The Daily Beast: The Untold Story of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s Secret Pact With Nazi Propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, by Tony Ortega

[ISNOINews]

The Daily Beast: The Untold Story of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s Secret Pact With Nazi Propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, by Tony Ortega

The two cultists’ ties ran deep, including collaborating on a screenplay together—one that hasn’t seen the light of day... until now.

Tony Ortega

Updated May. 30, 2021 10:57AM ET
Published May. 30, 2021 5:00AM ET


The Untold Story of Scientology Founder’s Secret Pact With a Nazi Propagandist




/

 

[HelluvaHoax!]

.

Wow, that's interesting. A creative collaboration between infamous Nazi marketing master extraordinaire, Leni Reifenstahl & L. Ron Hubbard. She of the 1935 Olympic Game's propaganda infomercial "Triumph of the Will", commissioned by Hitler to promote the Nazi super-race's superiority over Homo Sapiens.

And, Hubbard, a marketing master in his own right (and Reich), promoting the Scientology super-race's superiority over degraded humans with his new & improved state of Homo Novis.

Back around 2012 on this message board, for a short time on my signature line I used to have an oblique reference to Reifenstahl's work, without knowing she had any connection to Hubbard. It went something like this. . .

"If the Church of Scientology is a "Triumph Of The Will"
then Ex Scn Message Board is a "Triumph Of The Won't"


.​

 

[Harold#1]

Tony Ortega wrote:

"One of my readers had been searching through the U.K. archives when they found something they weren’t looking for.

It was the 1960 script of The Blue Light.

They took the time to photograph each page of the script, and sent the entire collection to us."

"It’s interesting that the name of the screenwriter of the 1932 film (actually spelled Béla Balázs) is mentioned at all. He had not only helped co-write the film, but also helped Riefenstahl direct it. Yet after its initial release (and after Riefenstahl began her association with Hitler), she had his name removed from the film’s credits because he was Jewish."

 

[TheSneakster]

So Ron Hubbard's name on a 1960 script rewrite for a fantasy film (The Blue Light) that has nothing whatsoever to do with Hitler or National Socialism is somehow evidence that Ron Hubbard supported both ? Really?

In rhetoric, this is a classical Fallacy of Association. Nice Try.

 

[ISNOINews]

So Ron Hubbard's name on a 1960 script rewrite for a fantasy film (The Blue Light) that has nothing whatsoever to do with Hitler or National Socialism is somehow evidence that Ron Hubbard supported both ? Really?

In rhetoric, this is a classical Fallacy of Association. Nice Try.

Two points.

First, in a denazification trial Riefenstahl "was found to be a “fellow traveller” who was sympathetic to the Nazis."

There were those who refused to work with Nazi sympathizers -- particularly a Nazi sympathizer who directed the two greatest Nazi propaganda films, "Triumph of the Will" and "Olympia."

Then there were people like Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Second, as Tony Ortega's story explains:

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

"Riefenstahl is the only major artist who was completely identified with the Nazi era and whose work, not only during the Third Reich but thirty years after its fall, has consistently illustrated many themes of fascist aesthetics.”

Some critics have included The Blue Light in that assessment as well, saying that although it predated the Nazi assumption of power, its imagery and story displayed a proto-fascism that helped explain why Riefenstahl was so eager to work for Hitler.

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *


Actually, there is a third point. The evidence indicates that between Riefenstahl, a Nazi sympathizer, and Hubbard, Riefenstahl was the lesser bigot. As Tony Ortega's story explains, Riefenstahl had second thoughts about Hubbard's invitation to come to Johannesburg to make a documentary about South Africa, saying:

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

that she remembered how “our black boys” were treated by whites when she had researched Black Cargo.

“For me, they were equivalent people,” she wrote. “I also thought of the proud figures of the Masai. How could I live in a country where there would be a dividing wall between me and black people? I knew I couldn’t work in South Africa, and it was much more extreme then than it is now. I thanked Dr. Hubbard for his generous proposal, but was silent about why I couldn’t accept it.”

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *

That Hubbard had no such concerns is not surprising given the fact that, as Tony Ortega further reports:

(1) "On the last day of 1960, Hubbard gave a speech arguing that the apartheid government in South Africa was being distorted by the Western media"; and

(2) "Historian Chris Owen recently uncovered a letter sent in secrecy by Hubbard that year [1966] to Hendrik Verwoerd, South Africa’s prime minister and a key architect of apartheid. In the letter, Hubbard repeatedly stressed Scientology’s support of apartheid: “I have over and over proven our loyalty to the Rightist cause.”"

/

 

[Harold#1]

Two points.

First, in a denazification trial Riefenstahl "was found to be a “fellow traveller” who was sympathetic to the Nazis."

There were those who refused to work with Nazi sympathizers -- particularly a Nazi sympathizer who directed the two greatest Nazi propaganda films, "Triumph of the Will" and "Olympia."

Then there were people like Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Second, as Tony Ortega's story explains:

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

"Riefenstahl is the only major artist who was completely identified with the Nazi era and whose work, not only during the Third Reich but thirty years after its fall, has consistently illustrated many themes of fascist aesthetics.”

