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Hanno Hardt Constructing Press Photography in Weimar 1928-33
Hanno Hardt Constructing Press Photography in Weimar 1928-33
Hanno Hardt
School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242
373
374 Hanno Hard
t
and may be involved in t he reprod uct ion or tra nsforma tion of the
dominant structures. It also functions as a distinguishable new language
of journalism which challenges traditional text-based notions of facts or
objectivit y. Th is stud y is loca ted a t t he bou nd aries bet ween those
regimes of representa tion-at a time, when the change from word to
image or image / text in the public sphere came to represent a shift in
cultural practices. Photogra phs decomposed traditional narratives and
created a new awareness of the availability and the potential of visual
experiences among photographers and editors. In this context, it is also a
study of how the press reacted to the fast and efficient reproducibility of
events and the creation of reality through photographs. .
The introd uction of press photography stands at the beginning of a
modern encounter with images, including moving images-the promise
of th eir contribu tion to pu blic enlighten ment, and t he f ear of t heir
destructive powers; "the fantasy ... of a culture totally dominated by
images has now become a real technical possibility on a global scale"
{Mitchell, 1994, 15). A t t his ju nct u re in t he d evelopmen t of visual
communication, the study may also be taken as a response to Raymond
Williams' (1980) invitation that "the main result of a restated theoretical
position should be sustained historical inquiry into the general history
of the development of means of communication" (54). Its purpose is to
explor e t he dy na m ics of socia l and polit ica l p ra ct ices wit hi n t he
formations of t he press that guided or promoted the introd uction of
photojournalism in the context of diff erent social and political agendas.
While there has been considerable work on the politics and culture of
Weima r Germa ny in recent yea rs (e.g., Barnou w, 1988, 1994; Eyck,
1962/ 63; Fried rich, 1972; Frisby, 1986; Gay, 1968; Laqueur, 1974;
Pachter,
1982; Stern, 1965; Willett, 1978, 1984), including discussions of avant gard
e contribu tions to photogra phy {e.g., Coke, 1982; La vin, 1993; Mellor,
1978; Neuma nn, 1993; Pachnicke and Honnef, 1992; Phillips, 1989),
research on the emerging role of press or magazine photography in
Weim ar G erma ny as a mod ern m ea ns of comm u nica tio n, a new
language of journalism, or a contributor to the rise of photojournalism
elsewhere, has been limited {e.g., Freund, 1980; Gidal, 1972, 1993; Hard t,
1989; Ohm and Hard t, 1981; Smith, 1986).
Although some attention will be paid to the contemporary intellectual
critiques of images and photographic practices in Weimar Germany, this
study is less interested in tracing the critical reception of photography
by German readers. Instead, it concentrates on the construction of press
photogra phy within the institu tional and political bou nd aries of the
p rin t m ed ia an d in t he con tex t of exte r na l cu ltu ra l and
political cond it ions w hic h infor med t he evol u t ion of p r ess an d
m aga z in e photography in Weimar Germa ny. The latter, in particula
r, provided America n publishers, like Henry Luce, wit h invaluable insigh
ts and reveals the relationship between the German experience with
magazine
photogra phy and the rise of picture magazines in the United States. For
instance, the conceptualization of ma gazine jou rnalism af ter 1933, as
a ccom plished by the LI F E orga n iza t ion, a mon g ot hers, be n
efited sign ifica n t ly from con t ribu t ion s b y Ger ma n emig r e ed
i t ors a n d photogra phers (Smith, 1986; Hard t, 1989).
