Erich Retzlaff

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Erich Retzlaff (* 1899 in Reinfeld , † 1993 in Dießen am Ammersee ) was a German photographer.

Life and activity

In his youth, Retzlaff took part in the First World War, in which he was used as a machine gunner in Flanders. After unsuccessful attempts to gain a foothold in various professions, he turned to photography in 1925 and was finally able to establish himself as an artistic photographer in this profession. In 1924 Retzlaff lived in the house of the decorative painter Carl Hemming at Kapellstrasse 36, here still under the professional title of a merchant. In 1926 he made paints and varnishes, but the business was liquidated in 1927. Under Retzlaff-Dammermann, he initially worked in a photography workshop on Königsallee, until he went freelance as a photographer in the late 1920s and opened his own studio. During this period he married Erna Hemming (* 1900). Until shortly before the Second World War , his studio was at Kaiserstrasse No. 52 on the 2nd floor.

Since 1930 Retzlaff had published illustrated books of his photographic works with growing success, which usually contained series of thematically related images. His first publication, The Face of Old Age , for example, comprised several dozen portraits of old men and women. One focus of his oeuvre was the portrayal of average people in their natural environment, for example farmers and industrial workers. Often the people in the picture figured in the traditional costumes of their homeland as well as against the background of the landscape by which they had been shaped. After the National Socialists came to power, these subject preferences gave him a certain reputation for being a pioneer of Volkisch-German photography. He also made himself available to the new regime as a portrait photographer. The illustrated book Wegbereiter und Pioniere des Third Reich , published in 1933, bears witness to this . a. Contains likeness of Rudolf Hess , Gregor Strasser and Joseph Goebbels .

Works

  • The face of old age , 1930.
  • People at work: fifty-six photographic portraits from German industrial cities , 1931.
  • The von der Scholle: Fifty-six photographic portraits of down-to-earth people , 1931.
  • Pioneer and champion for the new Germany , 1933.
  • German traditional costumes , 1936.
  • Come and play with me. A picture book , 1943.
  • Countries and peoples on the Danube, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia , 1944. (Text Franz Thierfelder)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Retzlaff, Erich, Kaufmann, Kapellstrasse 36 , in officially commissioned address book of the city of Düsseldorf 1924, p. 428
  2. ↑ Erich Retzlaff, Farben und Lacke, Stockkampstrasse 12U , in the address book of the city of Düsseldorf 1926, p. 464
  3. ↑ Retzlaff, Erich, photographic portraits, Victoriastraße 29; Retzlaff-Hemming, Erna, OB (= no profession), Kapellstrasse 36 , in the address book of the city of Düsseldorf ›1930, p. 445
  4. ↑ Retzlaff, Erich, photographic portraits, Kaiserstraße 52 , in the address book of the city of Düsseldorf 1938, p. 560
personal data
SURNAME Retzlaff, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photographer
DATE OF BIRTH 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Reinfeld (Holstein)
DATE OF DEATH 1993
Place of death Dießen am Ammersee