The German American Collection, The Album 6

Pictures of middle class comfort? It seems so, but how was that possible. In the last post from this album, there was a beer keg with a 1923 date. 1923 was right in the middle of the German hyperinflation that nearly destroyed the German economy and helped pave the way for the rise of the Nazi party. Take a look on line, and pictures of people pushing wheelbarrows of cash to buy groceries can be found. Yet, this couple look quite comfortable. In the picture of the man, he's looking through an art book, and in the far background there is a very nice house. Two possibilities come to mind. While most German's lost almost everything, German businessmen who did business with other nations, had foreign currency to spend and grew quite wealthy. And the other possibility? With an exchange rate of billions of marks to the dollar, if this family had an American branch, even a small amount of U.S. currency could have kept these people in comfort.

The German American Collection, The Album 5

It's a wedding. So that's why all these people have gathered together. I do hope people will click on the individual images and bring them up in a bigger window. It will make it easier to see that the man straddling the barrel in the second photo is the accordionist in the first. And since there is a date on the beer keg, August 5, 1923, we can then get a good idea of the wedding's date.

The German American Collection, The Album 4

Trying to duplicate the experience of going through a photo album, on line, really isn't possible, but since this page would have been sideways when opened, that's the way it's posted. This collection is a lot bigger than this album. To see it all, click on German-American in the labels section.

The German American Collection, The Album 3

The idea of English as a national language is only about 100 years old. Much of the upper mid-west was pioneered by immigrants from Germany and the Nordic countries. Many of the small farming communities, not only had German, Swedish or Norwegian as primary languages, but sometimes, the only language. In one town, civic documents might be in German, in another, the schools taught in Swedish, and the street signs could be in Norwegian in a third. So what changed? America's entry into World War 1, viewed by many as an unjustified intrusion into a European war of empire, had to be sold to the general public. Propaganda campaigns that pictured German soldiers as blood crazed animals, who willingly bayoneted woman and children, who raped nuns and burnt churches, helped sell American entry into the conflict, while also bringing into question the patriotism of those who continued to speak languages other than English.

So, how can we tell that a photograph is from Europe when all we have to go on are signs in the background, or written labels that may not be in English? In the case of this album, take a close look at the team photo. There is a badge on the athletes jerseys from Aurich. Aurich is a region and town in Lower Saxony, in Germany. (Click on the image to bring it up in a larger window, to see it better.) Throw in some of the building styles, and a non American military uniform that will be in a future post from this album, and Germany, not Minnesota, is the more probable location.

The German American Collection, The Album 1

This is it, the most interesting part of the German-American collection. And, like so much in the world of found photographs, it's also a bit of a mystery. Except for the cover, is the album complete, or is this just a tantalizing fragment? Nothing is written on the pages so we don't know names, dates, or exact locations. Was there an index on the inside of the front cover, or was a knowledge of this family assumed, with no need for written information? I'll be putting up the album, without the big gaps that have been the hallmark of the collection, to date. As usual, I'll post a complete page to show placement, followed by separate scans of each image. Click on German-American in the labels section to bring up everything.

Riding Pigs

Intersting merry-go-round. I can think of a lot of animals that might be used as substitutes for the traditional horse, but pigs! Anyway, there aren't any old cars in the background, no recognizable buildings, and the clothes, while somewhat old fashioned, aren't all that distinctive, so how can this photo be dated? There is an Agfa-Lupex logo on the back which gives us a clue. Agfa started out as Aktiengesellschaft fur Anilinfabrikation in a Berlin suburb in 1867, became part of the IG Farben conglomerate in 1925, and still survives, though no longer a part of the infamous Farben chemical empire. Agfa-Lupex photographic paper was introduced in 1935, in Germany, and the particular logo design on the back of the print was used until about 1940. It's a start, but photographic paper, if properly stored, can be printed for decades. For all we know, some amateur photographer bought a box of Lupex, threw it in the back of an ice box, and kept the paper refrigerated for twenty years. I've just finished processing a roll of Ilford black & white film that went out of date in 1996, and it turned out just fine. Without any writing on the back, without a date or a location, this is what I like to imagine. It's the mid thirties. Hitler has come to power. War is on the horizon, and the adults in this photograph know it. Still, the carnival is in town and it makes the children happy to ride the pigs. What kid wouldn't be happy to ride a pig?

Original Romanos Truppe

I think I'm going to pass on my usual habit of typing out every single word on the back of a photo with this image. The circus is identified as "Original Romanos Truppe" followed by an address for their next performance. Too, "Mme. Lydia Ritzen," followed by an address, and a telephone number for Hamburg, Germany. She is listed as "agentur." My German is pretty limited, but even I know that means she's the agent. Some German words are just too long, my excuse for laziness.

