Leni Riefenstahl Leni Riefenstahl View Photographs Leni Riefenstahl (Helene Riefenstahl) was a German dancer, actress, and film director best known for her imposing propaganda films in support of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party. Born in Berlin on August 22, 1902, Riefenstahl began her long and extraordinary career as an interpretive dancer. After a knee injury temporarily halted her vocation, Riefenstahl became fascinated with the possibilities of the medium of film, especially nature films. She became the star of a number of German director Arnold Fanck's silent motion pictures, typically set in the Alps (so-called Bergfilme), in which the young Riefenstahl figured as the athletic and daring female lead. Popular as an actress with German audiences in the silent era, Riefenstahl directed her first major feature film, Das blaue Licht (The Blue Light), in 1932. The film was well received, and more importantly attracted the attention of a rising politician who prided himself on having artistic ambitions, Adolf Hitler.

In the same year, Riefenstahl had heard Hitler speak at a public rally and was riveted by his oratorical style and his ability to mesmerize audiences. Hitler saw Leni Riefenstahl as a director who could use aesthetics to produce an image of a strong Germany imbued with Wagnerian motifs of power and beauty. In 1933, he asked Riefenstahl to direct a short film, Der Sieg des Glaubens (The Victory of Faith), shot at that year's Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally. The film was a template for her more famous work, Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will), shot at the Nuremberg Rally the following year, in 1934. Riefenstahl initially rebuffed Hitler's commission for the film, but relented when she received unlimited resources and full artistic license for the picture. Triumph of the Will, with its evocative images and innovative film technique, ranked as an epic work of documentary film-making, and is widely regarded as one of the most masterful propaganda films ever produced.

It won several awards, but forever linked the film's subject, National Socialism, with its artist, Riefenstahl. Equally stunning were Riefenstahl's directorial efforts in Olympia, which captured with haunting effectiveness the images of the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. It was for Olympia that Riefenstahl pioneered numerous cinematographic techniques, such as filming footage with cameras mounted on rails (commonly known today as tracking shots). Olympia's forceful blend of aesthetics, sports, and propaganda again won Riefenstahl accolades and awards, including Best Foreign Film honors at the Venice Film Festival and a special award from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for depicting the joy of sport. By her own account, the advent of World War II and the rapid escalation of violence under the Nazi regime had an unfavorable effect on both Riefenstahl and her career. Early in the Polish campaign, an incident seemed to have shaken Riefenstahl's confidence in the movement she had glorified in cinematic images. While accompanying German troops near Konskie, the filmmaker witnessed the execution of Polish civilians shot in retaliation for a partisan attack on German troops.

Riefenstahl apparently left her filming that day in order to make a personal appeal to Hitler against such arbitrary violence. The incident may have planted a seed of doubt in Riefenstahl's mind, but it did not prevent her from filming Hitler's triumphal parade into Warsaw just weeks later. After the war Riefenstahl attempted to separate herself from the criminal nature of the Nazi regime, suggesting her duty was to her craft and not necessarily to the Nazi authorities who commissioned her films. In what she and others would later claim was an effort to eschew further propaganda efforts, Riefenstahl had begun filming Tiefland (Lowlands) in 1940. A story set in the Spanish Pyrenees, Tiefland was a project that she had earlier shelved when persuaded by a determined Hitler to undertake Triumph of the Will. Shot on location near Kitzbühl, Austria, the filming dragged out over nearly four years. In order to enhance the story's “gypsy” flavor, Riefenstahl aides arranged to “borrow” some 51 young Roma prisoners from the nearby labor camp at Maxglan-Leopoldskron as extras.

For the indoor scenes, filmed in Berlin-Babelsberg in 1942, Riefenstahl used as extras at least 66 Roma and Sinti inmates, virtually all males, from the Berlin-Marzahn camp for Gypsies. Allegations that the German Criminal Police returned the Roma, after fulfilling their “obligation,” to the Maxglan and Marzahn Gypsy camps (Zigeunerlager) and later deported them to their deaths at Auschwitz, were serious enough to involve Riefenstahl in a civil suit. That suit was dropped in 2002 only after her production company retracted a public statement Riefenstahl had made in which she claimed that all of the extras had survived the war. Tiefland premiered in 1954, eight years after French authorities occupying the Tyrol arrested Riefenstahl and confiscated her film materials, in January 1946. In the postwar years, Leni Riefenstahl was the subject of four denazification proceedings, which finally declared her a Nazi sympathizer (Mitläufer).

