Triumph of the Will
Triumph of the Will (German: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 propaganda film chronicling the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. The film contains excerpts of speeches given by Nazi leaders at the Congress, including Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess and Julius Streicher, interspersed with footage of massed Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS) troops and public reaction. Its overriding theme is the return of Germany as a great power with Hitler as its leader. It became a major example of film used as propaganda and was well-received at home. Riefenstahl's techniques—such as moving cameras, aerial photography, the use of long-focus lenses to create a distorted perspective, and the revolutionary approach to the use of music and cinematography—have earned Triumph of the Will recognition as one of the greatest propaganda films in history.
- Directed by Leni Riefenstahl. Written by Leni Riefenstahl, Walter Ruttmann, and Eberhard Taubert.
Opening
[edit]- {Screen text after opening credits}
- On 5 September 1934...
- 20 years after the outbreak of the World War...
- 16 years after Germany's Passion...
- 19 months after the beginning of the German Rebirth...
- Adolf Hitler again flew to Nuremberg to review the assembly of his faithful followers.
- It is our will that this state shall endure for a thousand years. We are happy to know that the future is ours entirely!
- We want this people to be hard, not soft, and you must steel yourselves for it in your youth!
- Our party remains as firm as this rock and will not be divided by any force in Germany.
- When our party had only seven men, it already had two principles. First, it wanted to be a party with a true ideology. And second, it wanted to be the one and only power in Germany.
- All upright Germans will be National Socialists, but only the best National Socialists will be party members!
- It is not the State that orders us; but it is we who order the State!
Josef Wagner
[edit]- {Reading an excerpt from Hitler's official proclamation}: No revolution could last forever without leading to total anarchy. Just as the world cannot exist on wars, so they cannot exist on revolutions. Nothing truly great on this earth has ruled for millennia and was forged in decades. The tallest tree has the strongest growth behind it. What must withstand centuries must also need centuries for it to become strong!
Excerpts of speeches
[edit]- It is our unshakable belief in ourselves, it is our hope for today's valued youth, who courageously are charging forward and will one day be called upon to continue the efforts begun in the stormy years of the 1918 Revolution, an event which has gripped all of Germany and the historical importance of which is already being embodied today by the entire German Reich.
- Truth is the basis on which the power of the press stands and falls. Our only demand of the foreign press and our own press, is that they report the truth about Germany.
- Wherever one looks, progress develops, improvements are being made, and new values created. And wherever one looks since last year, there is much industrious activity that will continue in the future.
- A people that does not protect its racial purity will perish!
- One thought must alone dominate all our work: to make the German worker an upright, upstanding, proud and decent citizen, enjoying equal rights with the rest of the Reich!
- As chief of the German justice system, I can only say that since the National Socialist legal system is the foundation of the National Socialist State, for us, our supreme Führer is also supreme judge. And since we know how sacred the principles of justice are to our Führer, we can assure you, fellow citizens, that your life and existence is secure in this National Socialist State of order, freedom, and law!
- May the bright flame of enthusiasm never be extinguished. It alone gives light and warmth to the creative art of modern political propaganda. This art rose from the depths of the people and in order to search out its roots and locate its power, it must always return to these depths. It may be alright to possess power based upon guns, it is however better and more gratifying to win and also to champion the hearts of the people.
- {Opening Speech}: I am opening this, our Sixth Party Congress, in respectful remembrance of Field Marshal, and President of the Reich, Von Hindenburg, who has passed into eternity. We remember the Field Marshal as the first soldier of the Great War, and, thus, also remember our fallen comrades. I welcome the esteemed representatives of foreign nations who honor the Party by their presence, and the Party, in sincere friendship, welcomes especially the representatives of the military forces, now under the command of the Führer. My Führer, around you are gathered the flags and standards of National Socialism. Only when their cloth will have decayed, will humanity looking back, be able to comprehend what you, my Führer, mean to Germany. You are Germany, when you act, the nation acts, when you judge, the people judge! Our gratitude is the pledge to stand by you, through good days and bad, come whatever may. Thanks to your leadership, Germany will achieve her aim to become the homeland -- the homeland for all Germans in the world. You have been the guarantor of victory, you are for us the guarantor of peace! Adolf Hitler!
- {To the audience after Hitler has given the closing speech}:The Party is Hitler! Hitler, however, is Germany, just as Germany is Hitler! Hitler! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!
Dialogue
[edit]- [Konstantin Hierl, Chief of the Reich Labor Service Corps, presents Hitler with 52,000 members of the Reicharbeitsdienst (RAD - Reich Labor Service)]
- Konstantin Hierl: My Führer! I report 52,000 Labor Services men for roll call.
- Adolf Hitler: Hail, my Labor Service men!
- All 52,000 Men {in thundering unison}: Hail, my Führer!
- [Reicharbeitsdienst (RAD) Group Speech]
- RAD Group [speaking in unison]: Here we stand, ready to carry Germany into a new era. Germany!
- RAD Group Leader [with a fanatical expression on his face]: Comrade, where are you from?
- 1st RAD Man: From Friesland.
- RAD Group Leader: And you, comrade, where are you from?
- 2nd RAD Man: From Bavaria.
- RAD Group Leader: And you?
- 3rd RAD Man: From Kaiserstuhl
- 4th RAD Man: From Pomerania.
- 5th RAD Man: And from Königsberg.
- 6th RAD Man: From Silesia.
- 7th RAD Man: From the seaside.
- 8th RAD Man: From the Black Forest.
- 9th RAD Man: From Dresden.
- 10th RAD Man: From the Danube.
- 11th RAD Man: From the Rhine.
- 12th RAD Man: And from the Saar.
- RAD Group: [speaking in unison] One Nation, one Leader, one Reich. GERMANY!
See also
[edit]External links
[edit]
- Triumph of the Will quotes at the Internet Movie Database
- "Triumph of the Will: A Film by Leni Riefenstahl" by David Calvert Smith (Richardson, Tex.: Celluloid Chronicles Press, 1990). A complete screenplay in English.