Propaganda In Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph Of The Will

"Propaganda attempts to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea." These words of Adolf Hitler are taken from his book Mien Kampf (My Struggle) published in 1926. Propaganda was an elaborate and essential tool used extensively by Hitler and the Nazi's during their terrorizing reign of Germany and throughout Europe. Not only was it used to promote and endorse the party and its leader's extreme anti-Semitic values, but also to mask the horrifying truths of what was to become known as the Holocaust.

In the Memoir Night. Elie Wiesel is mentally and physically dehumanized. Propaganda started to occur and people thought the nazis would kill them. Elie thought this was not Veritable. But The Humane/ optimist Jewish people that are kindly greeted by the Hungarians then are not allowed in the Synagogue to pray, then forced out of their homes, because the Nazis are prejudice and anti semitism against the Jews.

However, as Wolfgang Ruge argues, “the Nazi party developed a propaganda apparatus whose activities far eclipsed all previous heights of the demagogy of German imperialism.” On this note, it is widely agreed by historians that the regime was highly successful in one of Friedreich's principles; control of the increasingly powerful mass media in German society as a mechanism for public control. Primarily coordinated through the work of propaganda minister Goebbels, Hitler was portrayed as a leader who was at the same time moderate and reasonable who put the national good before his own interest. Other themes highlighted images of strength and authority which appealed to the highly nationalist German population; epitomised by Hitler appearing out of the sky to lead the German people depicted in Riefenstahl's 1934 film Triumph of the Will, still widely considered the most influential propaganda film of all time. The radio, state produced to be inexpensive, become the regimes number one weapon as it allowed propaganda to not only infiltrate but permeate as many homes as possible.

(Speer, pg 89,1995) In 1934 he was rewarded with his first of many important commissions, the design of the huge parade grounds, searchlights, and banners of the spectacular Nuremberg Rally which was such an enormous success it was filmed by Leni Riefenstahl in Triumph of the Will. "I felt myself to be Hitler's architect. Political events did not concern me. My job was merely to provide impressive backdrops for such events."

With Germans of all outlooks desperately seeking solutions for the nation's problems, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party began their climb to power. 'Hitler was gifted with effective political talents. He offered an explanation for Germany's defeat, and a vision of Germany's future destiny, that played upon the fears, prejudices, and hopes of many Germans. He promised to rebuild Germany's power and restore its prosperity' (Isaacman, 16). This won the support of many Germans. Hitler was such an effective speaker that anything he said was believed even if it was not true.

The genocide of a major Religion can bring out the good and the bad of people. “Night”, by Elie Wiesel, is a memoir about when he was fifteen, and taken to Auschwitz, where his family was murdered. In “Night”,Wiesel shows Good people can be corrupted, whether it be through, propaganda, lies, or through violence.

“The staging itself reminded the audience of how fascists use such panoramas: […] Hitler at the Nazi Party Conference at Nuremberg in 1934 as reevoked in the monumental Triumph of the Will” (Crowl, 53). The huge red scrolls and banners with Richard’s badge of boar, the vast crowd waving red flags, all these imageries created by Richard Loncraine echo the past “glory” of Hitler when he convinced tamed German citizens with his mouth.

The film Triumph of the Will was created in 1934 after Hitler was named Fuhrer of Germany. At the time, Hitler was eager to improve the public image of the NSDP (National Socialist German Workers ' Party). After his election as chancellor in Early January 1933, Hitler gave Leni Riefenstahl the job of filming the annual NSDAP conference in Nuremberg, Germany . Riefenstahl accepted the offer and agreed document, direct and edit the Conference. As years pasted, the infamous “documentary” began to be speculated as possible Nazi Propaganda.

The creation of propaganda films and posters required a small amount of people to produce, but was still a key part in the grand scheme of propaganda. The Nazis had a Film Academy in which they taught new recruits how to make films and distributed the films that the experts made on their own. These films discretely captured the thoughts of Jews in the minds of Nazis, filling them with stereotypes and threats to the community. The film “The Blue Light” is a film featuring a character that depicted a Jewish woman who found herself near a cave filled with tantalizing, glowing crystals. As she approached the cave, she slipped on a cliff and fell to her death. Later, an entire village of people learned of this cave of riches. Instinctively, they took up arms to carry out an expedition on a potential fortune. Instead, the whole village plummeted to its death. These characters were depictions of greed, a stereotypical characteristic of the Jewish people. These offensive displays were part of the propaganda that persuaded France and Great Britain into declaring war to begin World War II.

Leni Riefenstahl was one of the most revolutionary and certainly most controversial filmmakers of the early twentieth century. The lasting influence of her innovative filmmaking techniques on twentieth century cinema is undisputed by scholars throughout history, but the exact nature of her work is surrounded by ongoing controversy. Riefenstahl’s production of the feature films “Triumph of the Will” (Source 3) and “Olympia” (Source 1) have left a lasting imprint on history; these films established Riefenstahl’s influential career as a film director under the years of the Nazi regime. Although these films are attributed by scholars and critics to be Riefenstahl’s greatest achievements they are also considered to be her greatest fault, for

Triumph of the Will is a documentary of the Nazi Party conference in 1934 in Nuremberg. From the first frame of the film, Riefenstahl captures every essence of how worshiped Hitler

After watching Adolf Hitler’s speech, he is very intimidating just because of the way he looks. He states what his audience wants to hear and gives them courage to fight for the change that they want. He builds fear in the audience by stating, “Once, our enemies worried us and persecuted us and, from time to time removed lesser elements from the Movement for us” (News and Politics). In other words, saying that enough is enough. No longer can the German people let their enemies step all over them and do as they please with them. Basically, stating that their enemies have made them believe that they are superior to them, when they aren’t. The camera often focuses on the audience which are well dressed in suits and who can be trusted.

As the film opened in Germany and around the world it became obvious that Riefenstahl had achieved overall success, beyond all expectations. In America, specifically New York it was called “flawless” and “a highly fascinating fantasy”. The Blue Light was even awarded a silver medal at the first Venice Biennale that year. Riefenstahl still saw herself primarily as an actress, but after her new found success, expected to continue filmmaking as a career. If The Blue Light had not influenced her career path she would not have reached her prominence with her films such as Triumph of the Will and Olympia to come. Riefenstahl did not only gain wider international fame, she also gained the admiration and support of Adolf Hitler. According to Audrey Salkeld, “Hitler was already an admirer of hers, having been won over by her first dance of fluttering veils in her first movie.......From then on, he had followed her career with interest, The Blue Light in particular catching his imagination.” Indeed the success of The Blue Light was one of the determining influences on Riefenstahl’s rise to prominence as she states, “This film was pivotal in my life, not so much because it was my first successful effort as a producer and director, but because Hitler was so fascinated by this film that he insisted I make a documentary about the Party rally in Nuremberg. The result was Triumph of

if I can be free after completing this project and do not have to make

Without propaganda the Nazi would not have gotten as far or as powerful as they were. One powerful piece of work was the Nazi film Jud Süß. This is a Nazi propaganda film was released on September 24, 1940 by a Nazi production company named Terra Filmkunst under the order of Joseph Goebbels. For a lot of people this is considered to be one of the most anti-Semitic films that the Nazi’s have ever put into production. I will be going over the overall message of the film and how they go about being anti-Semitic and how powerful this movie actually was for the Nazi party. What went in to this movie and what happened to the actors after the war was over and what was the true power of this anti-Semitic film are a few questions that will be