From the beginning of his murderous megalomaniacal crusade, Adolf Hitler was assisted by a varied cast of women. This series assesses the contributions that Hitler’s female helpers made to the propaganda, politics and processes of the regime. Using private archival footage and exclusive interviews, we create five portraits of life behind the scenes of this regime of terror.

In this programme, we look at Leni Riefenstahl, the talented filmmaker who occupied a key position in the Nazi propaganda machine. Born in Berlin in 1902, Riefenstahl studied painting and started her artistic career as a dancer. She then became famous as an actress, a film director, a film producer and a film reporter.

When she first met Adolf Hitler, Riefenstahl was already an extremely successful actress and director. Like many Germans living with economic despair and international ostracism at the time, she admired the charismatic leader’s efforts to build National Socialism in her country.

In 1934, she was given an unlimited budget to photograph the annual Nazi Party rally. She created the now infamous Triumph of the Will, a powerful and disturbing film that won the gold medal in Venice in 1935 and the gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937. Yet by the end of the war the film had destroyed Riefenstahl’s career. It was no longer recognised as a piece of art but was condemned as a National Socialist propaganda film.

After the fall of the Nazi regime, Riefenstahl took up photography; she travelled to many exotic locations taking unusual photographs. The groundbreaking pictures she took of a visit to the Nuba tribe were published worldwide. Riefenstahl’s motives and ideological beliefs remain obscured. Although her skill as a filmmaker is unquestioned, her contribution to the success of the Nazi regime has essentially turned her into a cinematic pariah, albeit a highly talented one.