Although never a member of the Nazi Party, Riefenstahl found it difficult to overcome her association with the propaganda films she had made during the early Nazi period, and encountered difficulties in regaining her position in the German cinematic community. Her experience was quite unlike that of her colleague Veit Harlan, who had directed such seminal Nazi propaganda works as Jüd Süss and Kolberg, but who returned to a flourishing directorial career in the 1950s. Riefenstahl turned to still photography, publishing in the 1970s an illustrated volume on the primitive Nuba tribe of the Sudan; in her late seventies, she undertook a new interest in underwater cinematography. Throughout her long career Leni Riefenstahl achieved a new aesthetics in film and introduced groundbreaking cinematic techniques, but she could never escape her past association as a Nazi propagandist and remained a controversial figure until the end of her life. She died of cancer in Pocking, Germany, on September 8, 2003, a few weeks after her 101st birthday.

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The document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin, orchestrated as Nazi propaganda. Director: Leni Riefenstahl The infamous propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany. Director: Leni Riefenstahl Der Sieg des Glaubens (English: The Victory of Faith, Victory of Faith, or Victory of the Faith) (1933) is the first propaganda film directed by Leni Riefenstahl. Her film recounts the ... See full summary » Director: Leni Riefenstahl Filming of the performance show the Deutsche Wehrmacht (German Army) made during the Reichsparteitag of the NSDAP in Nurnberg 1935. Showing the readiness and the will of the newly build ... See full summary » Director: Leni Riefenstahl Junta is hated by the people in the village where she lives, especially by the women, who suspect her of being a witch. Only she can climb the nearby mountains to a cave high up, whence a ...

See full summary » Directors: Leni Riefenstahl, Béla Balázs Stars: Leni Riefenstahl, Mathias Wieman, Beni Führer Set in the early part of 20th century Europe. There lived a dancer who becomes the romantic bone of contention between a humble shepherd and an imperious marquis. Director: Leni Riefenstahl A documentary about the life and work of Leni Riefenstahl, a German film director most notorious for making the most effective propaganda films for the Nazis. Director: Ray Müller The Jews of Poland (invaded by Germany in 1939) are depicted as filthy, evil, corrupt, and intent on world domination. Street scenes are shown prejudicially, along with clips from Jewish ... See full summary » Director: Fritz Hippler China's first horror film, this is loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera. A disfigured musical genius roams a traditional Chinese opera house, punishing those who offend him. Director: Weibang Ma-Xu A Nazi propaganda film based upon the life and death of Hitler Youth Heini Volker, killed while distributing flyers in a Communist neighborhood.

Director: Hans Steinhoff Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg begins his reign promising to rule with loyalty and honesty, but the treasurer Süß Oppenheimer corrupts him, causing the citizens to complain and pushing Württemberg to the brink of civil war. Director: Veit Harlan Edit Storyline After being commissioned by the 1936 Olympic Committee to create a feature film of the Berlin Olympics, Riefenstahl shot a documentary that celebrates the human body by combining the poetry of bodies in motion with close-ups of athletes in the heat of competition. Includes the marathon, men's diving, and American track star Jesse Owen's sprint races at the 1936 Olympic games. The production tends to glorify the young male body and, some say, expresses the Nazi attitude toward athletic prowess. Includes the lighting of the torch at the stadium and Adolf Hitler looking on in amazement as Jesse Owens wins an unprecedented four Gold Medals. Written by Fiona Kelleghan <fkelleghan@aol.com> 8 March 1940 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know?

Trivia Leni Riefenstahl first contacted the biggest German film studio, Ufa, in order for them to finance the film. Friedrich A. Mainz , the studio head refused because of cost, so she contacted Tobis-Filmkunst who agreed to finance the film and put up ½ million Reichmarks upfront (three times the cost of a standard film at the time). The contract was only signed in December 1936, four months after the end of the Olympic Games. See more » Connections A master of film and 60 years later still a masterpiece 8 June 1999 | by anonymous (dallas,tx) – See all my reviews I first viewed this film at the Museum of Modern Art 35 years ago;I now own it and the years have only added to my astonishment of what a genius Leni is. She took film to a new and higher art form. The Nazi noise does get in the way, but the epic scope and feel of the finished product make it worth viewing. And yes, part one is far superior, but part two is certainly a work of art also. It is a masterpiece. Would that she had done more.

She is a most fascinating artist. 13 of 15 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes The shameful legacy of the Olympic Games | Film | The Guardian The shameful legacy of the Olympic Games Alex von Tunzelmann In 1936, Berlin hosted the Olympics and Hitler asked director Leni Riefenstahl to film them. The result was a cinematic coup, but with sinister overtones Female athletes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, captured by director Leni Riefenstahl in her film Olympia. Photograph: The Kobal Collection/ Thursday 14 June 2012 15.00 EDT First published on Thursday 14 June 2012 15.00 EDT Share on Messenger Close 'The English attack, but the Germans are still in the lead," says the commentator as two Olympic rowing fours skim over the rippling water. "The English raise the tempo … They want to win again. But Germany is stronger. Germany wins!" The victorious boat glides past the spectator stands, and the four German athletes stick their arms out straight, just above head-height, in a proud Nazi salute.

