We mentioned Leni in Episode 117 when we discussed the Berlin Olympics in 1936. She is the director who created the 'Olympia' film, breaking barriers as a woman and adding invaluable skills to the craft of filmmaking.

Leni also denied and denied and denied that she was a part of the Nazi Propaganda Machine --- and she got to live to 101!! Today, we'll talk about how there is literally no way she didn't know (if you can go over Goebbels's head right to Hitler, you don't NOT know what is going on).

Plus, her over half a century of denial of her responsibility in how her vision of the N*zis helped create a mass alibi for the German people post-war.

Leni would say "Of what am I guilty??"

When she died (in 2003!!!), Irene Runge, head of Berlin's Jewish Cultural Center said

"You have to take responsibility for your past. She didn't. That is what people will remember about her."

Sources:

• Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl - Stephen Bach
  • https://www.amazon.com/Leni-Life-Work-Riefenstahl/dp/0375404007
• Aljazeera - Hitler’s favourite filmmaker is dead
  • https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2003/9/9/hitlers-favourite-filmmaker-is-dead
• The Guardian - Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's favourite film propagandist, dies at 101
  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/sep/10/film.germany
  • Leni Riefenstahl - https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/sep/10/guardianobituaries.germany
• NY Times - Leni Riefenstahl, Filmmaker and Nazi Propagandist, Dies at 101
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/obituaries/leni-riefenstahl-filmmaker-and-nazi-propagandist-dies-at-101.html
• Jonny Buchardt - Auftritt Karneval Köln 1973
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_SwFHtgJCQ
• Leni Riefenstahl with the 14th Army Corps in Poland (September 1939)
  • https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=2338
• May 9, 1933: Helen Keller Writes to German Students

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/helen-keller-writes-to-germans/

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