Sites of Reality: Constructing Press

Photography in Weimar Germany, 1928-33

Hanno Hardt
School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242

The introduction of photographs as journalistic media represents a major

technological and cultural change in Western societies. This essay
explores the debates among German publishers concerning the
implementation of photographs and their role in the public discourse
during the last years of the Weimar Republic.

The introduction of a new technology is typically accompanied by a

public discourse which reveals the social and political attitudes and
cultural values that shape the climate of acceptance. Such climate,
however, is frequently enough manufactured by those who organize
and control the public sphere, and who hold, in effect, what C. Wright
Mills called the "power of initiation" (1956, 117).
This study addresses the introduction of press photography in
Germany during the late 1920s. It is grounded in a cultural materialist
perspective from which photographic practices appear as products of
cultural and political processes of a specific historical moment. At that
time, the newspaper press responded with its own ideological
constructions of photojournalism based on political allegiances and on
the commercial potential of images confirmed by the success of
picture magazines. Simultaneously, individual or collective
understandings among photographers of the need to produce a
version of social reality were to reflect aesthetic preferences and
political tendencies of media ownership.
Photography operates within a system of representations and as
part of the cultural and political apparatus of society. Enhanced by
what Victor Burgin called its capacity for "resemblance" (1982,
11), photography is a means of communication within a theory of
culture and communication that locates the media within a society
conceived as a complex relationship of activities and institutions.
Photojournalism as a signifying system is closely tied to the economic
and political order

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).