This was the Berlin Olympics of 1936, immortalised in two films by the controversial director Leni Riefenstahl . Olympia Part I: Festival of the Nations and Part II: Festival of Beauty, both released in 1938, represent a tremendous aesthetic and technical cinematic achievement. But they also represent something far more sinister. As Londoners obliged to pay extra taxes for the 2012 Games have been repeatedly told, the Games may bequeath a permanent legacy . There is perhaps no more famous attempt to create an Olympic legacy than Riefenstahl's Olympia. When Germany could not repeat its rowing victory over England on the battlefields of the second world war, the way Germans viewed the Olympic heritage of Berlin changed. Olympia did not endure as a monument to the glory of the Nazi superman, but as an all-too-permanent embarrassment. Olympia is such a striking piece of Nazi pageantry that it is easy to forget Adolf Hitler had not wanted to host the Olympics. Berlin was awarded the 1936 Games in the days of the Weimar republic. Two years later, in 1933, Hitler came to power.

Olympian ideals of peaceful competition and internationalism repulsed the Nazis – as did the prospect of Jewish, Slav or black athletes competing against whites. Official Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter declared that allowing black athletes to compete "is a disgrace and a degradation of the Olympic idea without parallel". At Berlin, it decreed, "blacks must be excluded." Still, the German National Olympic Committee persuaded Hitler that even a Games that included non-Aryan athletes could be turned to Germany's advantage. Riefenstahl was commissioned to direct what was originally supposed to be one film. The previous year, she had directed the ultimate Nazi propaganda movie, Triumph of the Will . At its premiere, the grateful Hitler had pressed a bouquet of lilacs into her arms. She was, he declared, the "perfect German woman". Olympia's opening layers the inevitably Wagnerian score of composer Herbert Windt over cinematographer Willy Zielke's tracking shots of ancient Greek monuments. One of antiquity's most famous statues, Myron's Diskobolos, dissolves into nude Teutonic decathlete Erwin Huber recreating the discus-throwing pose.

The film's focus on "perfect" bodies is sometimes cited as an example of its distinctly fascist aesthetic, but that case can be overstated. As the American academic Michael Mackenzie pointed out , "the camera's fascination with the athletic body cannot be differentiated in any meaningful way – on stylistic grounds – from subsequent sports photography." Another of Riefenstahl's fleet of cinematographers, Hans Scheib, was responsible for the technically brilliant close-up filming of athletes and spectators in the crowd, achieved with a 600mm Leica lens. Though these sporting images might in themselves have been neutral, their compilation in Riefenstahl's Olympia subtly underlined a tenet of all authoritarian regimes: that individuals must be turned into machines that act as required, but do not think. At no point do the sportsmen and women in Olympia speak. After the war, Riefenstahl – who hoped her films would continue to be shown – claimed that the Nazi government had no influence on Olympia. This was untrue. The Nazi government commissioned and financed the films. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels' diaries indicate that he was in contact with Riefenstahl about their progress, though not always positively.

"It is impossible to work with this wild woman," he wrote on one occasion. Wild though she may have been, the films are utterly compliant. The fact that Olympia depicts such moments as the field hockey final, in which India defeated Germany, is sometimes mistaken by Riefenstahl's defenders as evidence of her editorial independence. It is the opposite. Riefenstahl's inclusion of the occasional German defeat fits squarely with Goebbels' instructions to the German press during the Games, which were to create an impression of Nazi fairmindedness by reporting foreign as well as German victories. The Nazi obsession with race is constantly restated. "Two black runners against the strongest of the white race," muses Olympia's commentator as he surveys the field for the men's 800m. On that occasion the black runners, the US's John Woodruff and Canada's Phil Edwards, took gold and bronze respectively. The most exhilarating section of the first Olympia film is the long-jump final, in which black American athlete Jesse Owens faces the white German champion Luz Long. In the last of three jumps, Long hits 7.87m: a new European record.

The crowd is ecstatic, as is Hitler himself, who is shown applauding his champion. Then it is Owens's last jump. He composes himself. Sprints. Flies. Lands lightly in the sand. It's 8.06m, a new Olympic record (Owens already held the world record, having jumped 8.13m in 1935). Tactfully, Riefenstahl does not show Hitler's reaction to Owens's spectacular achievement. According to Albert Speer , the Führer was "highly annoyed", but rationalised Owens's success within the terms of his pseudoscientific race theories. "People whose antecedents came from the jungle were primitive, Hitler said with a shrug; their physiques were stronger than civilised whites." Riefenstahl claimed that Goebbels did not want her to show black athletes in the final film but, in the context of Hitler's remarks, it is hard to argue that there was anything subversive about the way she depicted them. The only shot that might have raised Nazi eyebrows is when Owens wins the long jump .

