Heinz Riefenstahl

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Heinz Riefenstahl around 1926

Heinz Karl Gustav Riefenstahl (born March 5, 1906 in Rixdorf near Berlin , † July 20, 1944 in Latvia , Soviet Union ) was a German engineer. He was the younger brother of Leni Riefenstahl .

family

The siblings Heinz and Leni Riefenstahl as children in a Berlin photo studio, around 1914

He was the son of the master plumber Alfred Theodor Paul Riefenstahl (born October 30, 1878 in Berlin ; † July 16, 1944 in Kitzbühel ) and his wife, the trained seamstress Bertha Ida Riefenstahl (born October 9, 1880 in Włocławek ; † January 14 1965 in Munich ), born Scherlach.

His family was particularly keen to achieve social advancement on the father's side, but was characterized by artistic ambitions on the mother's side, which the father, described by Leni Riefenstahl as despotic, mostly did not support. He developed a very close and partly dependent relationship with his older sister Leni Riefenstahl. Due to his early identifiable character traits, his father wished that his daughter Leni would have been born his son and become his business successor. His son seemed far less suitable for this role. Heinz Riefenstahl is said not to have been promoted by both parents to the same extent as his much more self-confident and extremely ambitious sister Leni. Leni Riefenstahl characterized her brother in her memoir: “Heinz was almost the opposite of me in his disposition. I was active, he was reticent, I was lively, my brother was rather quiet. Nevertheless, we had something in common, the interest in art and beautiful things - to the sorrow of our father, who wanted his son as a partner and successor to his company. "

The family, who lived in the Berlin districts of Wedding (Prinz-Eugen-Straße), Neukölln , Schöneberg and Wilmersdorf , moved to the surrounding area in 1921 to Rauchfangswerder am Zeuthener See (today: Berlin-Schmöckwitz ).

In 1935, Heinz Riefenstahl married Ilse Margarete Rehtmeyer , who was eight years his junior and the daughter of a teacher whom he had met about three years earlier. The seven-year marriage resulted in two children, Eckart and Uta. After repeated breaches of loyalty by Heinz Riefenstahl and at the instigation of his sister, they divorced on December 19, 1942.

Life

In contrast to his older sister, Heinz Riefenstahl was a child primarily adapted to the dominant father and is described as rather calm. He tried to meet his father's demands as well as possible.

After studying engineering at the Technical University in Berlin-Charlottenburg, he managed his father's installation business for ventilation, sanitary and central heating systems on Kurfürstenstrasse as chief engineer or technical director and managing director. Together with the architect Eckart Muthesius , who was almost the same age , for example, he traveled to Indore in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh in order to integrate a climate control system into the Manik Bagh palace planned by the Maharajah Shri Yeshwant Rao Holkar Bahadur.

In the social life of Berlin in the 1930s, Heinz and Leni Riefenstahl were considered "the beautiful siblings", Heinz even as a "dream match". Both appeared together on a variety of occasions and were part of the cream of society in the imperial capital. Heinz was there as her male companion at the premieres of his sister's films, including the premiere of the Nazi party rally film Triumph des Willens on March 28, 1935 in the UFA Palast at Berlin Zoo in front of more than 2,000 spectators, including all the Nazi celebrities. Heinz Riefenstahl developed into a bon vivant because of this and his business success . Both siblings had excellent contacts with Nazi celebrities, military and government agencies, including in particular the architect and later Reich Minister Albert Speer .

When Ilse Rehtmeyer fell in love with Heinz Riefenstahl and accompanied him from then on, she got into a strange-looking kind of rivalry with his sister Leni. It took a while before she noticed how close the two siblings were and how intensively Leni Riefenstahl worked for her brother and her father's company. Heinz Riefenstahl, however, always remained in the shadow of his famous sister. When he was on his own, he was often unsure how to proceed. His sister then indicated the way forward and removed resistance, often at the expense of third parties. Leni Riefenstahl felt responsible for her younger brother Heinz and at the same time tried to ensure and increase his professional success. For this purpose, she placed customers and orders for him through her own professional and social contacts.

In the course of time, Ilse Rehtmeyer found out that a significant part of her future husband's business success was due to the direct placement of orders by Leni Riefenstahl or her contacts with high-ranking Nazi officials. For example, after Heinz Riefenstahl had dropped Ilse in his vehicle at forest restaurants and left her there alone, he met with unknown men "in suits" in a conspiratorial manner. As she later found out, it was about the secret expansion of barracks and military airfields, in whose construction the installation company was involved. This took place against the background of the contrary provisions of the Versailles Treaty and the uninformed German public.

