European History

Triumph of the Will is an historical documentary about the gathering at Nuremberg of the Nazi Party Congress in 1934. The movie opens with an airplane landing with thousands of enthusiastic people waiting for the arrival of Adolph Hitler.

The movie has to be the greatest propaganda movie of all time. The movie has all the heads of the Nazi party giving speeches on how wonderful Germany is and will be. People watching this movie, at the time it was made, would have never thought Adolph Hitler would go on and orchestrate the world's most horrific atrocities of all times. The movie has tremendous historical value.

To actually view Adolph Hitler making speeches is remarkable. Hitler makes a speech were he states that Germany and Germans will be peace loving, courteous, strong not soft, and sacrifice near collapse. He talks of no caste systems everyone is equal. Viewing his speech you actually believe what he is saying.

The movie contains footage of Nuremberg. The city is filled with architecturally beautiful buildings. The city is shown full of life and a society of fulfilled citizens. The footage shows the youth camps with young men having fun and fooling around like children. The clip of thousands of men holding shovels instead of guns illustrates a country that is going to build a strong society with hard work and determination. The world, at that time, viewing this video would have thought that Germany was a country on the right track with innovative ideas of the day.

I could see how people could believe the movie. The movie is moving and believable. It shows a government committed to the people of Germany. It promises a united one Germany with peaceful, hardworking and loving people with a supportive government. At that time people were looking for a leader and a way to a bright future. This film promised that and more.