For a moment, he makes direct eye contact with the camera, and smiles a bashful, slightly goofy smile. In a film that permits its subjects little by way of individualism, this looks almost like an acknowledgement that he is a human being. Being treated as less than fully human was, of course, nothing new to Owens. At his alma mater, Ohio State University, he was not allowed to live on campus. Interracial sporting competition was banned in the American south, so none of the American Olympic Committee's qualifying events could be held in states such as Owens's native Alabama. President Franklin D Roosevelt refrained from sending black athletes the conventional telegram of congratulation on their victories, prompting Owens to declare: "Hitler didn't snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me." If Owens was the star of the first Olympia film, though, the star of the second was white American Glenn Morris, whose physical form is as noticeably lingered on by Riefenstahl on film as it was in real life. In her memoirs, she wrote that Morris, who took gold in the decathlon, pounced on her during the medals ceremony. "Never before had I experienced such passion," she remembered breathlessly.

Their brief affair was useful when she realised she had neglected to film Morris's victory in one decathlon event: the 5,000m run. So besotted was Morris with this "perfect German woman" that he agreed to run another 5,000m the following day, just for her cameras. It is these staged shots, not Morris's competition run, that have ended up in the film. His starring role in Olympia inspired Morris to dream of silver-screen stardom; but his 1938 performance in Tarzan's Revenge put a stop to that. Riefenstahl, too, hoped Olympia would take her to Hollywood. On 4 November 1938, she arrived in New York to promote Olympia. Her timing could hardly have been worse. Five days later came the horrors of Kristallnacht . Reports from Germany told of 1,000 synagogues burned in one night, and 30,000 Jews dragged off to concentration camps. A defiant Riefenstahl told reporters that she did not believe such things could have happened.

Even when the German consul in New York told her the stories were true, she vowed to brazen it out in the US until "this damn Jewish thing is no longer in the headlines". It stayed in the headlines, and the invitations she had received before Kristallnacht from Hollywood players, including Louis B Mayer, vanished. Only one studio boss still agreed to meet her: Walt Disney. When war broke out in 1939, the prints of Olympia were seized from the German embassy in London. The reels were signed over to the British Army Kinema Corporation . In the spirit of "make do and mend", army editors snipped out the Nazi bits, and recut Riefenstahl's footage of athletes into shorts to use as information films during the physical training of British recruits. Olympic parks, as those of Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 have demonstrated, swiftly decay if neglected. But Riefenstahl's Olympia will not go away. Captured on celluloid, the athletes' muscles still tense as they did on a sunny 1936 day in the sharp focus of Scheib's telephoto lens.

The Olympic bell, featuring a German eagle clutching the five rings in its talons, still tolls. Beneath his toothbrush moustache, Hitler still smiles. Despite multiple recuttings by Riefenstahl to minimise or remove the overtly Nazi footage, Olympia remains the permanent legacy that the Olympics would surely rather forget. The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games | Cambridge University Library The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games Recommendations for acquisition This year's London 2012 Olympics were a timely reminder of Olympic Games held in the past. Germany has hosted the Olympic Games twice before – Berlin in 1936 and Munich in 1972. Both are remembered for sporting and political reasons. This spotlight will examine the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics and its coverage within the UL collections. A poster for the 1936 Berlin Olympics The Berlin Olympics had been awarded to Germany before the Nazis came to power, but in August 1936 they provided a perfect opportunity for the Nazis to showcase Hitler's Third Reich to the 49 nations of the world competing for Olympic gold.

One highlight of the UL's Germanic collections is "Ludwig Haymann : Die Olympischen Spiele 1936 (1936)" at F193.b.1.5 , which contains contemporary photographic source material taken by Heinrich Hoffmann, the official photographer of the Nazi party. This item unusually contains viewing glasses inside the front cover with which to view the stereoscopic photographs accompanying the text. The UL also holds the catalogue of a major exhibition on the 1936 Olympics organised by Berlin's Topography of Terror Museum: "Reinhard Rürup (ed.) : 1936, die Olympischen Spiele und der Nationalsozialismus (1996)" at 416.c.99.318 as well as the score of Richard Strauss' "Olympische Hymne" at M290.a.90.624 , an anthem especially composed by Strauss to celebrate the Berlin Olympics. The 1936 Olympics will mostly be remembered for the exploitation of the Games by the Third Reich in pursuit of Nazi ideology.