"the incredible d evelopment of the picture reportage has ha rdly been a victory
for tru th a bou t the conditions in the world: photogra phy in the hands of the
bourgeoisie has become a cruel weapon a gainst the truth. The immense picture
ma terial tha t is spewn out by the printing presses every day and that seems to
ha ve the characteristics of tru th, serves, in reality, only to obscure the facts. The
camera can lie as well as the linotype machine. The task of the A-I-Z to serve the
truth and to restore the facts is of immense impor ta nce and is bein g solved
brilliantly, it seems to me" (125)
The re were a lso letters of solid arit y from A me rican rea ders (for
instance, Der Arbeiter, The Federated Press, a press service, and the Dail y
Worker, all of New York), including Upton Sinclair, who sent "birthday
greetings and best wishes for your labors in defense of Soviet Russia,
which I consider the most interesting and important phenomenon which
has so far appeared in the history of the world" ( AIZ 10 / 41, 816). AIZ's
rising popularity resulted in requests to help establish similar magazines
in France ( Nos Rega rds) and Czechoslovakia ( S vet v obrazech).
The uses of photogra phy by the AIZ were part of a cultural network
which included publishing houses, film prod uction and distribution
companies, ma gazines, and newspa pers to coun ter capitalism and to
b r eak th e bou r geois med ia monopol y, includ ing social d em ocra t ic
practices. These developments included the organization of a pictu re
agency, Unionfoto (later Union-Bild), which began on May l, 1930, in
coopera tion with and financed by Russ-Foto, the largest Soviet photo
agency at the time. The agency supplied press photographs of the USSR
and distributed the photographic output of worker / photographers from
many countries (Beiler, 1967, 22).
Miinzenberg's contacts and his cooperation with Soviet institutions
was well known and his published reports about the Soviet Union were
uncritical. They created the impression of a worker's pa radise, despite
cont r a r y r epor ts fr om t he Germa n lef t abou t t he m isera ble living
cond itions and the economic plight of millions of Soviet citizens. For
instance, Babette Gross (1991) commented on the deliberate use of the
"Filipow" photo story in the AI Z which was a bla ta n t, cynical, and
ra ther well know n (among Soviet off icia ls) p ropaga nd a ef fort t ha t
became a hit among Germa n workers (238-39).
Bu t w hile Miinzen berg used photogra phy in va rious pu blica tions
since 1.921, e.g., S owje t r u f3l a nd im B il d and S ichel u nd H amme r ,
the orga n iz ed left h a d b een slow in r ecogn iz in g t h e im po r t a nce
of photogra phs for their newspa pers. For instance, the 1921 Third World
Congress of the Communist Interna tiona l in Moscow also dea lt with
ho w a p r ogr essiv e r evol u t ion a r y w or k ing-cl a ss p r ess cou ld u
se photographs, among other visua l materials, to gain and hold readers,
especially since the Commu nist press had been less t ha n successful
(Journa listik, 1958, 65); in 1925, the Com m un ist Pa r ty in Germa ny
pleaded with its editors to use illustrations more frequently in their
newspa pers. Even the central organ of the pa rty, the Rote Fahne , still
carried f ew illustrations during the mid-1920s (Biithe et al , 1977, 13).
Miinzenberg (1977) also lamented the lack of photogra phs in Communist
pu blica t ions t h rou gh the mid -1920s, especia lly since "the pict u re
influences children, youth, and the yet unorga nized masses of workers,
farm workers, peasants and similar groups, whose thoughts and feelings
are simple" (51).
Simila rly, the moderate political lef t also remained cautious about the
use of photographs. When the Social Democratic Par ty, in an attempt to
strengthen its own press, deba ted how readers could be attracted by
reducing the political content in favor of more reader-friendly material,
there wa s an immed ia te f ear of "America n izin g" t he pa r ty pr ess.
Moreover, there seemed to be more interest in the aesthetic qualities of
the ma terial tha n in the ideol ogical consequences of change. These
discussions included the introduction of photogra phs, which had been
sparingly used before and were typically provided by bourgeois press
agencies ra ther than social democratic sources (Koszyk, 1972, 311). In
fa ct , t he first n ews pho t ogr aph in t he cen t ra l orga n of t he Social
Democratic Party, Vorwiirts, did not appear un til August 1927 (Matthies,
1987, 70).
