Kurt Schaefer

Kurt Schaefer (born September 16, 1922 in Vienna - Landstrasse ; † May 24, 2020 in St. Pölten ) was an Austrian underwater film pioneer, underwater archaeologist, marine historian and model builder. Together with Hans Hass , he developed various innovative underwater cameras and an underwater station .

life and work

In 1941 Schaefer passed his Matura in Vienna. Subsequently, Schaefer was drafted into the Reich Labor Service , and in 1942 into the German Wehrmacht . As a radio operator with the German Air Force, he was stationed at the Italian airport Grosseto (Tuscany), where an Air Force Torpedo School was located. The tasks of his unit also included services on an air traffic control boat, which was in the port of Porto Santo Stefano near Orbetello, north of Civitaveccia. The Marina di Grosseto became Schaefer's first diving area, which he visited during his off watch. When the sea was too cloudy due to rough seas, he dived into the mouth of the Ombrone.

It was here that Schaefer, also inspired by the books by Hans Hass , developed the idea of ​​taking photos and filming underwater. Starting in 1942, he designed the first detailed construction sketches for an underwater camera that managed without a waterproof cover. This procedure was new, because up until now the way was to insert commercially available cameras into waterproof housings. This has significant disadvantages, because in addition to the bulky device, only a few camera settings could be operated from the outside, so that these cameras were only suitable for a few applications.

Schaefer designed and manufactured an aluminum housing with watertight bushings himself in 1943, replacing the standard plastic housing of a Kodak film camera. This enabled the camera to be used in the air as well as in the water without having to screw it into a case. The big advantage was that the camera is firstly limited to a minimum of size and secondly, the camera can be opened with a few simple steps and a new film can be inserted. For a camera with a cover, extensive assembly work was required first.

Although it was no longer possible to make a usable underwater film with this camera due to the war, Schaefer's construction from 1943 is considered the first modern underwater film camera. It was called "M8 / 1". The abbreviation stands for Marina-System Schaefer (“M”), 8 mm film format (“8”), first version (“/ 1”).

In the autumn of 1943, Schaefer wrote a letter to Hans Hass about his new invention and was invited by him to Berlin. But it was not until April 1944 that Schaefer met personally during a leave from the front. Hass recognized Schaefer's technical talent and the new possibilities that arose. They agreed on a development partnership for underwater photo and film cameras, whereby Schaefer waived a fee in the hope of being able to take part in Hans Hass's next expedition.

In addition to further developing his camera design, Schaefer wrote a script for an underwater cartoon in 1944, which he wanted to produce for Ufa together with Hans Hass, and drew the corresponding characters. The film was not made until the end of the war.

After the war, Schaefer first found employment at the former Abeking & Rassmusen yacht yard in Gmunden on Lake Traunsee. In 1946 he began studying architecture at the Technical University in Vienna, which he successfully completed in 1954 with the diploma examination. The long duration of the study can be explained by the fact that in the intervening years he constructed further innovative underwater photo and film cameras with and without a cover for himself and Hans Hass (e.g. underwater Leica and Unterwasser-Siemens), and underwater pile-dwelling research in Austrian alpine lakes carried out (Attersee, Mondsee, Keutschachersee, 1949–1951) and documented them in a film ("Traces of Prehistory", 1951) and - after his separation from Hans Hass - as a cameraman on an expedition at the University of Vienna under the Austrian marine biologist Rupert Riedl participated ("Austrian Tyrrhenia Expedition 1952").

The color film " Lights under water - miracles of the sea", which was made in 1952 during the expedition with Riedl in submarine caves from Sorrento to Capri, was produced using the Agfa Color process and was one of the first underwater color films ever. Schaefer had developed special headlights to illuminate the sea caves, which was also a novelty. Schaefer had some of his inventions patented.

Schaefer's underwater films “The Blue Garden” and “Landlubbers, Sea Wind and Small Fish” were made on several trips in the Adriatic with his expedition boat TERESA II. In the Urania in Vienna, Schaefer showed, in addition to his films, with great success never before shown 6x6 underwater photos on a scale of 1: 2 and 1: 1. In the 1960s, Kurt Schaefer's cameras were used several times to search for Nazi treasures in Lake Toplitz and to document them on film.

In the post-war years, Schaefer further developed its waterproof 8 mm film camera and successfully tested it. He then switched to the 16mm format, which was more suitable for professional cinema films. With the increasing number of recreational divers, Schaefer's 8 mm camera became interesting again for amateur diving. In 1966, he therefore referred the Austrian camera manufacturer Eumig to its 8 mm underwater film camera without a casing. So far there has been nothing like it on the market; the cameras were still covered with waterproof additional covers. Without paying tribute to Schaefer's preparatory work or concluding a license with him, the traditional company Eumig launched a waterproof film camera for Super-8 in 1979 under the product name “Eumig Nautica” as a world first. A legal clarification of Schaefer's claim was no longer possible because Eumig filed for bankruptcy in 1982.

Schaefer also developed submarine constructions outside of the underwater film: As an architect in the construction office of the Austrian star architect Karl Schwanzer , Schaefer designed an underwater station for the southern Spanish coast near Almeria in 1978 as part of a project by Hans Hass . It was not realized.

After completing his professional activity, Schaefer completed his previously started dissertation on historical wooden shipbuilding on the Danube at the Technical University of Vienna as a Dr. techn. with distinction.

Schaefer's other areas of work included several publications in specialist journals, series of publications for museums, collaboration on exhibition catalogs, exhibitions, museum design, scientific model building, ship reconstructions and supplementation of previous research.

Most of Schaefer's underwater camera models and prototypes are today, together with Hans Hass's underwater cameras, in a permanent exhibition in the Aquazoo - Löbbecke Museum .

Awards

The intensive model building work for the shipping museum Spitz / Donau brought Schaefer one of the biggest awards in London with his model of the Danube regatta THERESIA: “The Maze Challenge Cup” and the gold medal (December 2000).

On December 16, 2004, Schaefer was awarded the professional title “Professor” by the Austrian Minister of Education, Elisabeth Gehrer, in recognition of his services.

In 2012 Schaefer received the Silver Medal of Honor for services to the federal state of Lower Austria.

In 2017 he was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (ISDHF).

Books (selection)

• Nassern, Tschaiken, Canonbarenquen. Vienna, 2008
• Historic ships in Vienna. Vienna, 2002
• Architectura navalis Danubiana. Vienna, 1986
• Pingino. A polar fairy tale. Vienna, 1951

Literature (selection)

• Jung, Michael: Kurt Schaefer - A pioneer of UW film and photography. In: DIVEMASTER-Magazin, Stuttgart, No. 61, (2009), pp. 55–59