The Olympics were a political coup for Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, who ordered the removal of anti-Semitic slogans from Jewish shops, moved "undesirables" out of Berlin, toned down the racist Nazi newspaper "Der Stürmer" and organised groundbreaking TV and radio broadcasting of the Games. The use of propaganda by Goebbels and the Nazis is explored in "Lutz Hachmeister & Michael Kloft (eds.) : Das Goebbels-Experiment, Propaganda und Politik (2005)" at C200.b.4980 . A recent comprehensive biography of Goebbels "Peter Longerich : Joseph Goebbels, Biographie (2010)" is held at 571:75.c.201.13 and this makes use of a critical edition of the original Goebbels diaries "Elke Fröhlich (ed.) : Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels (1993-2008)" held at 571:73.c.95.228-247 . The Berlin Games were only a partial success for the Nazis.

Germany finished top of the medal table ahead of their main rivals, the United States, but the Americans dominated the Athletics events with African American Jesse Owens winning four gold medals ahead of his blond, Aryan rivals. Hitler refused to put the gold medal around Owens' neck. The exploitation of the Olympic Games by the Third Reich is examined in "Hilmar Hoffmann : Mythos Olympia (1993)" at S416.b.99.1 , which is a standard critical work on the subject. Jesse Owens The German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was famously commissioned by the German Olympic Committee to make a film documenting the Berlin Games for $7 million. The film was titled "Olympia" and was released in two parts: Olympia 1. Teil – Fest der Völker and Olympia 2. Teil – Fest der Schönheit. Copies of the film are held in the Medieval and Modern Languages library at VID.G.353 and VID.G.354 .

Olympia was the first documentary feature film ever made of the Olympic Games and it pioneered many groundbreaking techniques such as slow motion footage, varied camera angles, tracking shots and extreme close-ups, which have since become standards of the film industry. The film remains controversial to this day due to its political context and its glorification of the Nazi era, but it is still regarded as a major landmark in the history of documentary filmmaking. The UL holds some contemporary documentation regarding the film: "Leni Riefenstahl : Schönheit im olympischen Kampf (1937)" at S416.a.93.1 and a facsimile edition of "Leni Riefenstahl : Dokumentation zum Olympiafilm (1937)" at S950.a.200.137 . After 1945, Leni Riefenstahl's close association with Hitler and the Third Reich destroyed her film career. She was arrested at the end of World War Two, but released without charge.

The UL holds two editions of her personal memoirs: "Leni Riefenstahl : Memoiren (1987)" at CCC.60.241 and "Leni Riefenstahl : Memoiren, 1902-1945 (1990)" at 415.d.99.35 . The library also holds a number of Riefenstahl biographies such as "Rainer Rother : Leni Riefenstahl, die Verführung des Talents (2.Aufl. 2001)" at 415:3.c.200.239 (2002 English translation at 415:3.c.200.149 ) and "Jürgen Trimborn : Riefenstahl, eine deutsche Karriere (2002)" at 415:3.c.200.163 (2008 English translation at 415:3.c.200.1644 ).

For a recent critical overview of her work, consult "Markwart Herzog & Mario Leis (eds.) : Kunst und Ästhetik im Werk Leni Riefenstahls (2011)" at 415:3.c.201.442 and, for a recent assessment of her life and times comparing her with actress Marlene Dietrich, see "Karin Wieland : Dietrich & Riefenstahl, der Traum von der neuen Frau (2011)" at 571:73.c.201.5 . Despite the controversy surrounding her films, when Leni Riefenstahl died in 2003, aged 101, The Economist described her as "the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century". L.

Noble Deutschland und die Ostmark: Olympischen Spiele in Berlin 1936 - 1936 Berlin Olympic Games Olympischen Spiele in Berlin 1936 - 1936 Berlin Olympic Games ('I CALL ON THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD') THE XI OLYMPIAD "German sport has only one task: to strengthen the character of the German people, imbuing it with the fighting spirit and steadfast camaraderie necessary in the struggle for its existence." — Minister of Propaganda Dr. Joseph Goebbels The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event that was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain, on 26 April 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona (two years before the NSDAP came to power). It marked the second and final time that the International Olympic Committee would gather to vote in a city which was bidding to host those Games. The only other time this occurred was at the inaugural IOC Session in Paris, France, on 24 April 1894.

Then, Athens and Paris were chosen to host the 1896 and 1900 Games, respectively. To outdo the Los Angeles, USA games of 1932, the Nazis built a new 100,000-seat track and field stadium, six gymnasiums, and many other smaller arenas. They also installed a closed-circuit television system and radio network that reached 41 countries, with many other forms of expensive high-tech electronic equipment. Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, a favorite of Adolf Hitler, was commissioned by the German Olympic Committee to film the Games for $7 million. Her film, titled Olympia, pioneered many of the techniques now common in the filming of sports. Hitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy. Total ticket revenues were 7.5 million Reichsmark, generating a profit of over one million marks.