PHOTOJOURNALISM AND THE CULTURAL CONTEXT

Th e cu ltu r a l con t ext of p h ot ojo u r nalism in 1920s Ger ma n

y w a s particularly enhanced by an expanding free flow of ideas from
abroa d following World War I. In its path, the potential of photography
as a documentary and jou rnalistic tool was demonstrated with the rise
of new aesthetic visions and the course of political developmen ts.
They occurred in the Soviet Union and Germany, in par ticular, and in
the U nite d States, w he re t ech n ology a n d d emoc r a cy ha d b
ecome synonymou s expression s of freed om. Und erlyi ng consi d
era tions of p ho to gr a p h y w a s a recog nitio n of t he fa ct u a l a
s a ce n t r a l issue concerning functionalism and a need to struggle
against the distortion of realism by photographic images. Photography
was also recognized as a social and political instrument; it allowed par
ticipation and could be u sed by la r ge nu mber s of people. A n a
to ly Lu n a ch arsk y, Le ni n's commissar for educa tion in 1920,
once said tha t "besides his pocket wa tch, every progressi ve Soviet
citize n must also own a ca mera" (Roland, 1977, 97)1.
The experience with photography in the Soviet Union had resulted in
the rise of documentary expression. It was discussed and implemented
by Dzigo Vertov in his Kinogla z activities, involving the production of
newsreels and the "decoding of lif e as it is" (Michelson, 1984, 49) and by
Alexander Rodchenko who expanded the traditional use of the camera
ey e. V er tov r ejec t ed t he Holl yw ood ve r sion of film a s fict ion
a l production and insisted on the primacy of the documentary approach.
His use of the documentary form demonstrated the impact of a social or
political theory of revol ution on visua l expression . Rodchenko also
maintained that social transformations must be expressed in a change of
form and content and argued for new possibilities of the photograph,
not only to describe the world, but to see it from different points. With
the r ise of the ne w photog ra phy, he criticized a nd con fronted t he
traditional, century-old, authorita rian perspective of a "psychology of
the navel" (Kha n-Magomedov, 1987, 222). Along with others Rodchenko
developed photographic practices that emphasized the defamiliarization
of objects, in an eff ort to confront preconceptions, and noted the danger
of conven tional photogra phy with its tendency to reinforce through
repetition habitua l ways of seeing (Watney, 1982, 155-66).
Both men stressed the importance of producing images based in fact
376 Hanno Hard t
whose documen tary values supported the goals of the revolution and
the interest of educating people in the spirit of Socialism. In fact, other
Soviet pho tog raphers associa ted wit h t he maga zine N ovyj L EF
(Left Fr ont of t he A r ts) recognized t ha t t he new challe nges of d a
ily lif e r equi r ed a n ew for m of r ep r esen t a t ion . Th ey pr oblema t
ized a n d concept ualized the rela tionship between the development of
new social struct ur es and t hei r visual presen tation and d ecided tha t
the camera r ep r esen t ed t h e m ost a d eq u a t e m ed iu m for t h e r
eprod u ct ion of revolutionary matter in a revolutionary manner. As
Herbert Molderings (1978) observed, "the Russian revolution, which libera
ted all prod uctive forces, also for a time libera ted the ar t of p ho togr
aphy" (91): when technology beca me the hope of society and camera
technology satisfied the need for documentation. But there were signif icant
diff erences noted between bou rgeois and proleta ria n photogra phy. W
riting abou t the strug gle bet ween crea t ive a nd const r u cti ve p ho tog
r a p h y, Wa lter Benjamin (1977) cited the accomplishment of Russia n film,
based on the goal of its photogra ph y, which was not "appea l an d infl
uence, bu t experiment and instruction" (63).
Ma x Alper t a nd Ar kad y Shaikhet who worked for t he Soyu sfoto
agency (founded in 1926), among others, dominated photojournalism in
the Soviet Union. They raised the level of professional performance and
created expectations about the role of photography that pushed beyond
cha rges of formalism to express t hei r commitment to the cause. One
result, which influenced the work of Germa n photogra phers, was the
creation of serialized images in the form of picture stories, including,
"Twen t y-fo u r Hou rs in t h e L if e of t h e Fil ip p ov Fam i ly ." The
approximately 80 photogra phs depicting t he typical life of a Russia n
worker and his family toured Vienna, Prague, and Berlin in 1931; the
story was republished in Willi Miinzenberg's weekly picture magazine,
Arbeiter-Illu strierte Z eitung (AIZ ), a very successful publication of the left
founded in 1925 (38/1931). The project inspired a German version, "Die
deutschen Filipows," produced by a workers' collective in Berlin that
was published in the AIZ (48/1931). Its form and function became a new
and alternative type of photogra phic practice in the service of political
propaganda.
Th e su ccess of Soviet p h otog r aphy in Ger man y spr ea d th ro
ug h ex hi bit ion s a n d boo ks; i t a lso su ggest ed t h a t t h e r i se of
a n ew tech nology u nd er cond itio ns of d evelop men t an d t he d ir
ection of specific id eol ogical in ter ests info r med t he wo rk of oth er
s w hose aesthetic sensibilities rather than political convictions responded
to the challenge of a new photography. One did not have to be a Commu
nist to understand the potential of photography as a new way of seeing
the world, or to join in the experimentation with images and texts, in
