September 5, 1997

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

I believe that we are living in an era fully as transforming and upheaving as were the early 1930 in Germany when the country started cleansing itself of the cultural filth and loathsomeness of the decadent 1920s.

What we are now experiencing, I believe with all my heart, is a deep-cleansing on a global scale, for people see their children drowning in the sewers of contemporary "culture" they permitted through their own indifference and ignorance to pervade and poison every facet of society.

As any era, the Third Reich 1930s had its artists capturing the tenor of the times, and few names are still as revered worldwide for having earned artistic purity as Leni Riefenstahl's.

Riefenstahl was a German filmmaker and a personal friend of Hitler's, who produced the 1934 documentary "Triumph of the Will" depicting the spirit of the rising Third Reich, and the two-part "Olympia" that documented the 1936 Olympics in Germany.

I have never seen the full documentaries, only snippets here and there, but even so, I often thought that if we were permitted air time to run excerpts of Riefenstahl productions, even without comment, every time we are forced to swallow yet another glob of lies about the so-called Holocaust, we wouldn't ever have to write another word - explaining what it is that we explain.

The clips would speak for themselves. Imagine what a year's worth of "Triumph of the Will" on world-wide television would accomplish!

Some time ago, I read Leni Riefenstahl's autobiography, and what struck me most about that bio was that she was not, as she recalled her youthful days, a Hitler devotee in the ideological sense. She respected the man and stood in awe of the times, but she cared more about her art than about his ideology.

This comes as a surprise to many people, but not to me, because I understand that this uniquely gifted woman had the keen eye of the true artist to whom capturing the PURITY and UNIQUENESS of the truth matters more than the political and even emotional meaning of that truth.

That isn't heresy; that is the fuel that drives artistic effort.

I care profoundly about correct and pure interpretation. To me, it matters more to catch and to portray the flavor of the years in which we are now living in these last days of this millennium than whatever ideology will eventually work itself out of the muck.

Not that the ideology itself doesn't matter - it does! - but for someone like myself, who sees her role as artistically interpretive and very little else, to capture the essence of great societal upheavals is what truly compels and sustains.

Leni Riefenstahl must have had similar feelings, for her work is unequaled in the realm of cinematography. She is one of the last eye-witnesses of the culturally spectacularly successful, brief Hitler years.

I had a letter a few days ago from the vicinity of Los Angeles from a mainstream journalist whom I believe to be on our side. Here is what he wrote:

"Thank you for your graceful and fortifying essays.

I was among the 300 or so film buffs who had the rare historic privilege of seeing Cinema's most important woman, Leni Riefenstahl, receive the Cinecon group's highest award in acknowledgment of her sublime and transcendent genius. This event took place last Sunday (8/31) in Glendale's Red Lion Inn.

The usual dark forces did their Hellish best to disrupt the joyous occasion and to break the composure of Leni Riefenstahl. I am happy to relate that they failed miserably on both counts!

At age 95 Leni's eyes remain clear and unvanquished; her signature bold and impeccable after two hours of signing autographs. Her strength, love and spirit are exemplary for us!"

The very next day, September 1, 1997, in a Reuter release out of Los Angeles, we are treated to the following:

"Local Jewish leaders were angry that a film preservation group secretly brought Nazi-era movie maker Leni Riefenstahl to Hollywood to pay her a tribute, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.

'They sneaked her into town,' Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, told the newspaper. Renee Firestone, a Holocaust survivor, said, 'She may be a fantastic artist, but what her films accomplished are just as sinful as the acts themselves.

'She contributed the propaganda that led to the destruction of the Jews,' Firestone was quoted as saying."

According to this Reuter piece, Rabbi Cooper opined that the invitation from Cinecon was "part of a bigger campaign to whitewash the entire Nazi era.''

The Reuter release, furthermore, states:

"Cinecon officials told the Times they did not publicize her visit because she was in ill health. 'We're not honoring her for political reasons,'' said Kevin John Charbeneau, president of Cinecon, which has 1,400 members worldwide.

'She's an artist first and foremost. I can understand people are going to be upset, but she was not the head of Germany. She was not Hitler,' he said."

By contrast, we have Howard Stern, a member of the tribe, sometimes referred to as "radio shock-jock Howard Stern." He is the host of a syndicated television show that bears his name - and filthier and nastier they do not come on our television! To say that Howard Sterm is nauseating must be the understatement of the year.

And I am not alone in that opinion - I have illustrious company.

"The only thing that comes to mind is a sewer rat," said Brassart, a cabinet minister of the Canadian province of Quebec.

According to a post from "24 Hour News," (September 3, 1997) as sent to me in a faxed copy by a friend, the cabinet minister

". . . called Stern a 'racist, narrow-minded sewer rat,' and headlines in Montreal's French-language newspapers accused him of 'vomiting' on francophones after (Stern's) controversial remarks.

'I'm looking for an expression to describe this kind of person,' Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Jacques Brassart said on his way into a weekly cabinet meeting.

'The only thing that comes to mind is a sewer rat, a racist, narrow-minded sewer rat,' Brassart said. 'This is how this kind of individual has to be described.'

As Stern, who says he offends everyone equally, made his debut on Canadian airwaves on Tuesday from New York, he only waited 15 minutes into his show before launching into a hate-filled rant . . .

A Chretien spokesman said the prime minister was aware of the comments, but didn't want to give Stern more publicity."

This ZGram does. This story, and this creature, deserve all the publicity they can get.

I hereby urge Rabbi Cooper to lay off a 95-year-old artist, revered by many who can tell the difference between true taste and dastardly vituperation, and re-direct his energy to rein in one of his own tribe who has the biggest sewer mouth on earth.

Ingrid

Thought for the Day:

"Oh, what fine scribblers and spouters we had back then, in those early days of borrowed calm before the storm."

(Jean Raspail in "The Camp of the Saints")

P.S. There is a postscript to this ZGram.

In going over my notes, I saw that Ernst had told me previously:

''The (opposition) in control of the history and political science departments, certainly at my university, Concordia, in Montreal, showed us the over 2 1/4 hour long version of "Triumph des Willens" - foot stomping, automaton-like robots in uniform, without a will of their own, mere order takers.

The professors never gave the proper context of the film - which was to fulfill an INTERNAL DEMONSTRATION OF GERMAN WILL TO FREE AND ASSERT THEMSELVES , and to show the 15-20 million Communists and their families, youth groups etc. within Germany that the National Socialist iron will had triumphed, and that THEY, the National Socialists, would run things in Germany.

That film was, thus, the tool to keep the internal enemy at bay and subdued. At the same time, it was meant as a warning to the opposition forces in Poland, France and other places."

I just learned something. I never knew the SIZE of Communist infiltration in Germany before Adolf Hitler took control.

Comments? E-Mail: irimland@cts.com

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