The official budget did not include outlays by the city of Berlin (which issued an itemized report detailing its costs of 16.5 million marks) or outlays of the German national government (which did not make its costs public, but is estimated to have spent US$30 million, chiefly in capital outlays). Host City Selection The bidding for these Olympic Games was the first to be contested by IOC members casting their votes for their favorite host city. The vote occurred in 1931 during the Weimar Republic era, before Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933. There were many other cities around the world that wanted to host this Summer Olympics, but they did not receive any IOC votes. The other cities competing to hold the games were: Alexandria, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Cologne, Dublin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Lausanne, Nuremberg, Rio de Janeiro, and Rome. Academics cannot agree whether the IOC during this period was a willing collaborator or an organization that favored the aesthetics of fascist governments. Although the IOC was insulated from the reality of Nazism, elements of Hitler's regime were in parallel alignment with the sporting ideologies of the IOC.

The next scheduled games in 1940 were awarded to Tokyo even though Japan was becoming an aggressive militaristic, nationalist state. Ironically in 1938 the Japanese rejected hosting the games because they saw the Olympics and its pacifist values as 'an effete form of European culture'. The Olympic village was located at Estal in Wustermark, (at 52°32′10.78″N 13°0′33.20″E), on the western edge of Berlin. The site, which was 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the center of the city, consisted of one to two floor dormitories, dining areas, a swimming pool, and training facilities. During the Second World War, it was used as a hospital for injured Wehrmacht soldiers. In 1945 it was taken over by the Soviet Union and became a torture and interrogation center for SMERSH. Recent efforts have been made to restore parts of the former village, but to no avail. Influence of Nazi Ideologies Hans von Tschammer und Osten, as Reichssportführer, i.e.

head of the Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (DRL), the Reich Sports Office, played a major role in the structure and organization of the Olympics. Hans von Tschammer und Osten (25 October 1887 in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony - 25 March 1943) was a German sport official, SA leader and a member of the Reichstag. He was married to Sophie Margarethe von Carlowitz. The Summer Olympics in Berlin were held during von Tschammer's tenure as Reichssportführer. He played a major role in the structure and organization of the Olympic Games together with Carl Diem, who was the former secretary of the Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Leibesübungen (DRA). Von Tschammer trusted the organization of the Fourth Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Karl Ritter von Halt, whom he named President of the Committee for the organization of the games. He promoted the idea that the use of sports would harden the German spirit and instill unity among German youth.

At the same time he also believed that sports was a 'way to weed out the weak.' Von Tschammer trusted the details of the organisation of the games to Theodor Lewald and Carl Diem, the former president and secretary of the Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Leibesübungen, the forerunner of the Reich Sports Office. Carl Diem (1882-1962) — a highly respected sports official before, during, and after the Nazi Government — “he was an avid athlete as a young man. Denigrating the value of his country’s powerful but archaic Turner Sport Movement, an institution entrenched in the Fatherland for over a century, Diem became a dedicated enthusiast and advocator of a German sporting movement parallel to those developing rapidly in fin du siecle Anglo-Saxon nations. Diem followed a career path in teaching and sport administration, rising rapidly to head what became known as the German National Sports University, founded in Berlin in 1920.” He had a long association with Germany’s Olympic movement.

He was the 30-year-old captain of the German team at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, and, like Theodor Lewald, appointed to the 1916 organizing committee. Diem, “though generally staying in the background, did more than anyone else in the Reich during the first half of the twentieth century to advance German sports and German Olympic ambitions.” In 1936, he became the General-Secretary of the Berlin Organisationskomittee. His “inspired contributions” to the Berlin Games included the Iron Bell with the words, 'Ich rufe die Jugend der Welt' (I call on the youth of the world); Olympische Jugend (Olympic Youth), a five-act pageant of dances at the opening ceremonies; and, the torch lighting in Olympia and relay to Berlin. Diem described the Berlin Games as an event for Germany to lead "a victory charge for a better Europe." THE OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY The media in the United Kingdom was saturated before the London Games began with reports and images of the 'Olympic Torch'.

Strangely, no mention was made of the origins of the Olympic Torch Relay - although there has been a suggestion that it has 'deep' and 'mystic' origins in 'democratic' ancient Greece. In fact the first Olympic Torch Relay was instituted by Hans von Tschammer und Osten, as Reichssportführer, i.e. head of the Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (DRL), the Reich Sports Office, The Olympic Flame was used for the third time at these Games, but this marked the first time it was kindled in Olympia, Greece, and then brought to the Olympic Stadium by a torch relay. The National Socialists concocted a 'quasi-religious' ceremony at Olympia, which involved a torch being kindled by the rays of the sun at the hands of 'so-called' priestesses of Apollo (why not Zeus as he was the patron god of Olympia). For the Nazis the sun, which was represented by the swastika was, the source of creativity and life, and flames kindled by the sun's rays were equally symbolic of the creativity and life of the Aryan race - the ancient Greeks, of course, being considered Aryans par-exellence.