The German Couple

I almost didn't put up this nice studio portrait because of the prints textured surface. I had to use the descreen setting on the scanner, losing some of the sharpness. So, why is that I have so many pictures from Germany? Is it just a coincidence, or did German immigrants to the United States treasure their photographs more than immigrants from other countries? A question that will never be answered. Stamped on the back, "Foto Dickopf, das Fachgeschaft in Siegburg." I think that means Photos by Dickopf, at the department store in Siegburg. Any German speakers out there, please feel free to correct my translation.

Tony Manns at the Wintergarten

Does this qualify as a photographic postcard? The audience is clearly a photograph, but the act on stage might not be. The proportions are wrong. The performers might be a drawing or they might be a photo that has been drawn over for emphasis. - I've posted the back of the card because, while I think my translation is right, I thought I'd give actual German speakers a chance to correct my efforts. "Tony Manns, the familiar whistle virtuoso. April: Berlin, The Wintergarten. May 1-15: Koln/Rhein, The Wappenhof" June, July, and August, Swedish Tour. May 15, free. In Berlin: Above all, The Wintergarten!" I also wanted to show the stamp. I spent a lot of time on stamp web sites looking for a match so I could date the card. I'm fairly certain that it's a 3 pfennig, Paul von Hindenburg stamp from 1933. If so, that would be a very significant year in German history. In 1933, President Hindenburg would appoint Adolf Hitler as chancellor. By 1934, Hitler would have absolute power over a one party dictatorship. The Nazis would be in power. - From the end of World War 1 to the rise of Hitler, Germany would have one of the most vibrant cultural scenes in the world. It's music, cabarets, theater, visual arts, and it's movie industry would make Berlin a rival to Paris as the cultural center of Europe. While we like to think that the artists of Germany fled Hitler and Nazism, most of them stayed put. Here is a list of some of those who either remained in Germany or who fled too late. Tony Manns was very likely one of them. - 1. G. W. Pabst. Known as Red Pabst by his friends and colleagues for his far left political views, Pabst directed silent classics, The Joyless Street, The Love of Jeanne Ney, Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl and co-directed The White Hell of Pitz Palu. He also made sound classics, Westfront 1918, The Three Penny Opera, and Kameradschaft. When Hitler came to power, Pabst accepted an offer to go to Hollywood. He made one film, A Modern Hero at Warner Brothers that flopped. Unhappy in Hollywood, he returned to Europe and made several movies in Paris. In 1939, he and his wife returned to Germany. According to his wife, she and Pabst had gone back to take care of family business, had intended to return to France, and had been trapped there when war started. Pabst made a couple of films during the war. After the war ended, Pabst wasn't able to get any film assignments until 1948. He continued to direct films into the 1960s. - 2. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, operatic soprano was an early member of the Nazi Party. In latter years, she claimed that joining the party was like joining a union, and meant nothing. She did, however, join the youth wing of the Nazi Student Association in 1935, where she was a Fuhrerin, a group leader, indicating a level of involvement in the party beyond mere convenience. Several years after the war, she married British impresario, Walter Legge, and became a British citizen, and eventually, a Dame Commander of the British Empire. - 3. Emil Nolde, painter, print maker and prominent member of the German expressionist movement, was an early supporter of the Nazi party and became a party member in 1934. Despite his party membership, he was declared a degenerate artist and more than 1,000 of his works were removed from public display. In 1941 he was banned from painting, even in private, though he did continue to paint watercolors, which he kept hidden for the duration of the war. He resumed his career after the war, and died in 1956. - 4. Werner Kruass, who played the title role in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, was an early supporter and enthusiastic member of the Nazi party. He was declared an Actor of the State by propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, and stared in the most notorious antisemitic film to come out of Nazi Germany, Jud Suss. After the war he made only three more films before his death. (The director of Jud Suss, Veit Haraln's first wife. the actress Dora Gerson, was Jewish and died in Auschwitz.) - 5. Renata Muller, tall, blond and the stereotype of the perfect Aryan woman, starred in a number of German comedies in the 1930s including Viktor und Viktoria that was remade as Victor/Victoria by Blake Edwards, starring Julie Andrews. She was also a singer and recording artist. Pressured by the Propaganda Ministry to promote Nazi ideals, she resisted, but was eventually forced to appear in the propaganda film Togger. She died in 1937. She was 31 at the time of her death. The official cause of death was epilepsy, but after the war, witnesses came forward and stated that she had been thrown from a building by Gestapo officers after refusing to give up her Jewish lover. Another theory is that she committed suicide. The true circumstances of her death will probably never be known. - 6. Charles Puffy, comedian and actor, is best known to fans of silent films as the rolly-polly gang member in Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. He was also in The Blue Angel. Puffy was born in Hungary, made a few films there and then went to Germany were he had a career in films and on the stage. From 1924-1927 he lived in the United States and made a number of films, mostly comedy shorts. He eventually returned to Germany and worked until he was forced out of the film industry because he was Jewish. He returned to his native Hungary, made a few films, and in 1941, after trying unsuccessfully to get back to the U.S., he and his wife fled east to the Soviet Union. After that, there are no reliable reports of what happened to him. One rumor is that he and his wife were arrested by the Soviets in Kazakhstan, sent to a prison camp where he died of diphtheria. Another unconfirmed rumor is that he was eventually released by the Soviets, made his way to China, where he was arrested by the Japanese and then died in Tokyo. - 7. Emil Jannings, born in Switzerland, but his family moved to Germany when he was still young. He established himself as a theater actor while still a young man, and quickly made the transition to film. He made classic silent films, Waxworks, Variety, Faust and The Last Laugh in Germany before accepting an offer to work in Hollywood. He won the first Academy Award for best actor for his performances in The Way of All Flesh, and The Last Command. (In the first year of the Academy Awards, actors were nominated for their work for the entire year, not just one film.) With the advent of sound, Jannings with his broken English and thick German accent found himself unemployable in the United States, so he returned to Germany where he made The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron. Jannings was an early supporter of the Nazi regime and party member. He was declared Artist of the State by Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, and spent the remainder of his career making films that supported the regime. He made his last film in 1945, and never worked again. - 8. Kurt Gerron. Actor, singer, cabaret star, writer, film and theater director. Born in Berlin, wounded in World War 1, medical student, Gerron went on stage for the first time, professionally in 1920. He would go on to originate the role Tiger Brown in Bertolt Brecht's Three Penny Opera. Gerron was in a number of silent movies, but is best known to film fans for his third billed role in The Blue Angel. Starting with short subjects, Gerron would go on to write, direct and star in a number of German comedies from the early sound era. In 1934 when all Jews were dismissed from the German film industry, Gerron moved to France and then the Netherlands were he continued his film career. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands he was arrested by the S.S. and sent to Westerbork transit camp. From there he was sent to Theresienstadt Concentration camp near Prague. In Theresienstadt, Gerron organized a cabaret theater, Kurt Gerron's Karussell. In 1944 he was ordered to write and direct a propaganda film, Hitler Gives a City to the Jews, that was meant to show that Jews were treated humanely by the Nazi government. After the film was wrapped, Gerron was sent to Auschwitz. He was part of the last selection and was gassed on October 28, 1944. He was 47 years old. The documentary Prisoner of Paradise tells his story and contains footage of Gerron performing in Berlin - I chose these eight examples of artists who stayed behind or who left too late to save themselves because, no matter what decesions they made, I admire at least some of their work. I love The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, own a DVD of the film, and watch it three or four times a year. The fact that Werner Krauss was a Nazi, while disturbing, is something that, in my mind, does not detract from the film. I like the German expressionists and admire Emil Nolde. And if I had more money, I would be ordering DVDs of The Last Laugh, Faust, and The Blue Angel, even though they all star Emil Jannings.