an ef for t to challe nge t h e au t h ority of conv en tio na l p ra ctices.
Thu s, considerations of Soviet photography were also part of a more
general
 intellect ua l and crea t ive explora tio n of the post-wa r culture which
surfa ced in G erma n jour nalism of the 1920s. It involved incr ea sing
demands for facts and objective presentations of the world. Information
became a central force behind movements in litera ture and journalism,
signaling the end of a social and polit ica l era and empha sizing the
power and attraction of immed iacy and actua lity of experience as a
journalistic event.
The primacy of the factual, or objectivity, also reflected an admira tion
for the United States with its technological progress and democratic
t r a d i t ion, a n d cons t i t u t ed a shar ed f eeli n g bey on d t h e p
olit ica l bou nda ries of the Soviet Union, or even Weima r Germany. As
Grigori Konsintsev (1988) and his Soviet colleagues suggested,
"Yesterday-the cu lt u re of E u r op e. Tod ay-t h e tech n ology of A
merica . In d u st r y, prod uction under the Stars and Stripes. Either
Americanization or the undertaker" (58). These sentiments were reflected
in Weimar Germany, where, despite the recent war, "Americans were
welcomed as the best of friends" (Villard, 1933, 16). Germans were infor
med in 1926 that an "intense yearning for America" could be answered
wit h chewing gum which "is the cheapest way to A mericanize oneself"
(Lorsy, 1994, 662). But t he popu la rit y of A merican culture and its
infl uence on Wei ma r Germa ny must also be placed in the contex t of
specific technological developments. For instance, the rise of
broadcasting in the United States, closely monit ored by Germa n au t
horit ies, wa s celebra ted by rad io am a t eu rs, w h o h a iled t h e id ea
of "freed om of t he a ir" in t h eir publica tions (Lerg, 1980, 65).
There was also an increasing transmission of cultural productions,
incl u d ing fil ms a nd ph otogr a p hs, wi t h t h e est ablish men t of U.S.
distribu tors and press agencies. For example, a 1927 content analysis of
the Berl iner Jl l ust rirte Z eit ung "observed an .Amer ica n infl uence in
photogra phy, which wants to be a means of grasping visual reality"
(Biissemeyer, 1930, 47). In addition there was the expedient translation
and publication of U.S. literature, and the cultural mobility of idols like
Charlie Chaplin, Buster Kea ton, and Ha rold Lloyd. Indeed, Thomas
Saunders (1994) considered the popularity and criticism of Hollywood
films, in Weimar Germany, a form of Americanization. There was also
an a ff init y wi t h A merica n pr ess pra ctices of sepa ra ti ng fact from
opinion. They were identified and sometimes imitated, particula rly by
the liberal German press, representing a desirable accom modation of
commercial interests and societa l responsibilit ies ( Hard t, 1989). The
print media, especially, adopted U.S. journa listic practices in content
and layout. They included human interest stories, sensationalism, and
t h e frequ ent u se of illu str a t i ons, esp ecia l ly p h ot ogr a p hs, w
hich peppered the layou t of newspa pers a nd spread across the pages of
magazines. For instance, the concept "yellow" press was applied to the
Ullstein press in 1932 by Carl van Ossietzky in the Weltbiihne (Koszyk,
378 Hanno Hard t
1972, 256), whi le "Americanisms" beca me a concept in Max Weber's
an ticipa ted social scientif ic stud y of the Germa n press (Hard t, 1979,
172).
Neither the influence of Soviet nor of American cultural practices was
universa lly welcome. However, there was a clima te of reception in a
gen era l a t mos p her e of experimen ta t ion a nd crea t ivity in Wei
ma r G erma n y, wh ich suppor ted the flow of id ea s a cross polit ica
l and cultu ral bounda ries. Photogr aphy beca me a cultural practice of
the popular press.
Specific developments of photojournalism were problematized and
legitimated by a more general discussion of the role of language and the
power of images; they were most dramatically captured by the Dad a
movement and the political photomon tages of John Hear tf ield. There
was also the appeal of the photo book as a creative statemen t and a
prominent and important source of social and political information that
represented yet another form of documentary expression. In addition,
t h er e w er e in t ellect u a l d eb a tes abo u t la n gu a ge a n d ima
ges b y individ uals ranging from Martin Heidegger (1962), Benjamin
(1969), and Siegfried Kraca uer (1977) to Hugo von Hoff ma n nst hal
(1921). They addressed the cultural demands of a democracy following a
long period oJ censorship that had ended after World War I. At that time,
demands for news and entertainment spread to new and vast audiences of
socially a n d econ om ica lly d epr iv ed in d ivid u a ls. The com m er
cia l m ed i a responded with a flood of inexpensive reading ma terials,
includ ing serialized novels in existing newspa pers and magazines,
dime novels, paperbacks, and picture magazines.
The Weimar press reflected the specific cultural milieu and reacted, as
will be shown below, to the consequences of a pho tojournalism that
profited from the political practices and commercial applications in the
Soviet U n ion a n d t h e Un ited Sta t es. On a m or e p r a ctica l
level, photographs delivered powerf ul statements; they also produced
readers and, t heref ore, gua ra n teed increasing revenues. The lat ter
was an important considera tion for all sectors of the press, regardless of
their political aff iliation.

