The author, Nayra Sanz, explores in her new work how the Nazi regime not only intervened in bodies and identity but also transformed language to construct a totalitarian worldview. The research, which starts from the figure of Leni Riefenstahl, delves into the politics of bodies and the creation of what Sanz calls the 'contained body'.
Sanz defines the 'contained body' as one that, starting from the supposed superiority of the 'Aryan race,' cedes its individuality for a collective purpose, summarized in slogans like 'Your people are everything' or 'Your consciousness is Adolf Hitler.' This concept extends to the 'contained State,' demonstrating the regulation of the masses for the 'thousand-year empire' project.
The philologist and filmmaker highlights how terms like 'pure blood,' 'race,' or 'degeneration' became legal and medical categories, normalizing violence. She points to the importance of language, influenced by thinkers like Ludwig Wittgenstein, and the distortion of words such as 'mercy deaths' or 'useless mouths' to justify the murder of people considered 'unworthy of life'.
The Nazi regime assigned a crucial role to the arts and artists, considering them 'soldiers of the regime.' The Ministry of Propaganda, a pioneer in history, regulated the production of images, especially in cinema, to represent Nazi ideology. The author cites Gustave Le Bon and his work The Crowd to explain how masses think in images, not words.
Sanz describes the National Socialist vision as a dichotomous society, with an ideal of 'idealistic realism' that presented models of bodies and behaviors as real and desirable. Today, facing technological revolution and the omnipresence of images, the author reflects on the political responsibility of art and image production, warning of the risk of perplexity from advancements that surpass our capacity for assimilation.
