Harald Lechenperg
Harald Peter Lechenperg (born October 5, 1904 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † January 1, 1994 in Kufstein ) was a German-Austrian photographer , journalist and documentary filmmaker .
Life
Lechenperg began working as a journalist in Vienna in 1925 . From 1929 he published photo reports in the magazines “ Die Woche ” and “ Atlantis ”, from 1932 in the “ Berliner Illustrirten Zeitung ” (BIZ), the “ Dame ” and in the “ National Geographic Magazine ”. In 1932 he was under contract with the Dephot agency . In March 1933 he became a member of the Austrian NSDAP . In the years 1930–36 he traveled as a reporter to India , Afghanistan , Arabia , Africa and the USA . He achieved some fame with his often spectacular photo reports.
In 1937 he became editor-in-chief of the “ Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung ” and ran it - in contrast to the more political “ Illustrierte Beobachter ” - as a rather “apolitical mass illustrated”, which for that very reason can be regarded as a “first-rate propaganda vehicle” of the Nazi state. It was not until the beginning of the war that the BIS developed into a “crude propaganda instrument”.
In 1940 Lechenperg became the first "Hauptschriftleiter" (editor-in-chief) of the Nazi foreign propaganda magazine " Signal ". In the summer of 1941 he was dismissed because they wanted to separate “Signal” more from the “BIZ”, of which he remained editor-in-chief. In 1945 he fled to Kitzbühel via Bohemia .
Immediately after the war, because of his Nazi past, his attempt to obtain a license for an “Austrian Illustrated Newspaper” failed. From 1948 to 1951 he was editor-in-chief of the illustrated magazine " Quick ", then the Munich magazine "Copress", the "Deutsche Illustrierte" in Stuttgart and finally until 1961 the "Neue Illustrierte" in Cologne.
Since 1962 he has dedicated himself to the production of 22 documentaries, mainly for Bavarian television .
literature
- Kurt Kaindl : Harald P. Lechenperg. Photojournalism pioneer 1929–1937 . Müller, Salzburg 1990. ISBN 3-7013-0801-2 .
- Norbert Frei , Johannes Schmitz: Journalism in the Third Reich . 3. Edition. Beck, Munich 1999. ISBN 3-406-45516-6 .
- Rainer Rutz: Signal. A German illustrated abroad as a propaganda instrument in World War II . Klartext, Essen 2007. ISBN 3-89861-720-3 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Harald Lechenperg in the catalog of the German National Library
- Entry on Harald Lechenperg in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lechenperg, Harald |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lechenperg, Harald Peter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Austrian journalist and photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 5, 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 1, 1994 |
| Place of death | Kufstein |