PHOTOJOURNALISM: CONDITIONS OF THE WEIMAR PRESS

Ph otojo u r n a lism in Wei ma r G erma n y wa s t h e supplier of

vis ua l informa tion, an increasing pict ure coverage of even ts at
home and abroad aimed a t satisf ying the curiosity of readers. It a lso
helped rein tegra te post-wa r G erma ny visually into the world com
munity. Photojournalism demonstrated access to visual resources,
regardless of origin, and promoted the idea of a liberated, and
therefore, unobstructed gaze. It also reinforced a notion of the reader as
observer and participant in lhe world, while the coverage of trad
itional Germa n social and
 cultural practices reaffirmed the past and validated the power of history.
On the other hand, the uses of photographs by the political press of the
lef t or right, for the purposes of enlightenment and propaganda, served
to control or counteract visua l statements by t he popular press and
d i r ect ed r ea d ers to w a r d s a d iff er en t k in d of t r u t h . R a t h
er t h a n redirecting attention away from the social and political
conditions of everyda y lif e in Weima r Germa ny by focu sing on t h e
exot icism of dista n t realities, these institu tions insisted on retu rning to
the "real" conditions of contemporary society.
Photographs catered to the need for facts, reinforced the professional
ideology of objectivity, and became sites of reality in the world of
Weima r journalism. More specif ically, editors trea ted photogra phic
images in their publications as objective representa tions of people and
events. Photog ra phs were assigned the power to establish the rea l
conditions of society, either in the form of middle class conceptions of
tradition and survival or in the provocative style of social criticism in its
attacks on the social and political establishment. Photographs served to
document d iff erent tru ths and different understandings of everyday life
and assumed an increasingly important role in the conceptualization of
news and news coverage; they were products of the "camera eye" that
observed and recorded under the creative guidance of a "lensman," who
was recognized for "taking" pictures everywhere and under the most
imaginative circumstances.
Thus, photogra phy in Germa ny was energized by the social and
political conditions in the post-war era and emerged as a "new vision,"
built on an awareness of the new technology and its aesthetic potential.
Magazine photogra phy, i n pa rticula r, celebra ted the new visi on und
er t h e lea d er sh ip of ed ito r s like K u r t K orf f a n d Stefa n L or a n
t. Photographers such as Laslo Moholy-Nagy, Albert Renger-Patzsch,
Erich Salomon and Felix Man helped articu la te the autonomy of
photography vis-a-v is ar t a n d it s possib ili t ies a s a tec h n ologica l
m ea n s of representation. Through series of photogra phic expressions that
ranged from the experimental uses of the camera technology to straigh
tforward realism, they addressed artistic / philosophical issues of space
and time a s well a s t h e conc r ete con d i t ions of socia l ch an ge. It
wa s t h e glorifica tion of the object, in par ticula r, that was the prod
uct of Neue S achl ichkeit photogra phy as well as the applica tion of
constructivist ideas, emerging from the work of Rodchenko, tha t rea ppea
red in the documentary or journalistic work of German photographers,
published in the magazines of liberal bourgeois publishing houses like
Ullstein or Knorr and Hirth.
There could be no doubt that photogra phy in all of its forms had
become a new and signif icant element of social expression and was used
to provide social and sdentific evidence of the political and na tu ral
en v iro n m ent. Th e p r ess h a d a pa r t icu la r stak e in t h e d
iscou rse concerning facts and the representation of reality, since its
historical
380 Hanno Hard
t
understa nding of news or information was seriously challenged by a
visual med ium that promised to be more direct, more powerf ul, and
quite diff erent in its conceptualization of social reality than traditional
textual treatments by reporters. Not since the beginning of the modern
press had a new technology threatened to alter the face of newspapers
and magazines as rad ically as did the use of photographs.
But the introd uction of photog ra p hy requ ired more tha n a new
outlook on jou rnalistic practices by editors and pu blishers, or even
reporters; it also req uired a new form of reception from a potentially
large audience. The news was to be seen, not read, and was intended to
provide an immediate encounter with reality. These changes involving
aesthetic and material aspects of production and consumption relied on
questions of culture, includ ing prof essional expectations and reader
satisfaction. Thus, while individual creativity, of ten channeled through
pic t u r e a gen cies, cont r ibu ted to t he po pu la ri ty of phot ogr
aphic narratives, reader demands or tastes were constantly being
created and sustained by the press. The goal was to reinforce editorial
policies concerning visual presen ta tions and d irect the flow of pictu