Ilse Rehtmeyer's marriage to Heinz Riefenstahl in 1935 was a love affair, which Leni Riefenstahl did not approve of. Despite the joy about their children, Ilse Riefenstahl had to realize over time that her husband's bond with his sister was much closer and stronger than with his young wife. Leni Riefenstahl's relationship with her sister-in-law was problematic from the start and gradually grew tense. The actress Ellen Schwiers , a confidante of Leni Riefenstahl, recalls: “It's such a family story, which is very unpleasant. I only know that there was no love between the sister-in-law and Leni - on the contrary. "

On December 9, 1935, Heinz and Leni Riefenstahl founded Olympia-Film GmbH , based in Berlin, in which Heinz Riefenstahl held a ten percent share. For the film Olympia alone , his sister received an increased fee of 400,000 Reichsmarks from Goebbels, a huge sum at the time. From this, Heinz Riefenstahl was theoretically entitled to RM 40,000. His contribution to the company was RM 2,000. As General Building Inspector (GBI) for the Reich capital, Albert Speer repeatedly gave Olympia-Film GmbH orders for documentary films from his office on Pariser Platz and also continuously and often provided the installer Riefenstahl with lucrative projects.

Heinz Riefenstahl was made indispensable (uk) from 1936 due to the orders that were increasingly being handed over to him and his father's important military operations and thus temporarily released from active service in the Wehrmacht .

In contrast to his sister Leni, who, through her friend, the Frankish Gauleiter , Stürmer publisher and infamous Jew hater Julius Streicher , took action against Jews (the co-author of her film Das Blaue Licht , Béla Balázs ), Heinz Riefenstahl actively helped when he was asked for help by a friend of Jewish descent whose mother was about to be deported . He immediately contacted a high-ranking SS member who was friends and, in this specific case, obtained the withdrawal of the deportation order.

Ilse Riefenstahl found out that she had been cheated on several times with other women by her husband Heinz. She attempted suicide, but it failed because she was just about to be saved. There was probably no discussion between the spouses; instead Leni Riefenstahl intervened. On behalf of her brother, while twisting the underlying facts, she asked Ilse to agree to a year of separation, during which both spouses could freely pursue their individual needs. During this conversation, Ilse showed her sister-in-law the door. After a previous atonement at the Berlin-Charlottenburg district court, the couple divorced on December 19, 1942. The father was granted custody of the two children.

Heinz Riefenstahl's presence at many social events and in particular the close relationship with his famous sister, the obvious closeness to Nazi leaders and the economic success of the two siblings led to resentment and numerous envy. During the Second World War , these envious people were given the opportunity to denounce . After the annihilation of the 6th Army in the Battle of Stalingrad , an anonymous letter to one of the five Berlin armaments commandos (RüKdo) complained in great detail that Heinz Riefenstahl was resting on the undeniable merits of his famous sister Leni, benefiting from it sustainably and celebrating lavish ones Celebrations while the soldiers at the front stand with their lives for the German people. He is lazy and shows a lack of work: “I am convinced that Miss Riefenstahl [Leni Riefenstahl] acted in good faith when she described the indispensability of her brother to the Reich Minister. Heinz Riefenstahl, however, is if certain youngsters were previously referred to as the only son of their father, the brother of his sister. Even now he still believes that out of consideration for the efficiency of his sister no one can harm him ”.

After Heinz Riefenstahl's position in the uk was lifted, he was considered fit for use in the war (kv) and was drafted to the Eastern Front in May 1943 . He was accused of engaging in “ racial disgrace ” because of his (extramarital) relationship with a woman of Jewish descent . In the following months, despite repeated submissions, his father did not succeed in having his son re-appointed as chief engineer and technical manager of his company, which was classified as important to the war effort. On May 12, 1944, Leni Riefenstahl asked Armaments Minister Albert Speer in writing for advice and help. In it she emphasized that “my brother had never received his UK position through me. Now he is innocently treated with disgrace and shame, apparently only because he is my brother and bears my name ”. SS General Karl Wolff , Heinrich Himmler's chief adjutant , is said to have tried to call Heinz Riefenstahl back from the front in the summer of 1944.

At the age of 38, Heinz Riefenstahl fell as a tank grenadier in the Soviet Union, four days after his father's natural death. Adolf Hitler sent his condolences by telegram. Leni Riefenstahl considered herself responsible for the death of her brother all her life because she failed to ask Adolf Hitler once for something very personal.

In his will, Heinz Riefenstahl transferred custody of his two children to his sister.

literature

  • Leni Riefenstahl: Memoirs . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1991. ISBN 978-3-8135-0154-4 .
  • Lutz Kinkel: The headlights - Leni Riefenstahl and the Third Reich . Europa-Verlag, Hamburg 2001. ISBN 3-203-84109-6 .
  • Jürgen Trimborn: Riefenstahl - A German career. Biography . Aufbau Verlag, Berlin 2002. ISBN 978-3-351-02536-6 , pp. 26ff., 47, 67, 276, 353ff.
  • Ilse Collignon: "Dear Leni ..." - A Riefenstahl remembers . Langen-Müller, Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 978-3-7844-2915-1 .

