Victory of the Faith (1933) - full transcript
Der Sieg des Glaubens (English: The Victory of Faith, Victory of Faith, or Victory of the Faith) (1933) is the first propaganda film directed by Leni Riefenstahl. Her film recounts the Fifth Party Rally of the Nazi Party, which occurred in Nuremberg from 30 August to 3 September 1933. The film is of great historic interest because it shows Adolf Hitler and Ernst Röhm on close and intimate terms, before Röhm was shot on the orders of Hitler on the Night of the Long Knives in July 1934. All known copies of the film were destroyed on Hitler's orders, and it was considered lost until a copy turned up in the 1990s in the United Kingdom
VICTORY OF FAITH
THE FILM OF
THE REICH'S 1933 PARTY CONVENTION
A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT
ARTISTIC DIRECTION BY
PRODUCED BY THE REICH LEADERSHIP
NSD AP FILM DIVISION
DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE NATIONAL
FILM CENTERS OF THE PARTY
THE GERMAN NEWSREELS PLACED
THEIR FOOTAGE AT OUR DISPOSAL
THEY CONTRIBUTED CONSIDERABLY
TO THE SUCCESS OF THIS FILM
FOR THE UNITY OF THE PEOPLE
AND THE STRENGTH OF THE REICH
Markish heathers, markish sand
Are the Markers pleasure
Are his fatherland
Are the Markers pleasure
Are his fatherland
Climb high
Climb high, you deep red eaglet
High over swamp and sand
High over darkest pine tree forests
Hail you, my Brandenburger Land
High over darkest pine tree forests
Hail you, my Brandenburger Land
Through German land
we're marching on
For Adolf Hitler we're fighting on
The red front, break them in two!
SA marches, achtung!
Let them through!
The red front, break them in two!
SA marches, achtung!
Let them through!
So we stand alone in combat
With blood our ranks are all a-sweat
The gaze ahead, the fist is wound!
The streets then
from our march resound
Honorable Chancellor of the Reich...
distinguished guests,
Party members...
the city of Nuremberg
is filled with great joy...
and boundless pride...
to have been given the honor
to host within its walls...
the first national party convention
of the NSD AP...
to be held in the new Reich.
My Fuehrer, our warmest welcome...
to this ancient German city!
On September 2, 1923...
we entered this city
in large numbers for the first time...
then a city still
in the hands of enemies.
It was a time when it was
harder to celebrate than today.
In the name of the millions
who comprise the movement...
of the National Socialist party...
I wish the city of Nuremberg
future happiness and prosperity.
I believe...
that the convention and the movement...
will help increase the fame
of this old German city...
and bring it more clearly into
the consciousness of the world.
To the old German Reich's city
Nuremberg. Heil!
I open...
the fifth party congress
of the NSD AP.
I open the congress of victory!
My Fuehrer...
you, as leader of the party...
are the guarantor of victory.
When others wavered...
you remained steadfast.
When others urged compromise...
you remained firm.
When others lost courage...
you have renewed courage.
When others left us...
you clutched the flag more firmly-
until the flag became
the flag of the nation...
and flew in triumph.
We greet the leader of the nation...
in whom lies the future
of the nation.
Adolf Hitler, we greet thee.
As leader of the National Socialists
in the district of the Franks...
I offer you my warmest welcome.
This is the third time we have gathered
in the capital city of the Franks...
for a National Socialist Party convention.
The great German miracle has occurred.
You, my Fuehrer,
have determined...
that from now on...
all party conventions...
will take place
in the city of Nuremberg.
We Franks understand
how to thank you for this honor.
Just as stalwarts of the Franks...
were for centuries
faithful to their Emperors...
we Franks will now stand...
by the Chancellor of the new Germany
in unfailing allegiance.
The Vice-Secretary
of the Italian Fascist Party...
His Excellency Professor Marpicati...
will address a few words
to the congress.
Above all,
I genuinely thank Rudolf Hess...
Hitler's dynamic representative...
of the National Socialist Party...
for the cordial welcome...
given to the Italian representative
of the Black Shirts.
In the name, and by the charge
of the National Fascist Party...
I bring to Adolf Hitler...
head of the Brown Shirts...
the best wishes of Benito Mussolini,
the Leader of Fascism.
