Erich Höhne

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Erich Höhne, portrayed by Erich Pohl around 1970

Erich Höhne (born March 8, 1912 in Dresden ; † January 17, 1999 there ) was a German photographer . With his work, Höhne is one of the most important documentarists of the destroyed Dresden.

Life

Born in Dresden's Hechtviertel as the son of the Eisenformer and SPD functionary Ernst Max Höhne and the cardboard box worker Anna, Erich Höhne attended primary school in Dresden from 1918 to 1926. As a child he took photos with a self-made camera. In 1924 he joined the workers' sports movement and became a youth leader. Between 1926 and 1930, Höhne completed an apprenticeship as a precision mechanic at the Zeiss-Ikon factory in Dresden, where he worked as a precision mechanic, technical laboratory assistant and laboratory engineer until 1945. Since 1963 Höhne was a member of the Association of Journalists of the GDR . In 1939 he escaped being drafted into the Wehrmacht , as he was indispensable to install cameras in fighter pilots.

After the surrender, Erich Höhne received permission to take photographs; With a Contax miniature camera, a series of pictures about Dresden resettlement camps was created on behalf of the Saxon state government.

Between 1945 and 1968 he worked as a freelance photojournalist in Dresden and documented in particular the reconstruction of Dresden. After 1946 the amateur photographer broadened his knowledge by attending a master class in the photography trade and then passed it on as a leader of photo circles. After the death of his partner Erich Pohl in 1968, he ran the picture service with his wife. Höhne died in 1999 and was buried in the Heidefriedhof .

plant

Erich Höhne published idylls and pictures of the homeland until 1940, but his pre-war work was lost when Dresden was destroyed. Well-known illustrated books appeared after 1945, mostly documentaries about history or politicians. Together with Erich Pohl he was considered a documentarist from the very beginning. He received several GDR medals and awards at home and abroad, u. a. the silver pin of honor for photography and the Martin Andersen Nexö art prize of the city of Dresden.

In 1992 the Deutsche Fotothek department of the SLUB Dresden acquired the Höhne / Pohl press archive. With digitization, it is now possible to research an image inventory online that includes around 260,000 small-format and 100,000 medium-format negatives, over 3,000 color slides and numerous positives. It is the most extensive, fully acquired image archive in the photo library.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • II. German Art Exhibition in Dresden: Special Show of Dresden Photo Journalists, September / October 1949
  • Dresden, Museum for the History of the City: Exhibition on the 70th birthday of Walter Ulbricht (with a large photo show by Höhne / Pohl), 1963
  • Leipzig, Society for Photography in the Kulturbund der GDR: Early Pictures - An exhibition on the history of photography in the GDR November 8 to December 15, 1985
  • Dresden, German Hygiene Museum : The Dresden Myth. A cultural and historical review. April 8 to December 31, 2006
  • Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden: Man! Photographs from Dresden collections. June 17 to August 18, 2006
  • Dresden, exhibition in public space: Searching for traces: East. Places testimonials looks. July 20 to October 31, 2006

literature

  • Jens Bove: Big pictures in the middle of the night . A tribute to Erich Höhne on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Saxon Newspaper, March 7, 2012

Web links

Commons : Erich Höhne  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jens Bove: rubble, dreams, everyday life. In: Dresdner Geschichtsbuch 14, Dresden 2009. Ed .: Stadtmuseum Dresden, p. 221
  2. ↑ Jens Bove: rubble, dreams, everyday life. In: Dresdner Geschichtsbuch 14, Dresden 2009. Ed .: Stadtmuseum Dresden, p. 220
  3. ↑ Jens Bove: rubble, dreams, everyday life. In: Dresdner Geschichtsbuch 14, Dresden 2009. Ed .: Stadtmuseum Dresden, p. 219
personal data
SURNAME Höhne, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photographer
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH January 17, 1999
Place of death Dresden