Adolf HItler
The architect of the deadliest conflict in history was an Austrian-born German whose idealized concept of the perfect master race was the opposite of his own appearance and heritage. A short, dark haired man, he was physically unassuming, yet incredibly charismatic in much the same way that Charles Manson and David Koresh, other physically unassuming men, had been. Like them, Hitler was able to captivate an audience and skew their thinking so that they became followers in a very short space of time.
After becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, HItler quickly assumed leadership of the Nazi party in 1934, at which point he was able to systematically destroy any kind of democracy in the country by getting rid of all opponents, and utilizing the military for his own purposes. This use of the military, and their obvious alliance with him, is clear in the film, as much of it focuses on the row after row of unified soldiers marching before their leader whilst he watches and reviews them.
Hitler's key objectives were to rid Germany of all of its Jews, and to create a new world order in which Germany was the ruling nation, and America, France and Britain were subservient, the latter objective stemming from his anger about the way in which Germany was politically sidelined after having to surrender in World War One. Germans felt much like he did about Germany's perceived ineffectualness in the world, and when they heard him speak of a strengthened and proud nation, and they saw the economic turn-around that he produced, they began to listen to him with greater seriousness.
The film demonstrates the uncanny charisma and ability Hitler had of almost brainwashing crowds at the rallies he presided over. This was done by propaganda, by suggestion (such as showing images of the church and of showing Hitler in a godlike way to suggest that it was almost God's will that they support him) and by instilling fear into anyone who was thinking of opposing him.
Although he married his long-time sweetheart, Eva Braun, shortly before killing himself at the end of the war, Hitler was thought to have had a relationship with Reifenstahl that was far more than professional, and that was most likely romantic, given that she was a member of his trusted inner circle.
Rudolf Hess
Once captured, Hess liked to portray himself as a military man who was following orders, but in reality his was next in command of the Nazi party and was a close ally of Hitler himself. A loyal deputy, Hess broke ranks in 1941 when he flew himself to Scotland to try to broker a peace deal; he was instead captured, and imprisoned in the Tower of London, the last man to be imprisoned there.
The film shows clearly the stature that Hess held in Hitler's Reich; he gave many speeches and sometimes also spoke in Hitler's place during subsequent rallies. Although not usually listed as one of the architects of the Holocaust, it was in fact Hess who signed the Nuremberg Laws into legislation, stripping the Jews of all of their rights.
After the war, the British returned Hess to Germany so that he could be tried with his fellow Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials. He pretended to have amnesia but this was discovered to be a ruse to keep him from being found guilty. A guilty verdict followed nonetheless and he was imprisoned at Spandau Prison until his suicide in 1987.
Julius Streicher
One of the more vehement and outspoken anti-Semites, Streicher was a prominent Nazi and founder of the newspaper Der Sturmer which became an important propaganda vehicle for Hitler. He was successful, and very rich, largely due to the popularity of the anti-Jewish children's books that he published. A close ally of HItler at the time of the film, the two later fell out and Streicher was declared "unfit" for the Nazi party.
Heinrich Himmler
Himmler was one of the most powerful in the Nazi party hierarchy and one of those most directly responsible for the Holocaust. He was also one of the least repentant. After being appointed deputy leader of the Nazi party by Hitler, he spent sixteen years creating the SS, taking a two hundred and ninety man battalion and transforming it into a million strong band of paramilitaries whose primary task was to police their own countrymen if any of them became oppositional to Hitler. Himmler was also responsible for the creation of the death camps, because of his excellent organizational and administrative skills. Under his instruction, six million Jewish people and half a million gypsies, were exterminated, in the camps he set up.
From the film, it is evident that Hitler trusted HImmler and that the two men were close, both in political doctrine, and in life. The two men parted ways at the end of the war on ideological grounds, Himmler committing suicide in 1945 after capture by the British.
Viktor Lutze
From the propaganda film it is easy to see that Lutze was one of Hitler's chosen few, and that his loyalty was well-rewarded by his Fuhrer. Lutze was commander in chief of the Sturmabteilung (SA) and pledged not only his own allegiance to Hitler but the allegiance of all of the troops in his command as well. This was a loyalty that Hitler never forgot, and that went well rewarded. For his part, Lutze was highly unpopular among the men serving under him; he had an annoying, shrill voice and barked orders incessantly. This is shown in an entirely different light in Riefenstahl's film; his speech is received with rapturous cheering and applause by soldiers who are watching him with a mixture of adoration and respect; after delivering his speech his car is mobbed as he is leaving. He is given much glory in the film, being one of only two men alongside Hitler placing the wreath on the World War One monument.
Joseph Goebbels
Despite his participation in the most evil regime in modern history, Goebbels is perhaps best known for being the subject of a wartime ditty sung by Allied troops in order to keep their spirits up whilst marching
"Hitler...has only got one ball
Goebbels....has two but very small"
Levity and troop morale aside, Goebbels was one of the closest of the prominent Nazi leaders with Riefenstahl, because of his role as Minister of Propaganda.He was a skilled and captivating public speaker, and Hitler aside the most virulent in his hatred of Jews. His interests in propaganda started early on in his political career, after he became a member of the Nazi party, and district leader for Berlin in 1926. He was adept at using modern media, such as radio and film, for propaganda purposes, but had no actual film-making experience, which is why he brought Riefenstahl in. Both were close friends with Hitler and so the working relationship between the two was extremely friendly and successful.
As a philosophy major, much of Goebbels' political strategizing was philosophically sound but practically impossible to implement, especially towards the end of a war that was clearly being lost. Despite being put in charge of a large number of Total War efforts, he was unsuccessful in implementing any of them.
Alfred Rosenberg
The Rosenberg Office was the office where the education of Nazi Party members was created; Rosenberg supervised all educational propaganda and was basically the man who told the German people what it was, and was not, acceptable to think. He is thought to be one of the main authors of the Nazi ideology, having penned The Myth of the Twentieth Century in 1930, which spelled out Nazi ideologies such as its racial theory, its persecution of Jews and his abhorrence over sexually explicit artwork and behavior. Rosenberg was ultimately executed after being convicted at the Nuremberg Trials. He is probably the most influential Nazi thinker, yet the least well known.
Fritz Todt
If there was ever a man in the Nazi hierarchy who couldn't claim to have been unaware about the existence of the death camps, it was Fritz Todt; a German construction engineer, he rose to prominence at the Autobahnen, overseeing the entire system of railways that would ultimately transport Jews from internment camps to death camps largely undetected. Hitler was so impressed with him that he named his department Organisation Todt. At the time of the film, Todt was still in the planning stages of the railway system, but the intention for it and use of it was well known to him, and the men sitting upon the dais with him; he had already constructed the death camps, and throughout the Holocaust provided forced labor for death camps and other construction work needed by the Reich.
