Raoul Korty

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Raoul Korty (born February 4, 1889 in Vienna , † 1944 in Auschwitz concentration camp ) was an Austrian journalist and collector of photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Life

Raoul Korty was born in 1889 to a Jewish banker. As a twelve year old he was already a passionate photo collector. After attending secondary school , he entered the Vienna Art Academy, which he was unable to finish by entering military service. He served as an officer in the First World War . During the war, Korty was awarded the silver Kuk Medal of Bravery 2nd Class.

After the end of the war, he founded the Gorgette photo studio, which had to be closed again due to bankruptcy a year later. Korty's father lost 20,000 crowns in the process. When Korty married a non-Jew, his father refused him any further financial support. The collection had grown to around 250,000 photos. The collector funded his living through the illustration of books, newspapers and magazines from the fundus of his private photo archive. In the 1930s, he had to pledge and sell parts of his collection due to financial difficulties.

Photo collections with photos from the Korty collection were published in 1935 and 1938.

After the “Anschluss” of Austria , Korty was forced to give up his journalistic activities. The separation from his non-Jewish wife followed. Due to his planned emigration , he deposited a large part of his collection (around 30,000 photographs) with a Viennese shipping company. In 1939 the collection was confiscated by the Gestapo and transferred free of charge to the Austrian National Library , where it was stored untouched until 1945. Korty was arrested in Vienna in 1944 and deported on March 10, 1944 with Transport 48a from Vienna to the Theresienstadt ghetto . He was transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp on October 28, 1944 on Transport Ev, the last transport from Thereienstadt to Auschwiz . The transport reached the extermination camp two days later on October 30, where Korty was murdered.

The Korty Collection

The restitution of the Korty collection

After the end of the war, Korty's surviving daughter submitted an application for restitution of the photo collection. The National Library was basically ready to return it, but refused to give the daughter a financial transfer. After that, the collection was forgotten. The collection did not come to the fore again until 2003, after the provenance research had been carried out in accordance with the provisions of the 1998 Art Restitution Act . The restitution took place after approval by the ministry in 2005. At the request of the daughter of the persecuted collector, the bundle was assessed by an external expert and purchased by the Austrian National Library.

In 2007 the 30,000 objects in the collection were scientifically processed. The order created by the collector himself was retained. The results were presented in an exhibition in 2008 curated by Michaela Pfundner and the art historian Margot Werner.

The exhibition

Korty preferred to collect portraits of prominent personalities from the late 19th and early 20th centuries: artists , theater favorites , the Austrian imperial family and European nobility , people of Viennese society, politicians and scientists . A particularly elaborate photo album with numerous photos of Emperor Franz Joseph I and his family has been preserved.

In addition to the portrait photos, there is also a section entitled “Curiosities”. So there are picture puzzles , pictures of showmen with physical disabilities or unusual appearance and photographs of viewings of celebrities. A part of the exhibition has been dedicated to the subject of retouching , as has the emerging photo journalism. Some of Korty's photo reports are also documented.

Beginning with the popular carte-de-visite in the 1860s, through studio photos around 1900 to press and fashion photography, beginning around 1920, the range of photography spans over 80 years.

Publications

  • Franz Joseph I. in 100 pictures . Edition Scala 1935.
  • Empress Elisabeth of Austria in two hundred pictures . Bernina 1938.

literature

  • Literature in the ÖNB
  • Margot Werner, Christina Köstner: Stolen Books - The Austrian National Library confronts its Nazi past. Edited by Murray G. Hall. Austrian National Library, Vienna 2004. ISBN 3-01-000035-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Korty more detailed curriculum vitae ( memento of the original from January 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ebensolch.at
  2. ↑ Exhibition report in the daily newspaper die Presse (accessed on October 20, 2009)
  3. ↑ Report on the Korty Collection exhibition on ORF (accessed on October 20, 2009)
  4. ↑ ORF report on the exhibition  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on October 20, 2009)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / oe1.orf.at  
  5. ↑ Review by Heimo Gruber on: Margot Werner, Christina Köstner: Stolen books - The Austrian National Library confronts its Nazi past

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Korty, Raoul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian journalist and collector
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 1944
Place of death Auschwitz concentration camp