In connection with our upcoming move, I have been packing books and other
things, including stuff that I have kept from my father’s things since he died
in 2004. I discarded things (newspapers etc.) that he had kept but that had no
obvious connection to him. I kept copies of articles that he had published and
various other writings, and of course all the old family photos. But what I
want to share here is an interesting historical document—interesting, both
because of the events it depicts but also of the status that photography once
had. It is basically a set of nine postcard-sized photos of Kennedy’s visit to
West Berlin in 1961 (this is when he delivered his famous “Ich bin ein
Berliner” address) in a small cardboard enclosure. On the front it simply says
“President Kennedy in Berlin”; on the back the publisher is identified—Kunst
und Bild—and the buyer is assured that the enclosure contains “nine genuine
photos”.
I have no idea when and how my father got hold of this. It must have been
published shortly after the visit, but I assume that it was on sale in
Communist Poland where we lived at the time, nor in East Germany, a country my
father visited often. I suspect that he might have picked it up in West Germany
on his way to France some time in the 1960s—he went a couple of times to visit
the French branch of the Wajsmans, and in those days such a trip was made by
train. He always made those trips alone, the authorities would not let us all
travel to the West, so effectively my mother and I were the assurance that he
would not defect.
In any event, at the tiny risk of infringing the copyright of Kunst und Bild
(tiny, because German copyright on published photographs lasts 50 years after
first publication, and I am assuming that these were published shortly after
Kennedy’s visit in 1961, so more than 50 years ago), here they are:
https://www.greatpix.eu/Kennedy-in-Berlin/
A memento of a time when photographs were valued possessions and when a US
president visiting Europe came here with significant moral authority. Both in
contrast to today’s situation.
Cheers,
Nathan
Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/>
http:// <http://www.greatpix.eu/>www.greatpix.eu
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
<http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws>Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/
<http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/>
Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator
<http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator>
YNWA
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|