Leni Riefenstahl

Biography

Leni Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress, and dancer, born in Wedding, Berlin, Germany. She is renowned for her aesthetic innovations in filmmaking, with her most famous work being "Triumph of the Will," a documentary of the 1934 Nazi Party congress in Nuremberg. Riefenstahl's prominence in the Third Reich and her close association with Adolf Hitler led to the decline of her film career after Germany’s defeat in World War II. Following the war, she was arrested but released without charges. Riefenstahl was married to Major Peter Jacob from 1944 to 1947, and later had a long-term partnership with cameraman Horst Kettner until her death on September 8, 2003, in Pöcking, Germany, due to heart failure. Her legacy remains controversial due to her connections to the Nazi regime.