First, a most intense joy...
is that today's grand meeting
in Nuremberg...
is truly a new step...
on the way to the secure triumph...
of the fascist ideal in the world.
I must not make a speech here...
but will join in this declaration:
Heil Hitler!
Heil Mussolini!
We gather together
To ask the Lord's blessing
He chastens and hastens
His will to make known
The wicked oppressing
Now cease from distressing
Sing praises to His Name
He forgets not His own
Lord, not your own
Stand silent!
Dip the flags!
We remember the dead!
Raise the flags!
Raise your heads!
Let the flags wave...
and carry the message
to all German lands.
All that we feel in this hour...
we can sum up in the cry:
Our sacred fatherland...
our one Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler...
a threefold Sieg-
Sieg-
Sieg-
Leaders of the political organization...
many of you look back on a struggle...
that has lasted for years.
Today we see the results of that struggle.
The National Socialist Party
has become the state.
Its leaders...
today are the leaders
of the German Reich...
who must answer to history.
You, my functionaries...
are answerable before God and History...
to ensure that there will never again...
be a November 1918, in German history...
and to accomplish this through
the political education of all Germans...
so that they become one people,
and one expression of a single will.
What we dreamed of for years...
has become reality.
The symbol of the unification
of all classes of the German people...
has become the symbol
of the new Reich...
and thus the standard
of the German people.
The most precious possession
in this world is one's own people.
For this people,
and for the sake of this people...
we must strive and fight...
and never slacken, never tire...
never lose courage, and never-
My Fuehrer!
My Fuehrer!
My Fuehrer!
Here stand...
65,000 Hitler Youth...
from every part of the German Reich.
65,000 Hitler Youth.
Outside this stadium...
there are another 1.5 million...
and at this hour,
they are thinking of you...
and of your great work.
My German Youth!
Just as we are gathered here...
my young comrades...
as part of the life of the people...
so must also be gathered here
the entire people.
It was, alas, not always so.
People did not want
to understand each other.
Each thought only of himself-
at best, of his class alone.
We have been witnesses
to the consequences...
of this failure of spirit.
In your youth...
you must safeguard
what you possess:
The great feeling...
of comradeship
or being part of the group.
If you hold on to this...
no power in the world will be able
to take it from you...
you will be one people
bound together as tightly...
as you are now bound tightly
as German Youth...
our only hope...
the courage and faith
of our people.
You, my Youth...
are indeed the living guarantee...
the living future of Germany.
Not an empty idea...
nor empty formalism...
an insipid plan.
No!
You are the blood of our blood...
flesh of our flesh,
spirit of our spirit...
you are the continuation
of our people.
May Germany live...
and may her future
which lives in you be praised!
Germany, Heil!
The supreme SA leader reports.
100,000 men of the SA...
Stahlhelm and SS...
are ready for review
by the Fuehrer!
Heil SA!
SA-men, SS and ST-men.
Practically to this day...
almost 10 years ago...
the national socialist movement...
in association with other
nationalist groups...
organized the first major review...
of the young German freedom movement...
in Nuremberg.
What a phenomenal evolution
from then until now!
Again it is the Party
that calls you here...
and again you have come...
but not the 10,000 of those days...
but a multitude of German men.
The movement's party convention...
has always meant the great parade
of its men in review...
of men determined and ready...
to defend the principles
of a community of the people...
not only in theory...
but in practice.
It is a community...
without regard to origins...
to social standing...
to profession, to property...
to education-
a community which feels united...
in great faith...
and determination.
Not through position of party...
not through profession
and not through class...
but united for our Germany.
These flags are not merely
an outward sign...
but represent a living obligation.
Hundreds and hundreds
have died for it.
Tens of thousands were injured.
Hundreds of thousands
have lost position and profession.
But the extreme faith of all...
has changed this
from a flag of opposition...
to the flag of the Reich.
And if for 14 years...
the goddess of fortune
turned away from us...
we know that we ourselves
were to blame.
We know...
she will turn her countenance
towards us again...
when we have wiped
away our dishonor.
May heaven be our witness:
The debt has been paid!
The injustices have been avenged!
The shame has been removed!
The men of November have fallen!
Their power is broken!
We want nothing for ourselves...
but everything for our nation.
We want to achieve
nothing for ourselves...
but all for Germany.
