- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHelene Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl
- Leni Riefenstahl's show-biz experience began with an experiment: she wanted to know what it felt like to dance on the stage. Success as a dancer gave way to film acting when she attracted the attention of film director Arnold Fanck, subsequently starring in some of his mountaineering pictures. With Fanck as her mentor, Riefenstahl began directing films.
Her penchant for artistic work earned her acclaim and awards for her films across Europe. It was her work on Triumph of the Will (1935), a documentary commissioned by the Nazi government about Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, that would come back to haunt her after the atrocities of World War II. Despite her protests to the contrary, Riefenstahl was considered an intricate part of the Third Reich's propaganda machine. Condemned by the international community, she did not make another movie for over 50 years.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ray Hamel - After graduating from Kollmorgen High School, Riefenstahl began training as a dancer. At first she hid her artistic inclinations from her parents, who almost divorced after they were discovered. In 1921, the father, Alfred Riefenstahl, registered his daughter with the former Russian solo dancer Eugenie Eduardow. The dancer Riefenstahl's first solo performance took place on October 23, 1923. Already after her first debut she was in such demand that Max Reinhardt hired her for his Deutsches Theater. However, in 1925, Riefenstahl suffered a knee injury while performing in front of 3,000 spectators in Prague. This knee injury tragically ended her career as a dancer, but paved the way for a career as an actress and director, for which she would later become very well known.
After her injury, Riefenstahl saw a film with Luis Trenker: "Mountain of Destiny" determined her fate for many years from then on - inspired by the film, Riefenstahl planned to appear as an actress in a mountain film. Impressed by her personality, she hired Dr. Arnold Fanck, pioneer in the field of Alpine documentaries, alongside Luis Trenker for the film "The Holy Mountain". In preparation for the film, Riefenstahl underwent surgery on her knee in 1925. This intervention, which was extremely rare for the time, was successful and made the dance performances featured in the film possible. In addition to acting, the filming also brought Riefenstahl closer to the subject of "directing": Dr. Fanck introduced his actors to the topic of directing. "Holy Mountain," which premiered on December 14, 1926, symbolized the beginning of her great career as an actress. Other films such as "The Great Leap" (1927) and "The White Hell of Piz Palü" (1929) followed and further increased her popularity.
In 1930, Leni Riefestahl appeared in a sound film for the first time in "Storms over Mont Blanc". Riefenstahl founded her own film production company as early as 1931. The film "The Blue Light" was then made in 1932, in which she appeared as both an actress and director. This film was awarded the silver medal at the Venice Biennale in 1932. A short time later, Riefenstahl set off on a tour of Germany. She attended a political event and met Adolf Hitler. Impressed by this encounter, she contacted him in writing. Adolf Hitler then organized the first meeting between him and the artist. Riefenstahl traveled to Greenland a short time later. The film "SOS Eisberg" was made as part of this expedition. In 1932 Riefenstahl returned to Germany and took part in various social meetings of NSDAP officials. Later she repeatedly reported on the deep impression that her encounters with Adolf Hitler left on her. Josef Goebbels also took a liking to the artist, whom he persuaded to produce a Hitler film in May 1933, which was never made.
Instead, on June 14, 1933, Riefenstahl was commissioned to make a film about the Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally: On December 1, 1933, the propaganda film "Victory of Faith" had its successful premiere. Just one year later, Riefenstahl received the next order. The artistic design of the Nuremberg Reich Party Rally from 4th to 10th. September 1934 she was entrusted. From this time on she called her own film company "Reichsparteitagfilm". The monotony of the Nazi party rally, the short preparations for filming, the reluctant cooperation of the organizers and the competition from other film teams such as Paramount or Fox made the situation more difficult. Nevertheless, Riefenstahl managed to make film history with her team of 120 employees. Many subsequent film productions were based on her model and her special special effects are still considered the standard repertoire of documentary films today. Hitler himself gave the film the title "Triumph of the Will." Although it was another Nazi propaganda film, the film also sparked international enthusiasm and is still considered the best propaganda film of all time.
