Editing Leni Riefenstahl (section)

===World War II===
[[File:Leni Riefenstahl - Końskie, Poland - prisoners shot - 1939.png|thumb|The controversial photo taken on 12 (for some other sources, 5) September 1939 in [[Końskie]], Poland, in which Riefenstahl is crying and is visibly shocked.]]
When [[Invasion of Poland|Germany invaded Poland]] on 1 September 1939, Riefenstahl was photographed in Poland wearing a military uniform and a pistol on her belt in the company of German soldiers; she had gone to Poland as a war correspondent.{{sfn|Robert 2013}}{{sfn|James 2007}} On 12 September, she was in the town of [[Końskie]] when 30 civilians were executed in retaliation for an alleged attack on German soldiers.{{sfn|Harris 2007}} According to her [[memoir]], Riefenstahl tried to intervene but a furious German soldier held her at gunpoint and threatened to shoot her on the spot.{{sfn|James 2007}} She said she did not realize the victims were Jews.{{sfn|James 2007}} According to another account given by a German officer, Riefenstahl had asked that the Jews be removed from the market, which was relayed to the soldiers as "Get rid of the Jews", thus leading to the massacre.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/aug/28/film-suggests-nazis-propagandist-leni-riefenstahl-had-role-in-1939-massacre|title=Film suggests Nazis' lead propagandist had role in 1939 massacre|date=28 August 2024|first=Kate|last=Connolly|website=The Guardian}}</ref> Photographs of a distraught Riefenstahl survive from that day.{{sfn|James 2007}} Nevertheless, by 5 October 1939, Riefenstahl was back in [[History of Poland (1939–45)|occupied Poland]] filming Hitler's [[Invasion of Poland#Aftermath|victory parade in Warsaw]].{{sfn|Harris 2007}} Afterwards, she left Poland and chose not to make any more Nazi-related films.{{sfn|Moore 2003}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2004-0021, Polen, Truppenbesuch von Leni Riefenstahl.jpg|thumb|left|Riefenstahl as a war correspondent in Poland, 1939]]

On 14 June 1940, the day Paris was declared an [[open city]] by the French and occupied by German troops, Riefenstahl wrote to Hitler in a [[telegram]], "With indescribable joy, deeply moved and filled with burning gratitude, we share with you, my Führer, your and Germany's greatest victory, the entry of German troops into Paris. You exceed anything human imagination has the power to conceive, achieving deeds without parallel in the history of mankind. How can we ever thank you?"{{sfn|Harris 2007}} She later explained, "Everyone thought the war was over, and in that spirit I sent the cable to Hitler".{{sfn|Riding 2003}} Riefenstahl was friends with Hitler for 12 years.{{sfn|Mathews}} However, her relationship with Hitler severely declined in 1944 after her brother died on the Russian Front.{{sfn|Moore 2003}}

After the Nuremberg rallies trilogy and ''Olympia'', Riefenstahl began work on the movie she had tried and failed to direct once before, namely ''Tiefland''.{{sfn|Kenrick|2006|p=197}}{{sfn|Trimborn|2007}} On Hitler's direct order, the [[Government of Nazi Germany|German government]] paid her {{Reichsmark|7 million}} in compensation.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://riefenstahl.askdefinebeta.com/| title = "Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (August 22 1902 – September 8 2003)"}}</ref> From 23 September until 13 November 1940, she filmed in [[Krün]] near [[Mittenwald]].{{sfn|Kenrick|2006|p=197}} The extras playing Spanish women and farmers were drawn from Romani detained in a camp at [[Salzburg|Salzburg-Maxglan]] who were forced to work with her.{{sfn|Kenrick|2006|p=197}} Filming at the [[Babelsberg Studios]] near Berlin began 18 months later in April 1942.{{sfn|Kenrick|2006|p=197}} This time [[Sinti]] and [[Romani people|Roma]] people from the [[Berlin-Marzahn concentration camp|Marzahn]] detention camp near Berlin were compelled to work as extras.{{sfn|Kenrick|2006|p=197}} Almost to the end of her life, despite overwhelming evidence that the concentration camp occupants that had been forced to work on the movie were later sent to the [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz death camp]], Riefenstahl continued to maintain that all the film extras survived.{{sfn|Trimborn|2008|pp=206–208}}{{sfn|Mathews}} Riefenstahl sued filmmaker Nina Gladitz, who said Riefenstahl personally chose the extras at their holding camp; Gladitz had found one of the Romani survivors and matched his memory with stills of the movie for a documentary Gladitz was filming.{{sfn|Taylor 2007}} The German court ruled largely in favour of Gladitz, declaring that Riefenstahl had known the extras were from a concentration camp, but they also agreed that Riefenstahl had not been informed the Romani would be sent to [[Auschwitz]] after filming was completed.{{sfn|Taylor 2007}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2004-0020, Polen, Truppenbesuch von Leni Riefenstahl.jpg|thumb|Riefenstahl instructing her film crew in Poland, 1939]]

This issue came up again in 2002, when Riefenstahl was 100 years old and she was taken to court by a Roma group for denying the Nazis had exterminated Romani.{{sfn|Connolly 2002}} Riefenstahl apologized and said, "I regret that [[Sinti]] and Roma [people] had to suffer during the period of National Socialism. It is known today that many of them were murdered in [[concentration camp]]s".{{sfn|Connolly 2002}}

In October 1944 the production of ''Tiefland'' moved to [[Barrandov Studios]] in [[Prague]] for interior filming.{{sfn|University of Washington 2008}} Lavish sets made these shots some of the most costly of the film.{{sfn|University of Washington 2008}} The film was not edited and released until almost ten years later.{{sfn|University of Washington 2008}}

The last time Riefenstahl saw Hitler was when she married Peter Jacob on 21 March 1944.{{sfn|Riding 2003}} Riefenstahl and Jacob divorced in 1946.{{sfn|Heck-Rabi|1984|p=126}} As Germany's military situation became impossible by early 1945, Riefenstahl left Berlin and was [[hitchhiking]] with a group of men, trying to reach her mother, when she was taken into custody by American troops.{{sfn|University of Washington 2008}} She walked out of a holding camp, beginning a series of escapes and arrests across the chaotic landscape.{{sfn|University of Washington 2008}} At last making it back home on a bicycle, she found that American troops had seized her house.{{sfn|University of Washington 2008}} She was surprised by how kindly they treated her.{{sfn|University of Washington 2008}}