Alexandra Ludewig

LENI RIEFENSTAHL'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE NUBA: In Search of the Sublime

Leni Riefenstahl, a legend recently deceased at more than 100 years of age, is perhaps best known for her association with Hitler in the form of her films Olympia and Triumph of the Will, and she has provoked controversy ever since. This paper will focus on the lesser-known African travel books which Riefenstahl published in Germany between 1972 and 1976. Therein she presents images of Nubian people taken in the Sudanese mountains which seem to echo her previous work in their portrayal of physical perfection. While her pictures of the Nubian people have so far been looked at as a homogeneous body of work, the following analysis will concentrate on the qualitative difference between Riefenstahls first and subsequent Nuba photo-publications and her changing motivations. Riefenstahls romantic quest to capture the innocence of Africa and her desire for renewal and salvation on the edges of civilization, which were at the centre of her first visit to the region, are to be seen in stark contrast to the driving force behind following visits, when she sought to push into an even more unknown and wilder Africa, whereby her camera attempted to produce images reminiscent of a sublime. I will argue that, in doing so, Riefenstahl regressed into producing Eurocentric and sensationalist depictions of ‘her Africans’. Likewise, her role as an agent for change is viewed critically against her self-perception as an anthropological conservationist; her pictures are analysed together with her own commentary. Her narrative accompanying the photos seems to diminish the power of her images and may affect her reputation as a great visual artist as it appears to suggest doubtful motives.

A German 'Heimat' further east and in the Baltic region? Contemporary German film as a provocation

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, unification and the subsequent reinvention of the nation, German filmmakers have revisited their countrys ‘Heimatfilm’ traditions with a view to placing themselves creatively in the context of its intellectual and artistic heritage. However, German directors like Ute Badura, Volker Koepp, Andreas Dresen, Peter Welz and Andreas Kleinert, choose an Eastern setting for their films – rather than alpine or heath landscapes – as they ascribe symbolic value to the Baltic region and former German territories in the East. In many instances their films culminate at the sea which stands for the rough elements of nature as experienced in numero u s maritime disasters in the untamed tidal waters of Germanys limited coastline. The ocean drives home the message that the only certainty in life is change. But why did they choose the contested Eastern German territories and the Baltic Sea? Is this reorientation and paradigm shift in the Heimat genre from the west to the east a rapprochement or, rather, a territorial claim? Are the shores of the Baltic Sea perhaps expressing a yearning for former German territories further east that were lost after 1945? This article will probe several interpretations of the Baltic shore as a cinematic motif.

Documenting self-loathing or ‘We are proud of not being proud’: Neukölln Unlimited and Prinzessinnenbad as examples of failed integration

The experiences of six adolescents in Berlin, as depicted in two documentaries, serve as examples of failed integration. These young people, some with and some without a migrant background, allow glimpses into their lives in Neukölln Unlimited (2010) by Agostino Imondi and Dietmar Ratsch, and in Bettina Blümner’s Prinzessinnenbad / Pool of Princesses (2007). This article highlights how the films corroborate the findings made by social system theorist Ulrich Schmidt-Denter about disaffected youth in Germany. He argues that German self-loathing is a significant reason for the failure of many migrants and their children to integrate. An apparently specifically German tendency to observe and reflect on oneself critically seems to sabotage integration and aspiration. To illustrate how both documentaries validate Schmidt-Denter’s findings, I analyse the six protagonists’ attitudes to themselves and others, demonstrating that they contradict the diagnosis of a new German norm in relation to national identity.

Visualising a community in incarceration: Images from civilian internees on Rottnest Island and in Ruhleben During the first world war

This article analyses wartime images created by civilian internees during their incarceration in 1914/1915. Their paintings, sketches and photographs are used to create a sense of a civil community and challenge stories about relentless hostility. As the juxtaposed images from the Ruhleben Camp near Berlin and the Rottnest Island Internment Camp in Australia show, cross-cultural encounters between Germans and Australians were experienced and depicted with striking similarities. Generally, descriptions and discussions of civilian and POW internment were over-determined by propaganda and censorship, but this paper seeks to highlight a more private and humane side of internment, as captured by pen, paint and camera.

Geschichte, Geschichten und Mythen in Dea Lohers Olgas Raum

Over the past few decades, Germanys division and subsequent unification have altered he way the countrys history is understood, with Eastern and Western narratives needing to merge into a new master narrative. The different accounts of the life and death of the Jewish-German communist Olga Benario, partner of the Brazilian freedom fighter, Luis Carlos Prestes, serve as a powerful case study for Germanys author Dea Loher. In her theatre play Olgas Room (1994) the empty stage walls are used in such a way as to serve as a screen for history, her stories and myths, before the actors deconstruct these walls themselves by disclosing their own tragic flaws. In the process, the construction mechanisms that lie behind the history and stories are revealed. The audience is thereby pushed into an active reception role, not least when left with the empty space which Olga and the other actors leave one by one. Escapism into a myth is no longer possible; after all, the realisation that violence and general fallibility are profoundly human prevents this folly.