"Triumph of the Will" received the gold medal in Venice in 1935 in fascist Italy and the gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937. The German Wehrmacht was not shown in this film. Due to the generals' anger, Riefenstahl produced a short film about the German army in 1935. "Freedom Day - Our Wehrmacht" was then used as propaganda for the Wehrmacht. A short time later, the Olympic Committee consulted Riefenstahl with a request to make a film about the 6th Summer Olympic Games from January 1st to 16th. Filming in Berlin in August 1936. Riefenstahl wanted the idea of represent the Olympic Games and negotiated a three-year production period. The Olympic film consisted of two parts: "Festival of Nations" and "Festival of Beauty". After filming was completed, Riefenstahl created an impressive work from 400 km of film material. The first private screening took place on November 24, 1937. The public premiere, however, overlapped with the invasion of German troops into Austria. Riefenstahl therefore traveled to follow Adolf Hitler and achieved a postponement of the date. The premiere took place on April 20, 1938, on the Führer's birthday.
This film also received the highest honors: the gold medal in Paris in 1937, the first prize in Venice in Bennito Mussolini's Italy in 1938, the IOC Olympic diploma in 1939 and in 1956 the USA rated this Olympic film as one of the ten best films in the world. In 2001, Antonio Samaranch, then President of the IOC, belatedly presented Riefenstahl with the gold medal from Berlin in 1936. Riefenstahl had a brilliant career under Nazi rule, which was certainly further enhanced by the personal favor she enjoyed from Hitler. With the beginning of the Second World War, she completed training to act as a reporter for frontline operations. However, after the first real confrontation, she evaded this task forever. Between 1939 and 1945, Riefenstahl worked on the film "Tiefland", but she no longer received any financial support from the regime. In the immediate post-war period, a public polemic arose over the film's production conditions, as the filmmaker apparently forcibly recruited numerous Sinti and Roma to make the film.
On March 21, 1944, Riefenstahl married mountain infantry captain Peter Jacob in Kitzbühl. The newlyweds were then welcomed by the guide. This was the last meeting between Adolf Hitler and Leni Riefenstahl. At the end of the war, Riefenstahl was confronted with numerous interrogations due to her proximity to the National Socialist power apparatus. There were allegations of propaganda and artistic glorification of Hitler and the NSDAP. Her well-known films "Triumph of the Will" and "Olympia", which had once boosted her career, were now partly responsible for its end. "Triumph of the Will," for example, was no longer viewed as a work of art but as a National Socialist propaganda film. However, the film producer denied any complicity with the Nazi regime. However, a documentary made at the time about the filming shows Riefenstahl at work with visible enthusiasm and refutes her later statements that she was essentially forced to make this film. Riefenstahl had to leave her Berlin villa and move into a Munich attic apartment with her widowed mother. Their assets were confiscated.
The divorce from Peter Jacob also took place at this time. In 1948, Riefenstahl was only classified as a "follower" in view of her relationship with the National Socialist regime and therefore no professional ban was issued against her. However, her subsequent attempt to regain a foothold in the film industry failed. The premiere of the film "Tiefland", which was controversial due to the production conditions described, was a failure in 1954. Between 1950 and 1964 none of her film projects were completed. In society, Riefenstahl continued to be condemned as the Führer's mistress or Nazi sympathizer. Many lawsuits have been brought in an attempt to restore their reputation. At the age of 60, Riefenstahl discovered photography as a new artistic field of activity. She achieved worldwide success with her series of images about the Nuba tribe in Sudan. Her illustrated books "The Nuba" and "The Nuba of Kau" in particular led to many honors and awards. In 1975 her series of pictures was judged by the Art Directors Club as the best photographic work. In 1973, the multi-talented woman completed a diving course so that she could work as an underwater photographer. With her two illustrated books "Coral Gardens" and "Wonders Under Water" she also achieved worldwide attention in this field. Once again she received further honors and awards. In 1987, Riefenstahl published her memoirs after five years of editing. The 900-page work has now been published in 13 countries and has high circulation.
