Erich Salomon

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Erich Salomon and son Otto Salomon (Peter Hunter), London 1935

Erich Franz Emil Salomon (born April 28, 1886 in Berlin ; † July 7, 1944 in Auschwitz ) was a German lawyer , photographer and photo journalist .

Life

Erich Salomon: Famous contemporaries in unguarded moments . J. Engelhorn Nachf. , Stuttgart, 1931. First edition
Stumbling blocks for Erich Salomon and his family

Erich Salomon came as the son of the wealthy Jewish banker and Royal Commerce Councilor Emil Salomon (1844–1909) and Therese Salomon nee. Pupil (1857–1915) to the world. The upper-class Berlin family lived at Jägerstrasse 29 and later at Tiergartenstrasse 15 (today the state representation of Baden-Württemberg is located here ). Solomon, who speaks several languages, moved with certainty on the social floor due to his origins. He studied mechanical engineering at the TU Charlottenburg and law at the University of Munich and Berlin . He completed his law studies in 1913 with a doctorate at the University of Rostock . From 1912 he lived with his wife Maggy Schüler (* 1889; † July 7, 1944) at Hölderlinstrasse 11 in Berlin-Westend .

During the First World War , Salomon served on the Western Front . In autumn 1914 he was taken prisoner by the French. As part of a prisoner exchange, he was released to Switzerland in 1918, where he lived with his family until 1920.

After his return to Berlin, Erich Salomon worked as a stockbroker. When the family's wealth shrank due to inflation , he founded a taxi company in 1924/1925. Two cars and a motorcycle with a sidecar, which he drove himself, were part of the fleet. He advertised this in the Vossische Zeitung : “Dr. der Jurisprudenz will give you instructions on government measures to convert the currency from the Deutsche Mark to the Rentenmark during the transport. This advertisement is said to have helped him get started at Ullstein Verlag in Berlin, where he worked in the advertising department from 1925.

In order to receive a higher salary, Salomon began taking photographs for Ullstein Verlag in 1925. This was his first active acquaintance with photography at the age of 39 . In 1928 the Berliner Illustrirten Zeitung published a photo report he had secretly made during criminal proceedings for murder, which caused a sensation. Salomon soon broke his permanent professional relationship with Ullstein to work as an independent photo reporter. After a short time he was a star among his professional colleagues, his pictures appeared in many German and international papers. He was one of the first to draw his name on her published photos. In five years he delivered around 350 reports, mostly recordings from international conferences and from the social centers of the Weimar Republic , Western Europe and the USA. Salomon was the first photographer allowed to take pictures in the White House in Washington.

At the time of the transfer of power to the National Socialists on January 30, 1933, Erich Salomon was in The Hague with his wife and younger son Dirk (* 1920 - May 16, 1944) . The Netherlands was his wife's homeland. His older son Otto Erich Salomon (* 1913; † December 3, 2006, later used the pseudonym Peter Hunter) followed them at the end of 1933 and was able to save 400 negatives from his father. The material that remained in the Berlin apartment was destroyed by the Nazis. Erich Salomon continued his work from exile , albeit with a limited sphere of activity. In 1940 the Wehrmacht invaded and occupied the Netherlands in the western campaign . In 1942/1943 the family had to give up their apartment in The Hague and went underground. Erich, Maggy and Dirk Salomon were arrested in Scheveningen through denunciation in 1943 and deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on January 18, 1944, and finally to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on May 16, 1944 . First his son and then Erich Salomon and his wife were murdered there on July 7, 1944. Otto Erich Salomon had fled to London and therefore survived the persecution of the Jews.

technology

An Ermanox camera

The usual tools used by press photographers at the time were unwieldy plate cameras for glass negatives up to 13 × 18 cm. Salomon acquired an Ermanox camera a few months after his first photographic experience . This was a newly developed, relatively small camera with the most powerful lens produced in series at the time (1: 2) and a focal plane shutter that allowed exposure times of 1 / 20-1 / 1000 sec. With the Ermanox it was possible to take snapshots even in low light, and to take photos indoors without a tripod or flash . Glass plates of 4.5 × 6 cm in individual cassettes, of which one could easily carry a large number with one, served as photographic image material. In 1930 a Leica was added - even lighter and less noticeable than the Ermanox.

In order to be able to work inconspicuously, Salomon often used a remote release cable; he either held the camera in front of his stomach and looked into the viewfinder from above or had it mounted on a tripod a few meters away from him. He also developed a number of accessories to hide his cameras if necessary: ​​a manipulated hearing aid, a large, black bandage for an apparently broken arm, hollowed out books and a few diplomatic suitcases with useful openings. With the small cameras and the associated devices, Salomon was able to develop his own typical style of photo reportage, which made him world famous and had a lasting influence on press photography. In terms of origin and working method, he was an exception among the press photographers of his time. The job title of photo journalist is his own word creation.