We are mortal...
but Germany must live!
The banner high!
The banner high!
Our serried ranks together!
SA men march
With firm and forceful step
Our comrades killed
by the Reds and Reactionaries
Though dead, in spirit
march on with us yet
Our comrades killed
by the Reds and Reactionaries
Though dead, in spirit
march on with us yet
THE FILM OF
THE REICH'S 1933 PARTY CONVENTION
A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT
ARTISTIC DIRECTION BY
PRODUCED BY THE REICH LEADERSHIP
NSD AP FILM DIVISION
DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE NATIONAL
FILM CENTERS OF THE PARTY
THE GERMAN NEWSREELS PLACED
THEIR FOOTAGE AT OUR DISPOSAL
THEY CONTRIBUTED CONSIDERABLY
TO THE SUCCESS OF THIS FILM
FOR THE UNITY OF THE PEOPLE
AND THE STRENGTH OF THE REICH
Markish heathers, markish sand
Are the Markers pleasure
Are his fatherland
Are the Markers pleasure
Are his fatherland
Climb high
Climb high, you deep red eaglet
High over swamp and sand
High over darkest pine tree forests
Hail you, my Brandenburger Land
High over darkest pine tree forests
Hail you, my Brandenburger Land
Through German land
we're marching on
For Adolf Hitler we're fighting on
The red front, break them in two!
SA marches, achtung!
Let them through!
The red front, break them in two!
SA marches, achtung!
Let them through!
So we stand alone in combat
With blood our ranks are all a-sweat
The gaze ahead, the fist is wound!
The streets then
from our march resound
Honorable Chancellor of the Reich...
distinguished guests,
Party members...
the city of Nuremberg
is filled with great joy...
and boundless pride...
to have been given the honor
to host within its walls...
the first national party convention
of the NSD AP...
to be held in the new Reich.
My Fuehrer, our warmest welcome...
to this ancient German city!
On September 2, 1923...
we entered this city
in large numbers for the first time...
then a city still
in the hands of enemies.
It was a time when it was
harder to celebrate than today.
In the name of the millions
who comprise the movement...
of the National Socialist party...
I wish the city of Nuremberg
future happiness and prosperity.
I believe...
that the convention and the movement...
will help increase the fame
of this old German city...
and bring it more clearly into
the consciousness of the world.
To the old German Reich's city
Nuremberg. Heil!
I open...
the fifth party congress
of the NSD AP.
I open the congress of victory!
My Fuehrer...
you, as leader of the party...
are the guarantor of victory.
When others wavered...
you remained steadfast.
When others urged compromise...
you remained firm.
When others lost courage...
you have renewed courage.
When others left us...
you clutched the flag more firmly-
until the flag became
the flag of the nation...
and flew in triumph.
We greet the leader of the nation...
in whom lies the future
of the nation.
Adolf Hitler, we greet thee.
As leader of the National Socialists
in the district of the Franks...
I offer you my warmest welcome.
This is the third time we have gathered
in the capital city of the Franks...
for a National Socialist Party convention.
The great German miracle has occurred.
You, my Fuehrer,
have determined...
that from now on...
all party conventions...
will take place
in the city of Nuremberg.
We Franks understand
how to thank you for this honor.
Just as stalwarts of the Franks...
were for centuries
faithful to their Emperors...
we Franks will now stand...
by the Chancellor of the new Germany
in unfailing allegiance.
The Vice-Secretary
of the Italian Fascist Party...
His Excellency Professor Marpicati...
will address a few words
to the congress.
Above all,
I genuinely thank Rudolf Hess...
Hitler's dynamic representative...
of the National Socialist Party...
for the cordial welcome...
given to the Italian representative
of the Black Shirts.
In the name, and by the charge
of the National Fascist Party...
I bring to Adolf Hitler...
head of the Brown Shirts...
the best wishes of Benito Mussolini,
the Leader of Fascism.
First, a most intense joy...
is that today's grand meeting
in Nuremberg...
is truly a new step...
on the way to the secure triumph...
of the fascist ideal in the world.
I must not make a speech here...
but will join in this declaration:
Heil Hitler!
Heil Mussolini!