This also explains why the Nazis were so enamoured with torchlight processions, and flaming cauldrons. For the Games of the XI Olympiad a beautiful torch was designed, bearing the olympic rings and a map of the torch relay etched onto the handle. In the Olympic stadium in Berlin a huge bronze 'cauldron' was created. This cauldrom was lit at the comencement of the Games, and was ceremoniously extinguished on the last night of the Games, and this custom has been continued ever since. So, the modern 'Olympics' is centred round a Völkisch ceremony of Aryan Sun worship - with no connection to the ancient Greeks. History The games were the first to have live television coverage. The German Post Office, using equipment from Telefunken, broadcast over 70 hours of coverage to special viewing rooms throughout Berlin and Potsdam and a few private TV sets, transmitting from the Paul Nipkow TV Station.

The Olympic Flame was used for the third time at these games, but this marked the first time it was brought to the Olympic Village by a torch relay, with the starting point in Olympia, Greece (see above) The Republic of China's Three Principles of the People was chosen as the best national anthem of the games. The official book of the 1936 Olympics is present in many libraries containing the signatures of all gold medalists. Notable Achievements Germany had a prosperous year in the equestrian events, winning individual and team gold in all three disciplines, as well as individual silver in dressage. In the cycling match sprint finals, the German Toni Merkens fouled Arie van Vliet of the Netherlands. Instead of being disqualified, he was fined 100 marks and kept his gold. German gymnasts Konrad Frey and Alfred Schwarzmann both won three gold medals. Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events. His German competitor Luz Long offered Owens advice after he almost failed to qualify in the long jump and was posthumously awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship.

Mack Robinson, brother to Jackie Robinson won the 200 meter sprint silver medal behind Owens by .04 seconds. Although he did not medal, future American war hero Louis Zamperini, lagging behind in the 5,000 meter final, made up ground by clocking a 56-second final lap. This effort caught the attention of Adolf Hitler who personally commended Zamperini on his speed. In one of the most dramatic 800 meter races in history, American John Woodruff won gold after slowing to jogging speed in the middle of the final in order to free himself from being boxed in. Glenn Edgar Morris, a farm boy from Colorado, won Gold in the Decathlon. Rower Jack Beresford won his fifth Olympic medal in the sport, and his third gold medal. The U.S. eight-man rowing team from the University of Washington won the gold medal, coming from behind to defeat the Germans and Italians with Adolf Hitler in attendance. In the marathon two Korean athletes won medals – Sohn Kee-chung (gold) and Nam Sung-yong (bronze) – running for Japan and under Japanese names; Japan had annexed Korea in 1910.

British India won the gold medal in the field hockey event once again (they won the gold in all Olympics from 1928 to 1956), defeating Germany 8–1 in the final, however, Indians were considered Indo-Aryans by the Germans and there was no controversy regarding their victory. Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands won three gold medals and a silver in swimming. Estonia's Kristjan Palusalu won two gold medals in Men's Wrestling, marking the last time Estonia competed as an independent nation in the Olympics until 1992. After winning the middleweight class, the Egyptian weightlifter Khadr El Touni continued to compete for another 45 minutes, finally exceeding the total of the German silver medalist by 35 kg. The 20-year-old El Touni lifted a total of 387.5 kg crushing two German world champions, El Touni broke the then Olympic and world records, while the German lifted 352.5 kg. Furthermore, El Touni had lifted 15 kg more than the heavyweight gold medalist, a feat only El Touni has accomplished.

El Touni's new world records stood for 13 years. Fascinated by El Touni's performance, Adolf Hitler rushed down to greet this human miracle. Prior to the competition, Hitler was said to have been sure that Rudolf Ismayr and Adolf Wagner would embarrass all other opponents. Hitler was so impressed by El Touni's domination in the middleweight class that he ordered a street named after him in Berlin olympic village. The Egyptian held the No. 1 position on the IWF list of history's 50 greatest weightlifters for 60 years, until the 1996 Games in Atlanta where Turkey's Naim Süleymanoğlu surpassed him to top the list. Italy's football team continued their dominance under legendary head coach Vittorio Pozzo, winning the gold medal in these Olympics between their two consecutive World Cup victories (1934 and 1938). Much like the successes of German athletes, this triumph was claimed by supporters of Benito Mussolini's regime as a vindication of the superiority of the fascist system.