Recordings

Erich Salomon took photos in the building of the League of Nations in Geneva, at spectacular court hearings at home and abroad (even without a permit), in the Reichstag building in Berlin and at elegant receptions in the metropolises of the western world. He always appeared very carefully dressed, mostly in tails or dark suits. He owed numerous personal contacts to his family background, but also to his own sociability, which made it easier for him to access the most interesting locations. There he seemed like a part of it, like a participant in the events he was reporting on. He was accepted by the powerful and famous, and was almost on friendly terms with some of them. The French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand said of him: “What is an international conference if Salomon is not there…” or “Ah, le voilà! Le roi des indiscrets! ”.

His personal relationships, his dexterous demeanor and the relatively discreet photographic technique enabled him to take pictures that made the private, human behind the façades of the events visible. Politicians, artists and scholars did not appear in a controlled pose, but in a relaxed atmosphere, busy, in a good mood or overtired, depending on ... This view was revolutionary at the time.

Salomon strove with legendary persistence and mostly with success to be close to the celebrities he photographed, even beyond official appearances; but he was never really indiscreet, never on the hunt for private scandals. In 1931 his illustrated book Famous Contemporaries was published in unguarded moments . In it he described his day-to-day work as a constant struggle: first for access to the scene, then against poor lighting conditions, too fast movements and the like, finally against the pressures of the editorial deadline and the objections of narrow-minded editors (" Toscanini ? I don't know. I need pictures from football ”).

estate

Salomon had buried some of his negatives at a friend's house and gave another part to the library of the Dutch Parliament for safekeeping. A third part stayed with his older son. He later tried to bring the scattered archive back together. Much had been lost; In 1980 he handed over what was preserved to the Berlinische Galerie . There the Erich Salomon Archive looks after over 10,000 photographs and other archive material.

In 1971 the German Society for Photography (DGPh) donated the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize for exceptional photo journalistic work.

Exhibitions

  • since 2007 "Zeitsprung - Erich Salomon, Barbara Klemm", worldwide touring exhibition of the Institute for Foreign Relations , premiere in the Guardini Gallery, Berlin; The tour is expected to end in 2020 at the earliest
  • Museum for Photography (Berlin) , "2008 - Pigozzi and the Paparazzi - with Salomon, Weegee, Galella, Angeli, Secchiaroli, Quinn and Newton".

literature

  • Erich Salomon: Famous contemporaries in unguarded moments. Engelhorn, Stuttgart 1931 (reprint. Schirmer / Mosel, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-921375-24-X ).
  • Janos Frecot for the Berlinische Galerie (ed.): Erich Salomon. With tails and lenses through politics and society. Photographs 1928–1938 . Schirmer / Mosel, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-8296-0032-1 .
  • Han de Vries, Peter Hunter-Salomon (Ed.): Erich Salomon. Portrait of an Era . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1963 (licensed edition. Deutscher Bücherbund, Stuttgart et al. 1964).
  • Andreas Biefang, Marij Leenders (ed.): The ideal parliament. Erich Salomon as a photographer in Berlin and The Hague 1928–1940. Droste, Düsseldorf 2013 (= contributions to the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Vol. 167, Series Parliament and Public, Vol. 5), ISBN 978-3-7700-5324-7 and also online  - Internet Archive .
  • Christiane Kuhlmann: Erich Salomon. Master of self-presentation. Berlinische Galerie, Berlin 2016 (= BG Research Report. Vol. 2), ISBN 978-3-940208-45-3 .

Web links

Commons : Erich Salomon  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Nora Lackner: Erich Franz Emil Salomon. Photo journalist and inventor of the "Candid Camera". In: German Museum of Technology Berlin. No. 1/2013, friends and sponsors of the German Museum of Technology Berlin e. V., Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin , ISSN  1869-1358 , p. 36 f.
  2. ↑ Bodo von Dewitz , Robert Lebeck : Kiosk. A history of photo reportage 1839–1973. Steidl, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-88243-791-X , p. 312.
  3. ^ Representation of the state of Baden-Württemberg at the federal level : "Gestatten, le roi des indiscrets". Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b Wolfgang Pensold: A history of photojournalism. What matters are the pictures. Springer VS, Wiesbaden, 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-08296-3 , p. 49 f.
  5. ↑ see photo
  6. ↑ Dr. Erich Salomon Prize in: German Society for Photography (DGPh)
  7. ↑ Jump in time. Erich Salomon. Barbara Klemm , ongoing touring exhibition of the Institute for Foreign Relations e. V. with current tour stations and vita
  8. ^ Pigozzi and the Paparazzi with Salomon, Weegee, Galella, Angeli, Secchiaroli, Quinn and Newton. State Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage, accessed on February 24, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Salomon, Erich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Salomon, Erich Franz Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photojournalist
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1944
Place of death Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp