History > Fascist Aesthetics in the Works of Leni Riefenstahl

“Aesthetics (or esthetics) (from the Greek word αισθητική meaning a perceiver or sensitive) is a branch of philosophy, dealing with the nature of beauty.” (Wikipedia)

Was she or was she not? A Nazi, that is. Leni Riefenstahl is best known for her propaganda documentaries for the German Nazi party. After the war ended she was interrogated by the coalition forces and was imprisoned for four years. She was labeled a Nazi, and a Hitler sympathizer, even though she never admitted to neither. Her films about the Nuremberg rally in 1934 and the Olympic Games in 1936 earned her a kind of fame she’d wished she never had.

She was criticized, among many other things for her aesthetics. Susan Sontag once noted that there was a common aesthetic running through all of Riefenstahl’s work. Sontag called it a “triptych of fascist visuals”(Riding), and pointed out that it applies to all of Riefenstahl’s earlier feature films as well as to her two major documentaries, but even to her photography of the Nuba people. In 1974 Riefenstahl published her collection of photography that she’d been working on for years. She had taken thousands of pictures while living among the beautiful people of the Nuba tribe in the far corner of Sudan. The book was titled the “Last of the Nuba”, and it triggered Sontag’s criticism regarding the artistic choices and subject matters in all of Riefenstahl’s works.

“Olympia” may easily be called one of the best sports documentaries ever made, but it is way more than that. It was also a great propaganda tool in the hands of the Nazi party. Riefenstahl was asked, and partly financed by the German Olympic Committee to film the events of the 1936 Berlin games. She denied, but was later proved that Goebbel’s propaganda ministry, indirectly though, but provided sufficient funds and made it possible for Riefenstahl to hire a crew of more than 170 people. The Fuhrer appeares only once in the film; he wished not to be associated with athletes of races other than Arians. He didn’t want to be the part of a grand international event, and he is infamous of not shaking hand with Jessie Owens, one of the “great American negro” athletes. By the end of the 1930s racism and anti-Semitism was at its height in Germany, but Riefenstahl had always denied being a Nazi. In the documentary, titled “The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl” (1993), Muller allowed Riefenstahl to speak extensively about her artistic choices and techniques, but he also questioned her about her party affiliations, her alleged affair with Goebbels, and about her relationship with Hitler. She was provoked several times by director Ray Muller to admit guilt for her past.

"What do you mean by that? Where is my guilt? I can regret. I can regret that I made the party film, `Triumph of the Will,' in 1934. But I cannot regret that I lived in that time. No anti-Semitic word has ever crossed my lips. I was never anti-Semitic. I did not join the party. So where then is my guilt? You tell me. I have thrown no atomic bombs. I have never betrayed anyone. What am I guilty of?" (qtd. in Riding)

I think the truth is that she was partly a genius and partly an outstanding propagandist. She never denied her fascination with Hitler; she thought that he could be the one to save Germany. She also admits that her idealized image of him fell apart way too late. In 1941, when German troops marched into Paris, Riefenstahl wrote a letter to him, congratulating on his victory, but later she explained she thought the war was finally over, that’s why she wrote that letter.

She wasn’t a Nazi, but she lived in the times when most Germans were in favor of Hitler; they saw him as the man to lead them out of distress, by any cost. Riefenstahl was no exception. Her excuse is that she wasn’t member of the Nazi Party, so how could she be a Nazi, or Fascist. She was maybe “just” a sympathizer. Nonetheless she was affected by the times, and that manifests itself in her works. She found it hard to imagine that her films, especially “Olympia” could be considered as examples of “fascist aesthetics”. She was shocked by the comments made by Sontag. Riefenstahl didn’t seem to agree with her, and thought it was an unreasonable and ridiculous claim. Her films were made purely with an artistic intention, not taking into account the messages they carried. It’s easy to understand why many critics think “Triumph of the Will” is one of the greatest examples of Nazi propaganda, but to make the same argument against “Olympia” is only possible if placed into a wider historic context.