Austria won the silver; a controversial win after Hitler called for a rematch of the quarterfinals match to discount Peru's 4–2 win over Austria. The Peruvian national Olympic team refused to play the match again and withdrew from the games. In the quarter-finals of the football tournament, Peru beat Austria 4–2 in extra-time. Peru rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final 15 minutes of normal time. During extra-time, Peruvian fans allegedly ran onto the field and attacked an Austrian player. In the chaos, Peru scored twice and won, 4–2. However, Austria protested and the International Olympic Committee ordered a replay without any spectators. The Peruvian government refused and their entire Olympic squad left in protest as did Colombia. Leni Riefenstahl - Olympia 36 In 1936, Hitler invited Riefenstahl to film the Olympic Games in Berlin, a film which Riefenstahl claimed had been commissioned by the International Olympic Committee. She also went to Greece to take footage of the games' original site at Olympia, where she was aided by Greek photographer Nelly, along with route of the inaugural torch relay.

This material became Olympia, a successful film which has since been widely noted for its technical and aesthetic achievements. She was one of the first filmmakers to use tracking shots in a documentary, placing a camera on rails to follow the athletes' movement, and she is noted for the slow motion shots included in the film. Riefenstahl's work on Olympia has been cited as a major influence in modern sports photography. Riefenstahl filmed competitors of all races, including African-American Jesse Owens in what would later become famous footage. Olympia was very successful in Germany after it premiered for Hitler's 49th birthday in 1938, and its international debut led Riefenstahl to embark on an American publicity tour in an attempt to secure commercial release. The film was released in two parts: 'Olympia 1. Teil — Fest der Völker' (Festival of Nations) and 'Olympia 2. Teil — Fest der Schönheit' (Festival of Beauty). In 1937, Riefenstahl told a reporter for the Detroit News: "To me, Hitler is the greatest man who ever lived.

He truly is without fault, so simple and at the same time possessed of masculine strength". She arrived in New York City in November 1938, five days before Kristallnacht, or 'night of broken glass'; when news of the event reached America, Riefenstahl maintained that Hitler was innocent. On 18 November, she was received by Henry Ford in Detroit and Olympia was shown at "The Chicago Engineers Club" two days later. Avery Brundage stated that it was "The greatest Olympic film ever made" and Riefenstahl left for Hollywood, where she was received by the German Consul Georg Gyssling, on 24 November. She negotiated with Louis B. Mayer and on 8 December, Walt Disney brought her on a three-hour tour showing her the on-going production of Fantasia.

After the Goebbels Diaries surfaced, researchers learned that Riefenstahl had been friendly with Joseph Goebbels and his wife, Magda, attending the opera with them and coming to the Goebbels' parties, however, Riefenstahl maintained that Goebbels was upset that she had rejected his advances and was jealous of her influence on Hitler, seeing her as an internal threat; therefore, his diaries could not be trusted. By later accounts, Goebbels thought highly of Riefenstahl's filmmaking but was angered with what he saw as her overspending on the Nazi-provided filmmaking budgets. LENI RIEFENSTAHL was born in Berlin in 1902. She studied painting and started her artistic career as a dancer. She became already so famous after her first dance hat Max Reinhardt engaged her for the 'Deutsches Theater'. An injury of the knee put an end to her sensational career. After that, she became famous as an actress, a film director, a film producer and a film reporter.

She also became world-renowned as an actress in the films 'Der heilige Berg' (The Holy Mountain) (1926), 'Der große Sprung' (The Great Leap) (1927), 'Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü' (The White Hell of Piz Palü) (1929), 'Stürme über dem Mont Blanc' (Storms Over Mont Blanc) (1930), 'Der weiße Rausch' (The White Noise) (1931), 'Das Blaue Licht' (The Blue Light) (1932) and 'SOS Eisberg' (1933).

Her greatest success she made with the documentary film 'Triumph des Willens' (The Triumph of the Will) named after the Reich Party Congress 1934 in Nuremberg which got the highest awards: The gold medal in Venice in 1935 and the gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937, however, at the end of the war this film destroyed Leni Riefenstahl's career, for now it had no longer been recognized as a piece of art but been condemned as a National Socialist propaganda film. Her world-famous film about the Olympic games was equally well received. That film included two parts, part I 'Fest der Völker' (Festival of the Nations) and part 2 'Fest der Schönheit' , (Festival of Beauty) and did also get the highest awards: the gold medal in Paris in 1937, the first price in Venice as the world's best film in 1938, the Olympic Award by the IOC in 1939, and in 1956 it had been classified as one of the world's best ten films.

Question: Who commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to make Olympia, the first documentary film on the Olympic Games at the 1936 Berlin Games?
Answer: International Olympic Committee