res by references to reading habits, cultural preferences, and issues of
cultural consu mp tion. In other word s, German editors and pu
blishers were d eepl y in volv ed in the cu ltu ral const ru ction of ph ot
ogr a phs a s journalistic expressions.
The construction of the image as information by those in control of the
uses of photography within the daily press involved more immediate
orga niza t ional and a d min istra tive problems. Issues ra nged from
bu sin ess a r r a ngem ents wit h pi ctu r e agencies an d pr ofessi on al
consid erat ions of staff ing pictu re d esks while red efining news to
accommodate the flow of photographs, to dealing with the competitive
pressures for more picture coverage while struggling to comprehend the
powerful social and political impact of images and the commercial and
polit ica l consequences of photojou rnalism. Beyo nd t hese concerns
ho wev er, loomed even m ore f u n d a me n ta l q u estions, r ega rd ing
hegemonic issues of controlling technological change and maintaining
political power over the process of defining reality, in which the press
competed for the supply of visual information about a rapidly changing
cultural and political environment.
By the begin ning of the twentiet h centu ry the d emand for more
pho t ogra p hs w a s m et b y the establish m en t of pho to a gen
cies, pa r t icularly in Berlin . A host of Germa n press agencies bega n
to compete, mos t ly with exclusive pict u re material, for the d omestic
market which included the daily press, picture magazines, and the little
magazines by the 1920s. The latter had been successf ul in the United
States, combining novels, reportage, and feature photographs, which
provided ye t another outlet for photog ra phers. In ad dition, some
a gen cies, a mo n g t he m De pho t ( Deu tscher Pho to-Die ns t ) and
Weltrundschau, initiated work on photo stories rather than on single
 images to supply magazines with visual narra tives. Their contributions
were fueled by the crea tive capabilities of the new photogra phers and
encou raged by the increasi ng demands for unique story idea s from
pictu re magazines. They constituted the raw materia l for defining the
na tu re of photojou rnalism which a lso aff ected considera tions of the
d a ily p ress conce r n ing st yle, con ten t, a nd q u a n t i t y of visu a l
presentations.
A photogra pher w ho wor ked in the Be rlin bu r eau of Pacific and
Atla n tic Pho tos (later Associated Press) r ecalled the role of agency
personnel and how rapid ly news pho tos were distribu ted to clien ts
aro u nd t h e city an d ab roa d. A ty pical d a ily rou tine consist ed of
preparing a set of seven to fif teen photographs (subscribers had access
to a minimum of seven pictures per day), adding feature photogra phs if
necessary quotas could not be reached, and producing 80 copies of each
set of photogra phs for general shipment and an add itional 30 copies for
the London, Paris, and New York offices of the Associated Press and for
some special customers (Kerbs, 1983, 26-28). Photogra phs were also
circulated through other outlets;for instance, in 1927, the Illustrations
Verlag Wagenborg in Berlin off ered subscriptions for weekly deliveries
of ster eot y pe p l a tes to d a ily ne ws pa pe rs. The ser v ice p r ovid
ed p ho t ogr a p h s t o cover news ev en t s ( 40) , spo r ts (2) , a nd fa sh
ion, architecture, and film (1 each), besides various graphics ( Deut sche
Presse , 1927, xxi).
Photo agencies catered for some time to a rising demand for visual
information which continued to threaten conventional forms of public
com m u n ica t ion. Be t w ee n 1924 a n d 1930, in a d d it ion t o p ict u
r e magazines, movie houses and broadcast ing came onto t he social and
political scene in Germany and off ered yet an other opport u ni ty for
altering traditions of commu nication in society. Thus, the newspaper
industry of the Weimar Republic confronted the eff ects of photography
on the nature of public communication. Since pictures as reproductions
of reality appealed to many people who responded to them intuitively or
experientially, rather than as members of an expert (educated) audience,
photography extended the process of reception to diff erent and larger
aud iences. For exam ple, in an eff ort to provide a broad spectrum of
illustrated information, by 1928 the Berliner Tageblat t off ered its readers
several illustra ted supplements each week, including Der Weltspiegel ,
Il l u s t r ier t e F ilm- Z ei t u ng , P h o t o- S pie g el , an d M od e n s
pie g el ( d e Mendelssohn, 1959, 248).
The ensuing flood of magazine pictures, however, was met not only
by t he photo-docu menta tion of the AI Z , wh ich t ried to subvert the
process of distr a ction, bu t by cultu ral cr it ics, lik e Kraca ue r, w ho
questioned the surface qualities of the medium and its illusion of being
the real. Writing in 1927, Kracauer (1977) saw the illustrated magazine
press as a source of contradictions and its photogra phs as constituting a
fragmen ted reality. "In the illustrated magazin es the public sees the
382 Hanno Hard t

