–  Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at The Foundation for Economic Education

A marvelous feature of the digital age is that we have opportunities to see films that were nearly impossible to view even decades ago. In some cases, the films were banned.

The cult of leadership becomes the cult of the state which becomes the cult of death.This was the case with the 1935 Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will.” Despite its palpable evil, it was one of the great cinematic achievements of its time. Its director, Leni Riefenstahl, earned her reputation as one of the most brilliant filmmakers of the century.

This film, the making of which haunted Riefenstahl’s career until her death in 2003, was censored for decades in Germany and large parts of Europe. It was very hard to find in the United States. No theater would show it. Blockbuster would not carry it.

It is deeply tragic that this film was ever censored because it provides an unforgettable, unprecedented, and deeply engaging look at the truth about the genocidal blood cult of the Nazi Party and the pathological megalomania of the cult’s high priest Adolf Hitler, along with his minions and supplicants.

Today you can watch this remarkable film on Amazon for a few bucks, and a lesser-quality version is free on Youtube. And you should watch it. If you have ever been confused about why Nazism happened to the world, how it is that Hitler came to power and drove a great nation into total ruin, how the Nazis came to preside over one of history’s most efficient and maniacal killing machines ever constructed, this film provides an answer.

Hitler was the savior of a nation, the physical embodiment of the soul of a whole people.The film chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, a four-day mystical political revival that included 700,000 people. It featured many of Hitler’s speeches, if you can call them that. The film was made for wide distribution, and designed to rally the masses of German people who were not necessarily interested in politics. It’s very difficult for any viewer today to understand how and why it would achieve that aim. What it actually reveals is the fullness of evil that politics and personality cults can create in the world.

And keep in mind while you watch that this entire film was made before the war, before the annexation of Austria, before the invasion of Poland, before there was any policy of Lebensraum, and even before the exclusionary and discriminatory laws against Jews. At this stage of its descent into barbarism, it was just a political movement, without overtly warlike ambitions. Germany was being Nazified based on ideology alone. This allows us to have a close look at the composite parts of its praxis and belief structure, stripped of its later imperialism, genocidal policies, and eventual death.

The Personality Cult

At the center of the film is Hitler himself, who is shown arriving in a small aircraft and being driven through throngs of adoring fans lining the streets. How they love him and how he loves them back! He was the savior of a nation, the physical embodiment of the soul of a whole people. The viewer is repeatedly shown how his personal genius, his virtues of courage and devotion to the cause, would somehow carry Germany from its humiliated condition toward a new greatness that would last 1,000 years and beyond unto immortality…. read more here