Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Ruben, I don't know if she supported the Holocaust, but I certainly would not compare her to Kaj Munk (for the uninitiated, he was a Danish priest and poet who was executed by the Germans in 1944). While he did have some sympathy and admiration for Hitler in the first half of the 1930s, as did many intellectuals in Britain and the USA, at least from 1938 onwards he was strongly anti-Nazi and once the German occupied Denmark he spoke out against them very forcefully--that is why he was shot, after all. Hamsun is a more difficult case, since his pro-Nazi activities were extensive and continued all the way through the end of the war and indeed afterwards. But at least with Hamsun I can read his main works, like Hunger, and enjoy them as great literature that has nothing to do with the Nazis. With Riefenstahl, her most important work was directly in service of Hitler, such as her 1936 Olympics film. So I think there is a difference. I will read Hamsun but I will not look at Riefenstahl's films or pictures. BTW--I do not hate the Germans. My father, who lived through the Holocaust and fought the Wehrmacht for 2 years, does not either. In fact, he was married to a German woman before he married my mother, and some of his closest friends are German. I have German friends, I speak German, I enjoy going there etc. But for me Riefenstahl is off limits. Nathan Ruben wrote: > Hi Nathan > I dont think Riefenstahl was a supporter of the holocaust, nor was Knut > Hamsun - Norway, nor Kaj Munk, Denmark and many, many other artists of > writing, fine art and photography. A lot of people have been seduced by > strong ideologys and I do think that Riefenstahl was as good as any good > artist that portais something that the artist really believes in. I have > several books on her pictures and in a way I respect her for standing by > her > actions. She was a true believer in what she worked with but I don think > she > was a Nazi after the war - she just stod by what she did during that time. > My family was engaged in the resistance and my grandfather was forced from > his job as an editor on the newspaper Berlingske Tidende by the Nazis > because he, since the early 30ties, had critisized what was going on in > Germany, so I am in no way into revising history or anything like it - I > just think there are far worse crooks then Riefenstahl! but few, in her > time, as brilliant at staging her imagery. > On the other hand I do respect your oppinion on Riefenstahl as do I respect > any persons choice not to forgive what went on during world war two as well > as what went on in Russia. > ruben > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Nathan Wajsman" <nathan.wajsman@planet.nl> > To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> > Sent: Monday, August 23, 2004 6:19 AM > Subject: Re: [Leica] Leni Riefenstahl > > > >>Marc James Small wrote: >> >> >>>Are we to judge them as propagandists for the ideologies of the states > > in > >>>which they live or are we to judge them as technicians producing some of >>>the finest cinematography ever made? We know little of Eisenstein's >>>feelings but we do have a really good feel on Reifenstahl. >>> >> >>To just look at the technical prowess of someone like Riefenstahl >>without reference to her enthusiastic support for the Nazis is sterile. >>She was not just someone who played along with the regime in order to >>survive; she was a committed supporter. As such I reject her work >>totally. I have no desire to have a book of her photographs on my shelf, >>just as I have no need to have Mein Kampf there. >> >>Nathan >>-- >>Nathan Wajsman >>Almere, The Netherlands >> >>General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com >>Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Leica Users Group. >>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > -- Nathan Wajsman Almere, The Netherlands General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com