world whose perception of it is hindered by the illust ra ted jou rnals

themselves." In fact, "American illustrated magazines, which are being
imitated often by those in other countries, equate the world with the
embodiment of photographs" (34).
In the meantime, the German press approached photojournalism with
pred ictable t re pida tions, due, at least in pa r t, to t he na tur e of the
industry. The lack of a strong national press in Germany was offset by a
system of large regional and local newspa pers, ranging from district
newspa pers w hich relied on syndica ted ma terial, to a sophistica
ted u rba n press in cities like Berlin and Fra nkf urt wit h rela tively la rge
circulation beyond its geographical regions. In addition, there was the
Generalanzeiger type of newspaper that off ered news rather than views.
Although Germany boasted more newspa pers than any other Europea n
cou n t ry, mos t n ewspa per s wer e sma ll; t he so-ca lled H eima tpre s
se represented the stereotypica l notion of local ownership. Oron Hale
(1964) reported that in the late 1920s, 81 percent of the newspa pers were
fa m i ly-o w ned a n d ove r h a lf of t h em cla imed t o be neu t r a l a
n d ind epend en t; The p ress wa s a business p rop osition ra t her t ha n
a poli t ica l ca lli n g for m a n y pu blish er s, inclu d in g t hose in la r
ge metropolitan areas (3-4), where the encounter with modern photogra phy
was strongest due to the publication of national or regional magazines.
Many local newspapers were organized in their respective provinces and
represented by the Association of German Newspaper Publishers (Verein
der deutschen Z eitungsverleger or VDZV), although its leadership was in
the hands of the elite press. Only Na zi and Communist publishers
remained outside the association. The VDZV was particularly concerned
with busi ness and technical aspects of the press, bu t as Hale (I964)
obser ved , "To a gr ea t er ext en t t ha n wa s cu stom a r y w it h t r a de
organiza tions it was inspired by a sense of high past achievement, of
service and obligation to the public and the nation, and of standa rds that
t r a nsce n d ed t h e bu siness ba la nce shee t a nd t he pr ofit a nd loss
statement" (7-8). These values clearly informed the discussion of an
emerging practice of press photogra phy among orga nized newspa per
publishers.

