Nuremberg rallies

Once the Nazi dictatorship was firmly established, party propagandists began filming the rallies for a national, and international, audience.

Noted Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl produced several films, including Triumph of the Will (1934) and The Victory of Faith (1933), at the rally grounds in Nuremberg.

"[6] Rather, their purpose was to "instill the Hitler myth deeply into the hearts of the faithful," with "rituals," "fireworks," and "invocations surrounding the flag" all playing a part.

"[7] Diehard anti-Semite Julius Streicher, who published the militant Der Stürmer newspaper, also led the Nuremberg regional party, and the city had been a "hotbed of Nazi support" during the movement's rise to power.

[7] In Speer's own words, he designed a "mighty flight of stairs topped and enclosed by a long colonnade, flanked on both ends by stone abutments.

[7] Speer's so-called "Cathedral of Light," or Lichtdom, was a key feature of the event, and has been described as the "single most dramatic moment of the Nazi Party rallies.

Spotlights focused on the "place where Hitler entered the arena," and music played from "multiple bands, orchestras, and loudspeakers" as he approached the podium.

[15] The Nuremberg Laws were based not on religion, but on race, and were grounded on the idea that "racial identity" was "transmitted irrevocably through the blood" of Jewish ancestors.

[24][25] Because the film featured SA chief Ernst Röhm, who was later killed at Hitler's orders in the 1934 Night of the Long Knives, almost all copies of Der Sieg des Glaubens were destroyed.

The so-called "Red books" were officially published by the Nazi Party and contained the proceedings of each rally, along with the full text of speeches.

[32] The "Blue books" were published initially by Julius Streicher, the Gauleiter of Nuremberg, and later by Hanns Kerrl, not by the party press.