Website with initial research findings on the estate of Leni Riefenstahl

**Viewing and evaluating slides from the Nuba photo collection on a light table** © Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Thomas Imo

**Sorted archive boxes of photographic materials from the Riefenstahl Collection** © Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Thomas Imo

**Ludger Derenthal at the collection premises** © Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Thomas Imo

**Collaborative research into Leni Riefenstahl’s Nuba photographs. Prof. Shamsoun explains the funeral process. Workshop in Kampala, December 2023** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum / Constanze Wicke

**Inventorising of ethnographic objects by the MDVOS (Measures for the Digitisation and Visualisation of Object-Related Collection Data) project team at the collection premises in Berlin-Dahlem** Foto: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum / Mirjam Lotz, CC NC-BY-SA)

New Website Presents Initial Research Findings on Leni Riefenstahl’s Estate

30.01.2026

Research on Leni Riefenstahl’s extensive estate has been underway for several years. Initial findings from special-focus projects are now available on a new website. From 22 May 2026, an exhibition at the Museum für Fotografie (Museum of Photography) makes it possible for audiences to delve into the estate in an expository setting.

Initial findings from one of these specialised projects are now publicly accessible on a multilingual website, Reclaiming Nuba Images. The project concerns more than 10,000 photographs and films that Leni Riefenstahl made of the Nuba people in Sudan in the 1960s and 1970s. Its aim has been to shed light on the viewpoints of members of the indigenous Nuba ethnic groups and to contextualise the works from a present-day perspective. The reappraisal was carried out in collaboration with the Pan-Nuba Council and Sudanese researchers and artists.

In parallel, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin is cataloguing Riefenstahl’s extensive estate of papers and documents. This includes screenplays, manuscripts, correspondence, personal documents and parts of her private library. Cataloguing information and selected digitised materials are being successively published online and form a basis for further research.

The Inside Achives Exhibition at the Museum für Fotografie

From 22 May 2026, the Museum für Fotografie will also be hosting an exhition examining Leni Riefenstahl’s estate. With the title Inside Archives, students of the “Art in Context” Masters programme at the Berlin University of the Arts are joining Sudanese artists in presenting works dealing with Riefenstahl’s Nuba photographs and films. The exhibition, which opens on 21 May 2026 at 7 pm, is on view until 7 June 2026.

The Collaborative Project Examining Leni Riefenstahl’s Estate

Since 2018, a collaborative project has been cataloguing and researching Leni Riefenstahl’s extensive estate. The inventory comprises more than 700 boxes of photographs, films, letters, manuscripts, notes and other documents. Participating in the project are the Kunstbibliothek (Art Library), the Museum für Fotografie, the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum), the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek.

The estate offers great potential for research, but at the same time presents the involved institutions with particular challenges. These concern the scope and diversity of the materials, as well as ethical, legal and socio-political issues. The project is therefore pursuing an approach of progressively developing special-focus projects, each of which incorporates different perspectives.