PHOTOJOURNALISM AND THE VDZV

In Germany, throughout the late 1920s, the discussion of photographs in

the service of newsrooms was particula rly interesting, since by that time
most newspaper proprietors became convinced that photography was a
legit ima te med iu m of pu blic comm u nica tion. A ccor d ing to VDZV
estimates, between 600 and 800 newspa pers used photographs and texts
r egula rly (Zeit u ngs-Ve rla g, 1928a, 637). Ma ga z i ne jou rn a lism
in Germany, which had already embraced photography as an attractive
and
 powerf ul way of crea ting a diff erent visual experience for its readers,
had begu n to compete successfully for advertisers against a press tha t
had been slow in adopting this new technology as pa r t of its regular
news gathering process.
In fact, the invasion of images during the 1920s and the actual and
r egu la r u se of ph ot ogr a p hs b y news p a pe rs p ro m p t ed a ser ies
of responses from newspa per publishers. They add ressed the position
of the press in the cultural milieu of Weimar Germany and articulated the
authoritative claims of publishers over definitions of the press and its
rela t ions w ith readers. They also reflected the na ture of t rad itional
German journalism, which insisted on an ideologically-d riven dialogue
with educa ted readers rather than on acknowledging the existence of
ordinary readers, whose encounter with picture magazines may have lef t
them with a desire to be informed by other than textual treatments of
events.
Althou gh financial considera tions, unfa milia rity wit h fairly recent
techn ica l a d va n cem ents, an d the specific con dit ions of prod ucing
newspa pers (of ten under collective arrangements and with the help of
boilerpla te services, for insta nce) seemed relevant reasons for a slow
adoption of pho togra phs by many newspa pers, the major argu ments
concer ning the status of photogra phs in the press focused on thei r
cultu ral mea ning. These argu ments seemed to add ress pu blishers of
m a ga z ines a nd news pa pers, lik e Ulls tein, w h o h a d a cted on t h e
realization that with the introd uction of photogra phs, readers preferred
the visu al imager y to tex ts. As Korff (1994), ed itor of t he Be rl iner
Illustrirte Zeitung , explained, "Without the picture the things going on in
the world were reprod uced incom pletely, of ten impla usibly; the picture
conveyed the strongest and most lasting impression" (646).
Ph o t ogr ap h y h a d been u sed b y t h ese i llu st ra ted m agaz in es
to construct and reflect a middle class world view that had of ten little to
do with the actual conditions of society. Newspa per publishers must have
been well aware of this tendency; their own discussions of the role and
fu nc tion of p r ess p ho t ogr a p h y r eflec t ed t h e ou t com e o f t
hese prof essional practices of magazine editors and t heir cooperation with
photogra phers, whose own projects could only have been as successful
as they were because of their ideological proximit y to the u nw ritten
demands of the industry. Thus, German photojournalism attracted many
ph otog r a p he rs w ho p r od u ced series of pi ct u r e essa ys u n d er t h
e guidance of editors and picture agencies and helped bourgeois
magazine jou rnalism succeed commercially. The result was that photogra
phers prod uced and published extraordina ry photogra phs of an
untouched world of Tradition and Kultur at the expense of critical and
socially and politically relevant photogra phs or photogra phic stories.
How ever, G erm an newspa per p ublish ers r em a ined pa r t icu la
rly sensitive to the significa nt flow of foreign ima ges into the press
and
384 Hanno Hardt

