Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will: A Work of Art Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi documentary, Triumph of the Will, however technically dazzling and artfully made, contradicts the sinister and inhumane actions of the Nazi regime the film celebrates. This propaganda film commissioned by Adolf Hitler, documents a 1934 Nazi Rally in Nuremberg, Germany. The film inventively presents the rally’s grandeur, swastika banners waving gaily, thousands of German people eager to see and hear Hitler’s address. Under Hitler’s authorization and Riefenstahl’s direction this film glorified and mysticized the Nazi party. The film was used to legitimize the Third Reich, thus gaining support for action by the German people.
With consideration to the current setting of this story being in this sort of war zone, swampy, tall grass, eerie type of environment, yields similarity to the war zone in Vietnam. Which these so called “bad boys” or “unwitting soldiers” as Walker puts them, served as soldiers of war throughout the story. The statement indicated by the Michael Walker in quotations represents the setting of this story being that of Vietnam. This means the reader’s interpretation of the story could be different from someone else’s because he is comparing the setting of this story to the setting of the Vietnam War. Someone without any knowledge of the Vietnam War would not link the setting of this story and that of the Vietnam War together.
The part of the given statement to which many historians take particular issue with is that “…[Riefenstahl] intended to glorify the Nazis”. The Hull2 school contends that the Nazi cinema was an ideological free trade zone - as long as films were popular and stayed away from overtly political topics - thereby labelling Riefenstahl an artist only. Popular opinion labels Riefenstahl a propagandist. In 1947 the French classified her as a Fellow Traveller – A Nazi sympathiser. More recent schools of thought such as that expressed by Linda Schulte-Sasse3 suggest that filmmakers including Riefenstahl were indeed propagandists, but that this is justifiable in context, therefore that they also ought to be praised for their contribution to culture.
However, this was not manifested in reality, in which Hitler maintained power through his Kommandogewalt and appeal to the German public. This is highlighted in Kershaw’s statement that Hitler’s “power was charismatic, not institutional”. Hitler’s self-appointed omnipotence was only feasible due to his popular support from the German Volk and not any leadership structure. Hitler’s capacity to control a totalitarian state was also undermined by the nature of his rise to power. The Hitler Myth, which depicts Hitler as Germany’s saviour from the “ruin” following World War 1 and the Treaty of Versailles, undermined his ability to lead the Nazi state through means of violence and terror because his power
Totalitarianism from Total Domination In the essay “Total Domination,” written by Hannah Arendt; she discusses Nazism in the form totalitarianism as “True Terror”. If not for the survivors of the cruel brutality of totalitarian states, it would almost be impossible to believe it ever happened. What is Totalitarianism? Totalitarianism is a form of government in our political system, which gives absolute power to one ruler (dictator) who cannot be restricted by any type of constitution or law. The rise of totalitarianism governments started before WWII, but after the Great Depression when fascism became an ideology of society.
Trench warfare led to the development of the concrete pill box, a hardened blockhouse that could be used to deliver machine gun fire. They could be placed across a battlefield with interlocking fields of fire. [1] Because attacking an entrenched enemy was so difficult, tunneling underneath
Rino Kim English 101 Essay 2 War is Pain Wars are often a time filled with violence and chaos. Times of war bring heavy emotions and actions. In Horst Faas’ War is Hell and Malcom Browne’s Burning Monk, both pictures portray the rebellion and hatred of war. They use different elements of pictures like dominance and subtle objects and color to reveal the negative emotions felt towards war in those times. War brings death and destruction to anyone involved.
They demand total conformity of all the people and their ideas and information is displayed through effective use of propaganda (TV, radio, press and education.) Totalitarian states can be applied to most political beliefs (fascism-Hitler, communism-Stalin etc) Fascists and communists may not have much in common on the belief side of things but in order to achieve a totalitarian state, both had to manipulate the key social, economic and political structures of the current government to achieve the rule they wanted. Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor on the 30 January 1933, by Paul von Hindenburg; the president at that time. When Hindenburg died on August 2nd 1934, Hitler
portrays him with a young girl shaking her hand lovingly, below was the text ‘a man of peace and not a war monger as the world propaganda has depicted and slandered him’. The pamphlet declared Hitler a people’s man and that everybody loved him. Churchill according to Nazi propaganda was frivolous and stupid who enjoyed war and thus instigated it. The Nazis had paraphernalia like theatrical effects like martial music, seas of flags, massed ranks of storm troopers, and especially dramatic lighting sometimes using military searchlights, sometimes hand held flaming torches at meetings and rallies to increase the audience’s receptiveness. The comparison to Hitler could not be starker.
An example of this was the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936. Britain and France allowed him to do this and the British released a statement saying Hitler was simply, ‘marching into his back yard.’ This policy taught Hitler that aggression paid off. More importantly, Appeasement scared Stalin. Stalin was the dictator in the U.S.S.R. His army were not advanced enough to stand a chance against even a small German army and he feared Britain and France would not help the Soviets if the Germans invaded them. This therefore led to him signing the Nazi-Soviet pact.