Correction. In the second paragraph, I obviously meant to write “I assume that
it was NOT on sale in Communist Poland”.
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
> On 29 Jul 2018, at 07:36, Nathan Wajsman <photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
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