friend at school thinks she slept with the whole 3rd riech to get to where she was lol.

benno remember she only thinks that cause thats wot she would have done if it was her, we all know thats she a LITTLE self centred at times

 

[Benno]

yeah the bitch how dare she beat me in m/h! she didnt even know who won the indochinca war, and thought china was an island!

 

[Kittycat]

Well, Leni is guilty for working for the NAZI but I don't really think she is guilty of any war crimes or .... what the heck! I didn't even study her so I should really shut up

 

[meh]

guilty - no questions

 

[ladypenelope85]

Totally agreeing with aphrodisiacgirl...

She keeps portraying herself as the victim, to try and take the political stain off her work, but when you look at the context - how a woman could get that far in Nazi Germany (not that she slept with Hitler or anything) she must have been something extraordinary for Hitler to choose her over his loyal male filmmakers, and even if she intended to or not, her films portrayed Nazi Germany as an ordered, peaceful place to the rest of the world, with a wonderful leader - stuff we, with our hindsight, admitedly, can see to be blatantly untrue, even if Leni believed it.

 

[leilou70]

Originally posted by ladypenelope85

...she must have been something extraordinary for Hitler to choose her over his loyal male filmmakers...

Hitler was a fan of Leni right from her dancing days wasn't he?

Her films were definately propagandaist - whether she intended them to be or not.

She strongly denies any involvement in nazism. Here's a quote I picked up a while ago that might be useful:
-" I was never anti-semitic and I never joined the nazi party. So what was I guilty of? Tell me that" - Leni Riefenstahl in the Wonderful, horrible life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993)

My personal opinion is that she was aware of what her films were being used for but didn't mind as it gave her prestige and fame.

 

[Insanity540]

Guilty, no question.

Here is something I have copied from a lecture on Leni Riefenstahl:

Hitlers destruction and corruption of the arts was possible only with the active collaboration of not just Party memberssuch as Goebbels, but also of artistsThey were not the political innocents they later claimed to be. They had eyes to see and ears to hear and knew that the Third Reich was an anti-Semitic totalitarian state, and, like thousands of others, they took advantage of that very situation to seek personal benefit. They were not corrupted by Hitler, they were eager volunteers in his cultural design without any regard for the moral consequences. More than anyone else they gave Hitler respectability at home and abroad, creating an aura of civilisation in a society where inhumanity reigned.

....it pretty much speaks for itself....


[REPHRASED]:
Note how evasive Leni is during the documentaries of her work after the war...she even gets agressive with the interviewer over simple questions...an innocent person would not act in this fashion.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

Originally posted by Insanity540
also, another thing, after watching the documentaries after the war, why is she so evasive about her work & connections???

I would be evasive too, what would people think of you if they thought you were best buds with Hitler and Goebbels!!!

 

[Insanity540]

Yeah....
I worded that last bit wrong,
I've changed it so it makes more sense.