Some critics have included The Blue Light in that assessment as well, saying that although it predated the Nazi assumption of power, its imagery and story displayed a proto-fascism that helped explain why Riefenstahl was so eager to work for Hitler.

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *


Actually, there is a third point. The evidence indicates that between Riefenstahl, a Nazi sympathizer, and Hubbard, Riefenstahl was the lesser bigot. As Tony Ortega's story explains, Riefenstahl had second thoughts about Hubbard's invitation to come to Johannesburg to make a documentary about South Africa, saying:

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

that she remembered how “our black boys” were treated by whites when she had researched Black Cargo.

“For me, they were equivalent people,” she wrote. “I also thought of the proud figures of the Masai. How could I live in a country where there would be a dividing wall between me and black people? I knew I couldn’t work in South Africa, and it was much more extreme then than it is now. I thanked Dr. Hubbard for his generous proposal, but was silent about why I couldn’t accept it.”

* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *

That Hubbard had no such concerns is not surprising given the fact that, as Tony Ortega further reports:

(1) "On the last day of 1960, Hubbard gave a speech arguing that the apartheid government in South Africa was being distorted by the Western media"; and

(2) "Historian Chris Owen recently uncovered a letter sent in secrecy by Hubbard that year [1966] to Hendrik Verwoerd, South Africa’s prime minister and a key architect of apartheid. In the letter, Hubbard repeatedly stressed Scientology’s support of apartheid: “I have over and over proven our loyalty to the Rightist cause.”"

/

I underlined some parts of this interesting excerpt:

After The Blue Light misadventure and a stint in the South Pacific, Hudsmith landed work as an editor in Toronto, remarried, and had several children. He lived there until late in his life when he moved to Montreal. He died in 2012.

Leni Riefenstahl, German photographer and filmmaker notorious for her artistic collaboration with Adolf Hitler, takes pictures on August 27, 1972, in the Olympic stadium in Munich during the 1972 Olympic games.

He (Hudsmith) continued to correspond with Riefenstahl to the end of her life in 2003, the family member says. And at one point, they remember that Leni requested that Hudsmith send her another copy of the book Dianetics.

“She was still communicating with Ron before he died, and she asked Philip about Scientology,” the family member says.

Riefenstahl was known as “Aunt Leni” to the children in the Hudsmith family. But there was no talk about the controversies that involved either Riefenstahl or Hubbard.

It was only later that they came to regret Hudsmith’s involvement with the Scientology leader and the German filmmaker.

“He could have been so much more in his film career if he hadn’t connected with either of them. He was known as the best film editor in Toronto. But his connection to those two sabotaged his career,” the family member tells us. “But he never held it against them.”

The Untold Story of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s Secret Pact With Nazi Propagandist Leni Riefenstahl

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyIt’s an odd footnote in the lives of two notorious 20th-century figures.In 1960, Leni Riefenstahl and L. Ron Hubbard briefly collaborated ...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Veda]

Not all Nazi collaborators are treated equally.

The genesis of Scientology was not the cold war of 1950s but the era of Hitler and Mussolini during the 1930s.

Nietzsche's ubermensch and Hubbard's homo novis
​

Off hand, the only reference to Nazis or Nazism, by Hubbard (before 1971), that I recall, was through fascism, which was placed as right above communism on Hubbard's Tone Scale. Fascism being placed at 1.5 and communism at 1.1.

Link to Hubbard's propaganda tech thread.

As I recall, Hubbard regarded "the fanatic" favorably, and placed "the fanatic" high on one of his scales, although I'm not sure if that was published. It does show up in his published writings which often sought to create fanatics for himself and Scientology.

From his private writings, from at least 1938 onward, it was clear that Hubbard admired ruthless dictators.

His organization was fascistic but based on a model closer to Stalinism (a style of communism).

In many ways it resembles present day Communist China, which is a sophisticated totalitarianism consisting of a mix of communism, fascism, and capitalism.

This translates into a kind a neo Feudalism, led by a small group of B-movie Bond villains.

This delightful trans-humanist comes complete with a German accent.​

Back to the original topic. Will Miscavige react to this story?

Mmmm.... Scientology Inc. does insist that the Holocaust was caused by psychiatrists and not by Hitler (who, per Scientology-think, was "PTS" to psychiatrists.)

And Scientology's - perhaps best known - target for destruction is Holocaust survivor, Paulette Cooper.

How will they react?

 

[ISNOINews]

Yahoo News now has the story.


The Untold Story of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s Secret Pact With Nazi Propagandist Leni Riefenstahl





/

 

[ISNOINews]

Actually, there is a third point. The evidence indicates that between Riefenstahl, a Nazi sympathizer, and Hubbard, Riefenstahl was the lesser bigot.

Tony Ortega notes in his comment section today:

"Best take on the 'Ron and Leni' story so far, from a commenter at the PZ Myers blog.

"

"The takeaway: L. Ron Hubbard was too racist for Leni Riefenstahl, who'd previously worked with Hitler."

/