We gather together
To ask the Lord's blessing
He chastens and hastens
His will to make known
The wicked oppressing
Now cease from distressing
Sing praises to His Name
He forgets not His own
Lord, not your own
Stand silent!
Dip the flags!
We remember the dead!
Raise the flags!
Raise your heads!
Let the flags wave...
and carry the message
to all German lands.
All that we feel in this hour...
we can sum up in the cry:
Our sacred fatherland...
our one Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler...
a threefold Sieg-
Sieg-
Sieg-
Leaders of the political organization...
many of you look back on a struggle...
that has lasted for years.
Today we see the results of that struggle.
The National Socialist Party
has become the state.
Its leaders...
today are the leaders
of the German Reich...
who must answer to history.
You, my functionaries...
are answerable before God and History...
to ensure that there will never again...
be a November 1918, in German history...
and to accomplish this through
the political education of all Germans...
so that they become one people,
and one expression of a single will.
What we dreamed of for years...
has become reality.
The symbol of the unification
of all classes of the German people...
has become the symbol
of the new Reich...
and thus the standard
of the German people.
The most precious possession
in this world is one's own people.
For this people,
and for the sake of this people...
we must strive and fight...
and never slacken, never tire...
never lose courage, and never-
My Fuehrer!
My Fuehrer!
My Fuehrer!
Here stand...
65,000 Hitler Youth...
from every part of the German Reich.
65,000 Hitler Youth.
Outside this stadium...
there are another 1.5 million...
and at this hour,
they are thinking of you...
and of your great work.
My German Youth!
Just as we are gathered here...
my young comrades...
as part of the life of the people...
so must also be gathered here
the entire people.
It was, alas, not always so.
People did not want
to understand each other.
Each thought only of himself-
at best, of his class alone.
We have been witnesses
to the consequences...
of this failure of spirit.
In your youth...
you must safeguard
what you possess:
The great feeling...
of comradeship
or being part of the group.
If you hold on to this...
no power in the world will be able
to take it from you...
you will be one people
bound together as tightly...
as you are now bound tightly
as German Youth...
our only hope...
the courage and faith
of our people.
You, my Youth...
are indeed the living guarantee...
the living future of Germany.
Not an empty idea...
nor empty formalism...
an insipid plan.
No!
You are the blood of our blood...
flesh of our flesh,
spirit of our spirit...
you are the continuation
of our people.
May Germany live...
and may her future
which lives in you be praised!
Germany, Heil!
The supreme SA leader reports.
100,000 men of the SA...
Stahlhelm and SS...
are ready for review
by the Fuehrer!
Heil SA!
SA-men, SS and ST-men.
Practically to this day...
almost 10 years ago...
the national socialist movement...
in association with other
nationalist groups...
organized the first major review...
of the young German freedom movement...
in Nuremberg.
What a phenomenal evolution
from then until now!
Again it is the Party
that calls you here...
and again you have come...
but not the 10,000 of those days...
but a multitude of German men.
The movement's party convention...
has always meant the great parade
of its men in review...
of men determined and ready...
to defend the principles
of a community of the people...
not only in theory...
but in practice.
It is a community...
without regard to origins...
to social standing...
to profession, to property...
to education-
a community which feels united...
in great faith...
and determination.
Not through position of party...
not through profession
and not through class...
but united for our Germany.
These flags are not merely
an outward sign...
but represent a living obligation.
Hundreds and hundreds
have died for it.
Tens of thousands were injured.
Hundreds of thousands
have lost position and profession.
But the extreme faith of all...
has changed this
from a flag of opposition...
to the flag of the Reich.
And if for 14 years...
the goddess of fortune
turned away from us...
we know that we ourselves
were to blame.
We know...
she will turn her countenance
towards us again...
when we have wiped
away our dishonor.
May heaven be our witness:
The debt has been paid!
The injustices have been avenged!
The shame has been removed!
The men of November have fallen!
Their power is broken!
We want nothing for ourselves...
but everything for our nation.
We want to achieve
nothing for ourselves...
but all for Germany.
We are mortal...
but Germany must live!
The banner high!
The banner high!
Our serried ranks together!
SA men march
With firm and forceful step
Our comrades killed
by the Reds and Reactionaries
Though dead, in spirit
march on with us yet
Our comrades killed
by the Reds and Reactionaries
Though dead, in spirit
march on with us yet