It is a two part film about the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It won several prestigious national and international awards after its release, but as the war in Europe was approaching, the film was scrutinized more closely. Let’s see now what Susan Sontag means by ‘fascist aesthetics”, and how it applies to Riefenstahl’s master piece. "The fascist dramaturgy centers on the orgiastic transactions between mighty forces and their puppets. Its choreography alternates between ceaseless motion and a congealed, static, `virile' posing." (qtd. in Riding) The film “Olympia” emphasizes the exceptional power, beauty, perseverance and supremacy of the athletes, making it a perfect fit into what Sontag called a “fascist aesthetic.” The first part, “Festival of the Nations” begins with the history of the games, followed by pictures of almost totally naked athletes as they are practicing their crafts. They were filmed during the training period, but were later edited into the final version. At the end of each event the narrator announced the winners, regardless of their nationalities and race. In “Festival of Beauty”, the second part of “Olympia”, she placed more emphasis on the grace and beauty of the human body. She even goes as far as taking her camera underwater; she doesn’t want to miss any possibly magnificent moment. She is so impressed with what she sees down there, that later, when in her seventies, she even takes up scuba diving. She finds her new passion in the secluded depths of the ocean. Two collections of her underwater photographs were published in the United States, and in 2002 she released her first film in almost half a century, the “Impressions Under Water.” The most dramatic scene in this documentary is when the ninety something lady rides the sting ray. This action is considered as one of the greatest proofs of her “fascist aesthetic.” Only a human being can be this powerful, brave and superior to any other creatures to do something like this. She is fearless and grandiose just like her Nuba friends.

The “Festival of Beauty” is dominated by, and closes with the most spectacular events of all, the high diving. Riefenstahl’s aim was to portray the divers so that they look like beautiful birds. They are humans but capable of flying. Didn’t we all wish at least once in our lives that we could fly?

It can be said that while “Olympia” undoubtedly carries elements of “fascist aesthetics”, it doesn’t serve Nazi propagandist interests that clearly. The film is a dazzling report of the Olympic Games, featuring the victories of many nations. All it did for propagandist purposes is that it shied a positive light on the German nation showing that they can be appreciated and praised for their equal and fair treatment of the athletes of all nationality. It is however also a fact that if the Nazi Party wouldn’t have thought that this film would have had a favorable affect on them, they wouldn’t have allowed its release. So in this sense, it was a propaganda film. Of course compared with “Triumph of the Will”, party messages are not that obvious. For example Hitler appears only once, and not as a heroic figure, but as one of the thousands of spectators. He is nervously rooting for a great German athlete, just like anyone else would. There were some victories by the Arians, but the film is not specifically focused on that. It is rather a festival of the stronger, the better, the faster and their triumph over the others.

If there is such thing as fascist aesthetic, Riefenstahl was the master of it. Unfortunately we never had the chance to see where her talent develops. After the war, she was never allowed to make another film. Only following the publication of her photographs in 1975 was she again appreciated as an artist, but her reputation as a Nazi film maker was never demolished. Her major literary opponent, Susan Sontag described her aesthetic as a “fascist aesthetic”, and supported her claims with comments on Riefenstahl’s the photo collection, “The Last of the Nuba.”

I wouldn’t dismiss Riefenstahl’s talent just because she expressed herself in art forms she thought was appropriate at that time. The fact that she filmed the rally of Nuremberg is on one hand a proof that she believed in Hitler, but on the other hand it proves that she was aware that it was the only way she could get almost unlimited access to funds. She lived and worked during the Nazi era, but whether out of ignorance or naiveté, she never considered herself a Nazi, she always said she was not a political person. I want to believe her.

Works Cited:

Schneider, Robert C. Stier, William F. Leni Riefenstahl’s “Olympia”: Brilliant Cinematography or Nazi Propaganda. 18 May. 2005
<http://www.thesportjournal.org/2001Journal/fall/olympia.htm>

Riding, Alan. Literature of the Holocaust. Leni Riefenstahl, Film Innovator Tied to Hitler, Dies at 101. 18 May. 2005
<http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/riefenstahl-obit.html>

Aesthetics. Wikipedia. From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. 18 May. 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesthetics

Rollyson, Carl. Documentary Film. A Primer. Lincoln. NE: iUniverse, 2004.

 

 

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