Victory of Faith (Der Sieg des Glaubens)
Considered lost for nearly 70 years, Victory of Faith is again available to viewing audiences. A key work in the evolution of National Socialist propaganda, it provides an ambitious record of the 1933 NS Party rally at Nuremberg. The film ran afoul of authorities, however, after the "blood purge" of 1934, which rendered Brownshirt leader Ernst Rohm, a central figure in of the 1933 rally, a non-person. Across Germany, references to Rohm were obliterated from the public record, and all prints of Victory of Faith were tracked down and destroyed. Until now, the film seemed little more than an intriguing postscript to Third Reich history. Though far from a masterwork, the film is a revelation on many counts, offering a fascinating first draft of the ideas and techniques Riefenstahl would pull off so powerfully in Truimph of the Will. In their contrasts, the two films shed much light on the early evolution of NS propaganda, its evocation of heroism and collective will! , its portrayal of the 'national people's community,' and its depiction of Hitler most of all. Where Triumph of the Will showed Hitler assupreme symbol and absolute master of the movement, the Hitler of Victory of Faith is still first among equals, a man with an unrulyforelock, a presence not yet wholly in command. Moreover, Victoryof Faith provides a revealing look at the NS movement in the firstblush of its 1933 triumphs. Here, the movement still bears themarks of its street-fighter origins; its rituals are often raw,lacking the orchestrated precision and theatrical grandeur weassociate with later stagecraft. In these and other ways, Victoryof Faith fills a gap in our understanding of the Third Reich,capturing the Hitler state at a pivotal stage in its earlydevelopment.