Page "Leni Riefenstahl" Paragraph 24

On June 14, 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 ?” She later explained: “ Everyone thought the war was over, and in that spirit I sent the cable to Hitler ”.

Riefenstahl was friends with Hitler for 12 years, and reports vary as to whether she ever had an intimate relationship with him.

According to Ernst Hanfstaengl, who was a close friend of Hitler throughout the later 1920s and early 1930s, Riefenstahl tried to begin a relationship with Hitler early on but was turned down by him.

For whatever reason, her relationship with Hitler had declined by 1944, when her brother Heinz died on the Russian Front of the war.