German Mystery Postcards

Two real photo postcard submissions in a row. Unlike the Currie Boys post, this one presented a bit of a mystery. There is some German written on the backs of these two cards, and when I saw the name Karlstein, the first thing I did was go to the atlas and fine a Karlstein, Germany. But then, I noticed a very light photo lab mark, in the shape of a fish, "FOTORYBKA, PRAHA." Or in English, Prague, Czechoslovakia (Now the Czech Republic.) So, it was off to the Google translations sight to see if I could make out what was written. Well, who ever wrote the notes, didn't have the greatest handwriting in the world, and I was only able to do a partial translation. Any words that I couldn't translate are represented by a parenthesis, and the number indicates the number of words not translated. On the image of the couple walking, the lady carrying a fox stole, "Georgine and Edie Anderle on the way from a (1) day above (1) in the National Theater in Prague. National Theater, happy days behind us." Then there is a symbol that matches the one on the photo to identify the building. On the other image, "From one of our flights from the Karlstein Castle 8 VIII 1943 from (3) one (2) here." The names "Eduard Anderle, Georgine" are written on the edge of the card, but not part of the message. Well, a couple of things. Georgine seems to be younger in the first photo, but I can't be 100% sure of that because of the hat. It covers too much of her face. The man really is older in the second picture. Listed as Eduard on one card and Edi on the other, it could have been an older relative, perhaps father and son. Edi, the diminutive is on the younger man's photo, perhaps an indication. And 1943, at the height of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. Were Georgine and Edi Germans on vacation, or was he a Nazi official there for the occupation? Or perhaps, they were Czechs, who wrote German and sent these two images along to a friend or family member in Germany. They could, after all, have been Sudeten, Germans, Czech nationals in the German speaking area along the German, Czech border. Karlstein Castle is in the town of Karlstein in the Czech Republic. Construction was started in 1348. I have found some photos that match the postcard, so I'm certain that it was taken in Czechoslovakia.

