The post Leni Riefenstahl Documentary Shines Damning Light On Nazi Filmmaker appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

German film maker Leni Riefenstahl (1902 – 2003) and cameraman Walter Frentz being wheeled along by an assistant at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Getty Images If anyone in Germany had the ability to tailor their image and avoid retribution following the devastating carnage of World War II, it was Leni Riefenstahl. As a seasoned filmmaker and chief propagandist for the ruthless Nazi regime, she not only knew how to spin a captivating yarn, but also how to execute it in such a way — adjusting the frame, coaching performances, editing out pieces here and there — until it possessed a dangerous power to manipulate human thoughts and emotions. Riefenstahl had proved as much with Triumph of the Will (1935) and Olympia (1938), a pair of cinematic propaganda coups blessed by that preeminent manipulator of truth and head of the Nazi lie factory: Joseph Goebbels. When the fascist dictatorship founded on grotesque principles of anti-Semitism and racial purity fell before advancing Allied forces in early May of 1945, Riefenstahl claimed she knew nothing of the unspeakable Nazi atrocities that resulted in the death of 11 million people, six million of them Jews (these crimes against humanity are, of course, collectively known as the Holocaust). After several rounds of denazification trials, Riefenstahl received the designation of Follower/Fellow Traveler (Mitläufer). The second-best level after Exonerated, or non-incriminated persons (Entlastete), those dubbed Mitläufer faced mild repercussions, which included everything from a fine to a temporary employment ban. A slap on the wrist, in other words. Adolph Hitler gives a Nazi salute, as German men and women look on and laugh. (Photo by Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images) Corbis/VCG via Getty Images It seems almost laughably absurd that someone who moved in the highest echelons of the Third Reich,…

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Filed under: News - @ September 5, 2025 11:30 pm