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Letters They Wouldn't Publish

December 30, 2004

Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post

Dear editor:

Your December 29 obituary of the noted author and literary critic Susan Sontag referred to her controversial statements on various foreign policy issues, but did not mention one of Sontag’s most important public stands--her startling about-face with regard to Nazi propaganda filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. Chosen by Adolf Hitler to direct films glorifying the Nazi regime, such as “Triumph of the Will” (1935) and “Olympiad” (1938), Riefenstahl wrote to Hitler after his 1940 conquest of Paris: “Your deeds exceed the power of human imagination. They are without equal in the history of mankind. How can we [the German people] ever thank you?”

In a 1965 essay, Sontag wrote that Riefenstahl’s pro-Nazi films “transcend the categories of propaganda or even reportage.” In effect, Sontag was separating Riefenstahl the filmmaker from Riefenstahl the Nazi propagandist. A decade later, however, Sontag reversed herself. In a 1975 essay, she denounced Riefenstahl as “a leading propagandist for the Third Reich,” someone who “completely identified with the Nazi era” and sharply dismissed the notion that Riefenstahl’s filmmaking talent could be judged separately from the political (Nazi) purposes that her films served.

Sontag deserves credit for her willingness to concede that she had been wrong about Riefenstahl. Unfortunately, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has not done likewise.
At the 2004 Oscar Awards ceremony, Riefenstahl was included in the Academy’s memorial tribute to recently-deceased figures from the movie industry, feted alongside legitimate artists such as Gregory Peck and Elia Kazan. The Academy should have explained that Riefenstahl was an example of how art can be perverted to promote fascism, racism, and genocide.

Susan Sontag was wrong to praise Leni Riefenstahl in 1965, and the Motion Picture Academy was wrong to glorify the Nazi filmmaker at the Oscars ceremony last year. The difference between the two is that Sontag admitted her error.

Sincerely,

Dr. Rafael Medoff
Director
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
Melrose Park, PA

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Nazi War Criminals in Arab Countries
May 10, 2006