Remembrance Watching the Newsreels

• Share

Riefenstahl, 87, who served the Nazi cause by filming such propaganda masterpieces as Triumph of the Will, attended one of Hitler's regular movie nights at his Berchtesgaden retreat in late August 1939.

Before the main feature, as usual, the weekly newsreel was shown. The camera showed Moscow. A troop parade on Red Square. Stalin appeared in close-up. I watched Hitler intently looking at Stalin's face. Hitler interrupted, asking the projectionist to repeat the sequence two or three times. Visibly excited, he commented, "I rather like the way this man looks. I believe one could come to terms with him." Then he rose and retired to his room.