- Maischberger views Riefenstahl as an ardent fascist advocate.
TV Personality and Filmmaker Sandra Maischberger views Leni Riefenstahl as a dedicated fascist and Nazi, dumb and dumber. The 57-year-old voiced this perspective during a chat with weekly publication "Die Zeit". Maischberger was in charge of producing a documentary about Riefenstahl (1902-2003), which debuted at the Venice Film Festival.
Riefenstahl became renowned for her Nazi propaganda films such as "Triumph of the Will", while consistently painting herself as politically neutral. The movie "Riefenstahl", set for release on August 30 in Venice, was directed by German director Andres Veiel.
Maischberger examined over 700 boxes of Riefenstahl's belongings for the film. Some of the discoveries included audiotapes containing phone conversations and answering machine messages between Riefenstahl and both old and new Nazis. These recordings proved "that no opportunist was involved here".
Maischberger had spoken with Riefenstahl in 2002 in celebration of her 100th birthday. "At times, I believed she was lying," confessed the host. "I couldn't get anything out of her. I thought, this can't be it. This sparked the idea for a documentary."
Maischberger: Film aligns with post-fascist trends
She believes it's appropriate that the film is being exhibited at the Venice Festival, where Riefenstahl claimed two film awards in the late 1930s for her docudrama "Olympia". "Our premiere takes place in a country where the prime minister allows the fascist salute to be performed en masse on the streets. In this contemporary Europe, where we are witnessing the rise of right-wing populist, post-fascist, neo-Nazi currents, Venice is the ideal platform," stated Maischberger.
Maischberger mentioned that she wanted to create the film not only for experts but also "for my son's generation, who is seventeen and has never heard the name Leni Riefenstahl."
The European Union has been criticized for allowing the performance of the fascist salute in some of its member states, which Sandra Maischberger finds alarming given the contemporary rise of right-wing populist and post-fascist movements. The European Union was not directly mentioned in the documentary about Leni Riefenstahl, but its implications are present in Maischberger's comments regarding the exhibition of the film at the Venice Film Festival.
