--Adolf Hitler, in reference to his favorite German composer, Richard Wagner, at left, (1813-1883), whose works include nationalistic themes and whose prose writings are intensely anti-Semitic. Wagner's music was played at some of the rallies filmed in Triumph of the Will. Debate about performing Wagner's works in Israel continues to this day.

--Film star Marlene Dietrich's, at right, response to Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, when he told her in London, Christmas 1936, that "The Führer wants you to come home." On March 6, 1937, Dietrich, a contemporary of Riefenstahl, became an American citizen, subsequently supporting the American war effort on film and on stage.

--An unnamed official of the German Cultural Ministry on Carl Orff's monumental choral work which was written in 1937. Orff, who did not leave Germany, also wrote music performed at the 1936 Berlin Olympics which Leni Riefenstahl filmed. At the request of the Nazis, he wrote music for A Midsummer Night's Dream to substitute for the popular Mendelssohn score, which the Nazis had rejected because of Mendelssohn's Jewish origins. Carmina Burana is widely performed all over the world, including Israel, and is used in many films.
Image reproduced with permission of the Theater Museum - University of Cologne.