As photographs were reconceptualized to serve the specific political
interests of the party, so were press photogra phers instructed to serve
the cause of the working class. Under Miinzenberg's influence, by the
end of t he 1920s, pho t ogr aphs had become pa r t of a new form of
production which allowed amateur photographers to help articula te the
392 Hanno Hard
t
reality of working-class lif e. It involved teaching workers the use of
cameras and the importance of documentation in support of political
struggle; it also resulted in the subord ination of the ind ividual to the
application of technology to political practice.
The Arbeit er Fotog raf, published bet ween 1926 and 1933, provided
workers not only wit h technical or conceptual informa tion, bu t also
engaged in theoretical discussions and supplied the foundations of a
socialist theory of photogra phy. Thus, worker / photog ra phers were
recruited from among amateurs whose interests in photography were
id en t ified wi t h t hei r socia l or pol i t i ca l missio n ra t her t ha n
wit h prof essional prestige or income. In fact, the particular social-
economic status of photogra phers as laborers or u nem ployed wor kers
was a strategic position in the fight against the ruling class since they
were already on the front line of the struggle. As worker / photographers,
they joined artists like John Heartfield to produce a magazine similar to
the AI Z t h a t r evea led t h e ot h er sid e of lif e in Weima r Ger ma
n y, t he conditions of labor and the fight against injustice. An
understanding of press photography as agitation and propaganda
defined their missions to u ncover and control ma nipula tion and
fabrica tion of facts by the bou rgeois press. Also, the preoccupa tion
with technological aspects related to the latest cameras and equipment,
typical among middle-class photogra phers, was absen t among worker-
photographers. Old Leica cameras withou t rangefinders were
inexpensive; they cost 80 to 100 Mar ks a nd wor ker photogra phers
began to use t hem in 1932. Also, "Peggy" K ra us, Stu tt gar t, and
"Conta x," Zei P Ik on, off ered more inexpensive 35 mm cameras used
by worker-photographers ( Arbeiter Fotograf, 1932, 194).
Worker-photographers were concerned about making any equipment
work to prod uce eff ective photographs. They sought to provide visual
evidence of economically or politically signif icant events and combat the
trivial or sensational pictu re coverage that distingu ished bou rgeois
press photography in Weimar Germa ny. They followed their social and
poli t ic a l i n stinc t s t o co n fron t bo u r geois cu ltu r e w ith a st
yle of photography that was to reveal the harshness of proletarian life and
the corruption of t he midd le class. Edwin Hoernle (1978) had called on
workers to be the eye of the working class and to produce images that
"show class consciousness, mass consciousness, discipline, solidarity, a
spirit of aggression and revenge" (49).
Thus, the discovery and deployment of photographs on the lef t was
informed by the spirit of the documentary trad ition in the Soviet Union,
a t lea st in Miinzen berg's pu blica tions. Bu t it was a lso a necessa ry
reaction to the success of the bourgeois med ia, whose creative use of
p hotogra phs ha d increased the popu la rity of illust ra ted maga zines
among the working class and threa tened the demise of a party press
(Com mu n ist a nd Socia l-Democ r a t ic) w h ich h a d re ma ined
overl y politicized, dull, and unattractive for many readers.
Nevertheless, the
decen t r alized activities of the lef t, pa r ticularl y by t he Miinzen berg
media, provided an alterna tive use of photogra phs as instruments of
counter-propaga nda to influence the bourgeois public and to direct the
working class towards recognizing the poten tial of photogra phy as a
weapon. The Nazi press, on the other hand, did not tolerate journalistic
practices that were not centrally conceived and subsequently ordered.
CONCL USIO NS
NOTE
1. Translation of German texts by the author u nless indicated; the spelling of names in
the text follows U. S. usage, although original references {in German texts) contain
different spellings (for instance: Rodchenko/Rodschenko).
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