Prims USA

I found a lot about this company. In 1530 in Aachen, Germany, goldsmith Wilhelm Prym began manufacturing household goods of brass and copper. In 1642 the Prym family moved the business to Stolberg, Germany. Jump ahead to 1924 when company president, Hans August Prym set up William Prym, Inc. USA as an exclusive importer and sales agent for Prym products in the United States. In 1939 the American branch of the company moved its headquarters to Dayville, Connecticut. In 1946, Herman Koehl, working with Hans Prym, invented the cover your own button and buckle. In 1988 Prym acquired the Dritz Corp., a major maker of sewing notions, sewing gadget and beaded hand bags. Now Prym Dritz Corporation, the company, with it's factories in North Carolina, became a major manufacturer of sewing notions. After several other aqusitions, the name of the company, in 2005, was changed to Prym Consumer, USA. There is a lot more out there, both on the Prym website and from other sources, but way to much for me to transcribe. There was a press release pasted to the back of the horizontal photo of the model, "QUICK-CHANGE BELT combines the quaint charm of Lucy Locket pockets with the practical efficiency of G.I. money belts. Prims cover-your-own slim buckles at each side reiterate cheery red of bright plaid pockets; are readily adjustable to insure snug fit over either slim or gathered skirt. Prims cover-your-own halo buttons are used for fashion as well as function, repeating the gay yellow of the belt's all-purpose cotton. FROM: Press Release, Inc. 220 East 42nd Street New York, N.Y. For: William Prym, Inc. Dayville, Conn. WILLIAM PRYM, Inc. 350 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK 1, N.Y." I found it a little strange that a company involved in women's fashions would advertise something as being like a G.I. money belt.

From Germany

A very small collection of five photographs from Germany. The photo of the two older people is labeled, "Augusta & Gustav Meyer, Germany 1943." Stamped, "C. Weiss, Bremen, Bruckenstr. 16, Fernrui 53283." Look closely at the woman's face and compare it with the woman in the family portrait with the uniformed soldier and child. Same shape and nose. There is no writting on the back of the print, but it is a photo post card, made for the personal use of the subjects, and the studio is identified, "Photo-Studio, Inh. Jul V. Kwanka, Hamburg, Reeperbahn 122/24 Ecke Talsstr." The picture of the house has, written on the back, "Home of Emma Schonewald, Wedel Germany." Labeled in English, but the lab stamp is in German, "Photo-Grote A1625 Wedel Muhlenstr." The other prints have some writing, but it's in German, either faded or smeared, and I can't really make it out. These photos run from World War 1 to World War 2. Where the people in these photos proud of Germany, the Kaiser and Hitler?

The German Girl

The seller told me that this image was from the estate of a German who immigrated to the United States between World War 1 and World War 2. Can I just say how much I hate sellers who break up collections of old photographs. This image, beautiful as it is, would have been so much more interesting in context of a large collection. My guess is it's from the 1920's. Printed on post card stock.

The Sad Stripper

Stamped on the back of these two photos, "Foto Wachs Uckeritz/Usedom F/III/9/251." Clearly from Germany, Austria, or maybe the German speaking section of Switzerland. Judging by the hair styles, and clothing I'd bet sometime in the early 1950's, a time when West Germany and Austria were still in pretty bad shape. It looks like this lady was out at a club or on holiday, and got called up on stage for a little amateur entertainment. I know it's a fools errand to read too much into old photographs, but that's half the fun. She looks like she's pretty unhappy to be giving a strip show, no matter how mild it turned out to be.

An Androgynous Looking Lady

I'm sure this woman doesn't' look all that androgynous to anyone else but me. When I found this image, I was surprised to see a certain physical resemblance to myself. This woman has the same shaped face, and same forehead, and nose as I do. My jaw line is somewhat more square, but other than that.

This is a real photo postcard. At one time, most labs, and most home darkrooms had printable post cards. Print your own picture, write your own message. Printed on Votghlander paper, so it's probably from Germany.