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| The Victory of Faith | |
|---|---|
 1933 German film poster | |
| Directed by | Leni Riefenstahl |
| Written by | Leni Riefenstahl |
| Produced by | Leni Riefenstahl |
| Starring | Adolf Hitler Rudolf Hess Hermann Göring Julius Streicher Joseph Goebbels Ernst Röhm |
| Cinematography | Sepp Allgeier Franz Weihmayr Walter Frentz Richard Quaas Paul Tesch |
| Edited by | Leni Riefenstahl Waldemar Gaede |
| Music by | Herbert Windt |
Production companies | Propagandaministerium Hauptabteilung Film |
| Distributed by | Universum Film AG |
Release date |
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Running time | 64 minutes |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
Der Sieg des Glaubens (English:The Victory of Faith,Victory of Faith, orVictory of the Faith) is the first Nazipropaganda film directed byLeni Riefenstahl. Her film recounts the FifthParty Rally of theNazi Party, which occurred inNuremberg, Germany, from 30 August to 3 September 1933.[1] The film is of great historic interest because it showsAdolf Hitler andErnst Röhm on close and intimate terms, before Hitler had Röhm killed during theNight of the Long Knives on 1 July 1934. As he then sought toremove Röhm from German history, Hitler ordered all known copies of the film be destroyed, and it was consideredlost until a surviving copy was found in the 1980s inEast Germany.
The form of the film is very similar to her later and much more expansive film of the 1934 rally,Triumph of the Will.Der Sieg des Glaubens, which was funded and promoted by theNazi Party, celebrates the victory of the Nazis in achieving power when Hitler assumed the role ofChancellor of Germany in January 1933, and is consideredNazi propaganda.[citation needed]
Like herNazi propaganda films of 1935, the shortTag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht (Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces) and the classicpropaganda featureTriumph of the Will,Der Sieg des Glaubens documents a Nazi Party rally, the Fifth NSDAP Congress, in a straight chronological format. It has no voiceover or commentary. The activities captured include the welcoming of foreign diplomats and other party members and politicians – such asFranz von Papen – at the Nuremberg train station; Adolf Hitler's arrival at the airport and his meeting with important party members such asJoseph Goebbels andHermann Göring; massiveSturmabteilung (SA, colloquially known as "Brownshirts") parades; and Hitler's speech on the assumption of power by the party, and the tenth anniversary of the German National Socialist movement.
The events shown are in roughly chronological order, starting with the arrival of Hitler inNuremberg and the welcome given by the NurembergGauleiter,Julius Streicher.Rudolf Hess is shown sitting next to Hitler, and the Fuhrer passes him a bunch of flowers given to him by admirers. Hitler is also shown in several cameos withErnst Röhm, then leader of the SA. The welcome includes a speech from a senior official of the ItalianNational Fascist Party,Arturo Marpicati [it], with conveyed greetings fromBenito Mussolini. It is followed by the rally on the vast parade ground recently built byAlbert Speer, and includes a shot of aZeppelinairship floating by, complete with swastika on the tailfin. There is also a separate rally ofHitler Youth, with an introduction byBaldur von Schirach. There follows a march past in the streets of the old city, with the party leaders receiving the salutes of the massedgoosestepping ranks of the SA and theSS. Familiar faces includeHermann Göring and a brief cameo appearance ofHeinrich Himmler, who would be the star of Riefenstahl's next propaganda film,The Triumph of the Will, after his and Göring's successful efforts incite Hitler to massacre the leadership of the SA.
Marching troops feature again in the final sequences in the main parade ground, with tributes to the fallen from Hitler and Röhm, and various flag ceremonies which appear to have quasi-religious significance to the members of the party. The shots of marching feet and legs has an almost hypnotic effect on the viewer, well parodied bya later British wartime short which edits the time of the marching to the popular song "The Lambeth Walk".[[[Schichlegruber Doing the Lambeth Walk#{{{section}}}|contradictory]]]
Ernst Röhm, head of the SA and, at the time, the second most powerful man within the Nazi Party, is prominent inThe Victory of Faith. In less than a year, during theNight of the Long Knives, Röhm and many of his lieutenants would be executed under Hitler's orders. Hitler personally roused Röhm from his bed at his lakeside hotel when he arrested him for allegedtreason in devising a plot against Hitler, a trumped up charge created by Himmler, Göring andReinhard Heydrich. All references to Röhm were ordered to be erased from German history, which included the destruction of all known copies of the film in 1934, probably on Hitler's order.[2]
The 1935 filmTriumph of the Will was produced to replace it but differs in that the upper hierarchy of the Party, "Hitler's paladins",[3] do not receive nearly as much attention in the later film as they did in the earlier one.
Riefenstahl's next propaganda film,Triumph of the Will, which documented the next year's party rally, follows a similar script, which is evident when one sees both films side by side. For example, the city ofNuremberg scenes – down to the shot of a cat that is included in a car-driving sequence in both films. There are panning shots across the roofs of the old town, showing the city awakening before the rally starts in earnest. The camera angles and editing that made Riefenstahl'sTriumph of the Will a ground-breaking film are already demonstrated inThe Victory of Faith. Furthermore,Herbert Windt reused much of the musical score for this film in the later one, which he also scored.
The film premiered in Berlin on 1 December 1933, and around 20 million Germans watched the film.[4]
After the war, it was assumed that all copies had been destroyed, including Riefenstahl's personal copy, making it alost film. In 1986, a copy turned up in theGerman Democratic Republic's film archives.[5][6] Leni Riefenstahl's personal copy was later discovered in the UK as she left a copy there in 1934.[citation needed] That is the sole surviving copy which has been remastered.[citation needed]
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