Leni Riefenstahl

Birthday: August 22, 1902 in Berlin, Germany

Birth Name: Helene 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 Le triomphe de la volonté (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. Show less «

I told Hitler that filming the party congress was too difficult for a girl. I told him the men are j...Show more »

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. Show less «

[In a 1993 interview, commenting on her work with the Nazi party] "Being sorry isn't nearly enough, ...Show more »

[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." Show less «

Really, if I start a work I forget food. I forget that I am a woman. I forget my dress, I only see m...Show more »

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. Show less «

I filmed the truth as it was then. Nothing more.

If I, as so many other colleagues, would have worked for the sake of money, I could have become a mi...Show more »

If I, as so many other colleagues, would have worked for the sake of money, I could have become a millionaire. But money was of no importance to me. I worked on a film for years until I thought it artistically perfected. I was my own boss, nobody could tell me what to do. Had I ever had the impression that my freedom as a creative artist would be limited, I would have gone abroad. Show less «

[recalling at age 83 her 1936 film Les dieux du stade, la fête des peuples (1938), which ident...Show more »

[recalling at age 83 her 1936 film Les dieux du stade, la fête des peuples (1938), which identified her with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party] "They killed me then. I am a ghost." Show less «

I was never Hitler's mistress - although I was dazzled by him. These are nothing but lies. It is sen...Show more »

I was never Hitler's mistress - although I was dazzled by him. These are nothing but lies. It is senseless to call me the queen of the Nazis. I have never spoken a word about politics. It is all lies and forgeries. If I had really been a Nazi I would have killed myself, like Eva Braun. I have never said that Hitler was handsome and intelligent. I am not an idiot. I have never seen mass executions and I have never seen a concentration camp. Show less «

Leni Riefenstahl

Leni Riefenstahl's FILMOGRAPHY

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