Video

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Birth register StA Rixdorf II, No. 310/1906
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Karin Wieland: Dietrich & Riefenstahl - The dream of the new woman . Carl Hanser Verlag 2011. ISBN 978-3-446-23770-4 .
  3. ↑ Sandra Maischberger : The immoderation that is in me , 2002, English subtitled version The Immoderation In Me , 59:56 min. (Quotation from approx. 53:55), on: youtube.com
  4. ↑ a b c d e Leni Riefenstahl: Memoirs . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1991. ISBN 978-3-8135-0154-4 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Jens Monath: Leni Riefenstahl - The price of fame . In: ZDF History, on: PHOENIX, March 24, 2018
  6. ↑ a b Leni Riefenstahl - The Amazon Queen . In: Anna Maria Sigmund : The women of the Nazis . Ueberreuter, Vienna 1998. ISBN 3-8000-3699-1 , p. 100.
  7. ↑ a b c Jürgen Trimborn : Leni Riefenstahl . In: The New York Times, March 25, 2007, at: nytimes.com
  8. ↑ Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003) . In: Jewish Virtual Library, at: jewishvirtuallibrary.org
  9. ↑ Ilse Collignon died . In: Hamburger Abendblatt of December 10, 2003, on: abendblatt.de
  10. ↑ Ilse Collignon died at the age of 90 . In: Der Standard from December 14, 2003, on: standard.at
  11. ↑ a b c d e Ilse Collignon: "Dear Leni ..." - A Riefenstahl remembers . Langen-Müller, Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 978-3-7844-2915-1 .
  12. ↑ Alice Schwarzer : Propagandist or Artist? . In: Emma from January 1, 1999, on: emma.de
  13. ↑ Former Ballroom, Manik Bagh Palace, Indore . In: Museum Folkwang , Essen, on: museum-folkwang.de
  14. ↑ a b Peter V. Brinkemper: Leni Riefenstahl's 100th legacy for Hollywood . In: Telepolis of August 22, 2002, on: heise.de
  15. ^ Hanns-Georg Rodek : How Gerhard Schröder sold Leni Riefenstahl . In: Die Welt from April 22, 2013, on: welt.de
  16. ↑ 1 Reichsmark would be equivalent to around 3.50–4.00 euros today.
  17. ↑ The annual income of a worker between 1936 and 1938 was almost RM 2,000, that of an employee or civil servant was around RM 4,000. Walther G. Hoffmann: The growth of the German economy since the middle of the 19th century . Springer, Berlin et al. 1965, pp. 456–509.
  18. ↑ Guido Knopp : Hitler's Useful Idols . C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Bielefeld 2007. ISBN 978-3-570-00835-5 , p. 310.
  19. ↑ "I give Gauleiter Julius Streicher from Nuremberg - editor of the" Stürmer "power of attorney in matters of the demands of the Jew Béla Balázs on me. Leni Riefenstahl"; Letterhead: Hotel Kaiserhof , Berlin W8, December 11, 1933. - This involved an open fee claim on the part of Baláz for authoring services that Leni Riefenstahl did not want to pay, and never did.
  20. ↑ Hanno Loewy : The image of man of the fanatical fatalist or: Leni Riefenstahl, Béla Balázs and The Blue Light . In: Institutional Repository of the University of Konstanz , p. 20. (PDF file; 238 KB)
  21. ↑ From April 1, 1935 up to and including November 21, 1942, the armaments commandos were designated as Wehrwirtschaftsstelle (WWiSt), which were subordinate to so-called Wehrwirtschaftsinspektiven (Wi In) at the military district level.
  22. ^ A b Lutz Kinkel: Occasion Riefenstahl . In: taz of September 4, 2009, at: taz.de
  23. ^ Oksana Bulgakowa: Leni Riefenstahl . Filmmuseum Potsdam (ed.). Henschel Verlag, Berlin 1999. ISBN 978-3-89487-319-6 , p. 86.
  24. ↑ Leni Riefenstahl in deep sorrow . In: Nachrichten für die Truppe , London, 1944. Kraus Reprint, Nendeln / Liechtenstein 1973, vol. 1, p. 250.
  25. ^ Jürgen Trimborn: Riefenstahl - A German career. Biography . Aufbau-Verlag , Berlin 2002. ISBN 978-3-351-02536-6 , p. 353.
  26. ^ Rainer Rother: Leni Riefenstahl - The Seduction of Genius . Bloomsbury Publishing, London et al. 2003. ISBN 978-0-8264-7023-2 , p. 112.
  27. ↑ Cordula Mahr: War literature by women ?: On the depiction of the Second World War in autobiographies after 1960 . Springer-Verlag , Berlin 2017. ISBN 978-3-86226-427-8 , p. 324.
personal data
SURNAME Riefenstahl, Heinz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Riefenstahl, Heinz Karl Gustav (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Rixdorf
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1944
Place of death Latvia , Soviet Union