Herbert Ernst (cameraman)

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Herbert Walter Ernst (born May 2, 1939 in Berlin ; † November 14, 2019 ) was a German cameraman and filmmaker . Ernst became famous for his film shot on the Berlin Wall in 1962 of the removal of the dying GDR refugee Peter Fechter by soldiers of the NVA .

Life

Herbert Ernst was born on May 2, 1939 in Berlin. At the end of the war in 1945, the family returned to Berlin from Silesia, fleeing from the advancing Red Army . Ernst graduated from school with secondary school leaving certificate and then began training as a photo assistant. He then worked as a camera assistant for three years.

From 1961 he made films as a freelance journalist for the German Television News (GTN) news agency and other national and international agencies.

On August 17, 1962 Herbert Ernst could as happened to be present cameraman with his 16-millimeter Arriflex camera from a platform in the area of Checkpoint Charlie at the Berlin Wall the evacuation of wounded and seriously injured seventeen year old East German refugee Peter Fechter documented on film. The film sequence was broadcast by numerous domestic and foreign TV stations. Although only about one minute, it is considered a haunting film document of the Cold War and has become part of UNESCO - World Soundtrack Awards . The sequence of Peter Fechter's failed escape attempt has been included in countless documentaries and historical reviews and broadcast.

Since the wall was built, Ernst had been involved in filming what happened at the Berlin Wall. A series of 16 and 35 mm documentaries was made showing the consequences of the events of August 13 for the divided city.

When, after a few years, the press and the population felt a certain disenchantment with the division of the city, Ernst turned to new topics between 1965 and 1970 and shot and produced several short, humorous feature films about social aspects of the so-called front city Berlin, which dazzled the wall completely. In 1968, for example, the film Die Klamotte - A car drama in 6 courses was made , in which the Berlin cartoonist Aribert Neßlinger played the leading role.

At the beginning of the 1970s, Ernst turned again. He founded the first flea market in Berlin and opened a restaurant.

Publications

  • A life in Berlin , 278 pages, private edition 2014

literature

  • Ralf founder : "Nobody has the intention ...", a screenshot photograph from the camera work by Herbert Ernst. Shot in 1961 and 1962 in divided Berlin. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2016

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary of the family: Obituary. In: Tagesspiegel Berlin. November 24, 2019, accessed April 11, 2020 .
  2. ^ Laura Réthy: Herbert Ernst - a life for Berlin. Berlin Current. Berliner Morgenpost, May 18, 2014, accessed on March 23, 2017 .
  3. ^ Ann-Kathrin Hipp: cameraman Herbert Ernst. Zoom in on the past. Berlin. Der Tagesspiegel, February 8, 2017, accessed on March 23, 2017 .
  4. ^ Biographical notes on the Berlin cameraman Herbert Ernst. Retrieved June 2, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Ernst, Herbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ernst, Herbert Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cameraman and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 2019