In 1992, the documentary "The Power of Images" was filmed, with the artist herself commenting on her life at original locations. This work received many awards, such as the "Emmy Award" in the USA. A retrospective of the photographic works took place in Milan in 1995 and in Rome in 1997. In 1999 the open-air museum in Potsdam organized a retrospective. More photos Positions followed in Tokyo, Munich, Berlin, Calpe (Spain) and Knokke Heist (Belgium). Nevertheless, the reservations about Riefenstahl did not subside due to her relationship to National Socialism. Riefenstahl was blessed with incredible energy. At the age of 94, she was still diving in Cocos Island. She photographs the sharks that live there. In 1999 she decided to travel to Sudan to visit her Nuba friends. Contact had been broken for 23 years because she had been denied an entry permit. After many negotiations and efforts, Riefenstahl traveled to Khartoum in February 2000, accompanied by an Odeon film team. She reached the Nuba Mountains under military protection. However, a renewed outbreak of civil war forced them to leave the country immediately. During the hasty departure, the helicopter crashed. Miraculously, all of the inmates survived. Riefenstahl was admitted to a hospital with multiple rib fractures.
Nevertheless, until her death she intended to travel back to Nuba to help there. Meanwhile, Riefenstahl was discovered by the women's movement and declared a cult figure. Her film work has now been analyzed in many academic dissertations. On July 21, 2001, Leni Riefenstahl was honored at a film festival in St. Petersburg for her invaluable contribution to the development of film.
Leni Riefenstahl died on September 8, 2003 at the age of 101 in her home in Pöcking on Lake Starnberg.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth
- SpousesHorst Kettner(August 22, 2003 - September 8, 2003) (her death)Peter Jacob(March 21, 1944 - 1947) (divorced)
- In an interview shortly before her death, she stated that if she had known that Triumph of the Will (1935) would have haunted her career, she would have never made it.
- (August 22, 2003) Married for the 2nd time to her boyfriend of 35 years Horst Kettner on her 101st birthday and just 2 weeks before her death.
- Robert Dassanowsky considers Lowlands (1954) to be Riefenstahl's cinematic statement on her rejection of Hitler and the Nazi regime.
- Ms. Riefenstahl lied about her age in 1973 to be passed an official licence to go deep-diving in the Pacific Ocean. She started collecting images of the underwater beauty then, and she did not stop when a shark showed his appreciation of her by head-butting her 3 times, as documented on a TV documentary in 2002.
- When in 2000 Jodie Foster was planning a biographical drama on Riefenstahl, war-crime documentiers warned against a revisionist view that glorified the director. They stated that publicly Riefenstahl seemed "quite infatuated" with Hitler and was in fact the last surviving member of his "inner circle". Others go further, arguing that Riefenstahl's visions were essential to the success of the Holocaust.
- I filmed the truth as it was then. Nothing more.
- [recalling at age 83 her 1936 film Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938), which identified her with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party] "They killed me then. I am a ghost."
- [In a 1993 interview, commenting on her work with the Nazi party] "Being sorry isn't nearly enough, but I can't tear myself apart or destroy myself. It's so terrible. I've suffered anyway for over half a century and it will never end, until I die. It's such an incredible burden, that to say 'sorry'... it's inadequate, it expresses too little."
- I told Hitler that filming the party congress was too difficult for a girl. I told him the men are jealous and the problems I encountered affected my nerves. Hitler became very angry. He told Goebbels that when he gave an order, Goebbels was supposed to obey it. Hitler then told me that I must make a film of the congress in 1934 but I protested, saying that the same thing would happen. He... assured me that there would be no interference.
- Really, if I start a work I forget food. I forget that I am a woman. I forget my dress, I only see my work. I forget because I am fascinated by my work.
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