weighted the consequences of any uncritical use of such photogra

phic ma terial by editors and their effects on readers. They argued for
careful editoria l choices, expressing their preference for the work of
certain pictu re agencies, and particularly for those with a firm
understanding of wha t constitu ted an acceptable photogra phic ima ge
for the German pr ess. Their argu men ts abou t pict u r e ed iting were
infor med by a narrow, ethnocentric understanding of culture as high
culture, relying on a trad itional notion of K ultur to explain reader
expectations. As a result, rising public demands for exotic (foreign)
images-and therefore potential profits-were met by some German
newspaper publishers with resista nce based on cultural grounds.
These deba tes within the newspa per establishmen t culmina ted in a
series of articles and letters in the official VDZV publication, Zeit ungs
Verlag , tha t bega n in Ma rch 1928 wit h a d iscussion of "the cultural
mea ni n g of t h e n ew spaper pic t u r e" b y me mbe r s of t he G er ma
n publishers association (Zeitungs-Verlag, 1928a, 637-40). Although they
were framed amidst considerable confusion or ambivalence concerning
t he actual use of p hotog ra phs, the ar t icles const itu ted an off icial
acknowledgement of photographs in newspapers.
A preli mina r y and ra t her cursor y review of sev eral pr ov incial
newspapers of the early 1930s by this author revealed that photographs
were used primarily in advertisemen ts, for identif ica tion (mug shots)
and to provide feature material; there were few, if any, that served news
pu r poses a nd even spor t s pho togra p hs were of te n d ated . Weekly
illu stra t ed supplemen ts consisted mainly of f eat u re pho togra phs.
Nev ert heless, p ho togra phs wer e consid ered extr emely im por ta n t
beca use t hey could be ea sily and eff ectively u nd erstood by more
readers, particula rly those who were slow to assimilate the news. Two
rea sons em erged for sellin g V DZV m emb ers on t h e id ea t ha t
photogra phic tech nology and pictu re-ed it ing com petence woul d be
necessary and worthwhile acquisitions: first, the increasing competition
from illustrated magazines and newspaper supplemen ts, particularly in
the metropolitan press, and second, the need to cater to reader interests
in photogra phs. Thus, the incorporation of photogra phic practices into
everyd ay jou rnalis m would not only improve form and content of
newspapers, but would increase their public appeal and might lead to
increased circulation.
Af ter the war, the periodical press had already begu n to satisf y the
general hunger for images, especially in response to the increasing pace
of modern existence, but magazines were constrained to deliver mere
memories of past events. In fact, Korff (1994) suggested tha t weekly
picture magazines, a mong other functions, were to provide the visual
evidence of even ts tha t had occu pied daily newspa pers, to provide
information and extend public knowledge of current events through the
pu blica tion of v isua l ma teria l. A t t he sam e t im e, it wa s also t
he
 exp r essed ed i t oria l polic y of t he m a ga z i n e t h a t t h e select ion
of photogra phic images be based not on the importa nce of the event, "but
solely on the allure of the photo itself" (646). On the other hand, only
daily newspa pers could provide an eff ective combina tion of visua l
immediacy, timeliness, and textual expla na tion to serve thei r rea ders
with clearer interpreta tion of events through photogra phic images ra ther
tha n traditional texts.
In this context, there was a recognized need for experienced editorial
staff s to ha nd le the professiona l dema nds for better pictu re coverage.
Af ter all, the news and informa tion value of the photogra ph, ra ther than
its usef ulness as an illustra tion, and the requirements of tru thf ul and
accu ra te visual a nd t extu a l statemen ts, d ema n ded t he jou rna
listic expertise of pict ure editors. The acknowled ged a utonomy of
editorial decision-making, however, included the obligation to protect
business interests, which were typically couched in terms of readership
requests for quality prod ucts (Zeitungs-Verlag, 1928c, 901-904; 1928b,
1617).
There were mo re f und a men ta l p robl ems, however. For inst a nce,
newspa per publishers also complained that ma ny photogra phers seemed
to know little abou t jou rnalism, the specific needs of editors, and the
speed of th e d a il y p r ess. Ins tea d of r esp on d ing t o crit er i a lik
e immediacy and newswor thiness, photogra phers submitted seemingly
arbitrary and frequently irrelevant selections of feature material, add ing
to the supply of "ridiculous" and "tasteless" photogra phs received from
Eng l a n d a nd t he Un ited Sta tes. Fu r t her mo re, d iscu ssion s a
mong newspa per publishers assigned a cultural task and a specific
cultural mea ning to pict u re cover a ge, which wou ld uphold expec ta
t ions of K u l t urbew u f3t sei n (cu ltu r a l consciousness) a nd t her eby
event ually strengthen the infl uence of the daily press on the pu blic and
priva te sph er es of societ y. A t t h e sam e t im e, t h e p rese n ce of
so-ca lle d "destructive" tendencies among sensational newspa pers and
their mode of visual p resen t at ion was considered d ange ro us; it was
cer t ainl y rejected by the mainstream press, whose editors were simply
expected to act on the importa nce of the "cultural will" of pictu res
(Zeitungs-Verlag, 1928a, 638).
The r h et or ic of a ccep t a nce b y t h e off i ci a l or ga n of G er m a
n y's newspa per publishers culminated in the observation that any
cultura l and tech nol ogica l p rogr ess or poli tica l ac t ion wi ll spr ea d a
nd be remembered longer when jou rnalistic texts are enhanced by
explanatory and stimula ting pictu res (Zeitungs-Verlag, 1928a, 637). Such
a statement suggested at least an acquaintance wit h the potential power
of images and their use or abuse in magazines like the Berliner Ill ustrirte
Zeit ung or the AIZ ; it also indicated a reclassification of the importa nce of
texts in newspa pers which reinforced the expressed f ears among writers
and repor ters tha t t he emergence of a visual cultu re would resu lt in the
demise of the word.
386 Hanno Hard
t
Mo re seriously, perha ps, was the reigning d efinition of cultura l
r esponsibilit y t h a t r ei n for ced a con serv a tiv e a r gume n t for
t h e d epl oy m en t of ph otogra phs a n d r evea led t h e poli tica l na
t u r e of photogra phic p ractices by the press. It was expressed in ter
ms of a German solution to pictorial presentations in an effort to counter
what was perceived either as creeping propaganda by foreign countries,
like England or the Uited States, or as a flood of "tasteless"
photographs that continued to reach German newspaper off ices from
these countries. VDZV members met photographic accounts of social,
technological, or political developments from abroad with suspicion; on
the other hand, Germa n ed ito rs a cknow led ged t h a t abou t t wo-t
hi r d s of t h eir photogra phs were supplied by foreign sources (Zeitungs-
Verlag, 1928b, 1617).
In an ef fort to develop a more patriotic alternative, and therefore rely
on domestic pict u re sou rces, ed it ors wer e ca lled u pon to pro vid e
pictorial coverage of Germa n accomplish ments and the presence of
German culture in the lost territories of East Prussia, the Ruhr, or South
Tyrol, for instance. (Zeitungs-Verlag, 1928a, 639). This practice already
p re v a il ed am ong we ekly pict u r e ma ga zin es w h ich pu blish
ed photogra phic series celebrating the cultural achievements of the arts
and sciences in Germa ny. In fact, when the N ew York Times gained
the ex clu sive r igh ts t o p ho tog r a p hs of t he 1930 Pa ssion Pl a
ys in Ob era m m erga u , th e a dv ice t o ed it or s wa s t o bo y cott
t h e u se of photogra phs and to force management to reconsider the
decision to restricf the use of "German property" to Americans (Stiewe,
1930, 168).
While Korff hailed the unique contribution of the photograph to the
magazine press was based on its "impact" rather than its content (1994,
646), daily newspaper editors were admonished to demonstrate that the
selection of photographs did not depend on their visual impact or on
t hei r u sef u lness a s fillers, bu t r a t h er on t h eir cu ltu ra l missio
n. Publishers insisted on upholding the tradition of their newspapers as
bearers and multipliers of Germa n cultural labor. Thus, editors were
remind ed of th e presence of sensitive readers whose sophisticated
k n ow led ge of t h e v a lu e a n d impo r t a n ce of p h otogr a p
h s a s r epresen ta tions of Germa n cultu re wo u ld u lt im a tely d
ama ge t he credibility of newspa pers acting irresponsibly in their
selection and publication of pictures.
The creative insights and commercial instincts of Germa n magazine
editors, on the other hand, co-determined the direction and content of
p hotojou rn alism. A f ter all, in stitu t io nal suppor t of pho togra phic
projects, including the activities of enterprising picture agencies like
Dephot or Welt rundschau, relied on the interests and commitments of
editors like Korff or Lorant or Pa ul Fein hals ( Kol nische Ill ust rierte).
Although maga zines attempted to provid e a broad range of images,
there was a decidedly strong emphasis on photo stories. They typically
consisted of four to seven photogra phs across a cou ple of pages to
 deliver a visual na rrative in combination with supplementary texts.
These stories resembled the story lines of movies and may have been
att em p t s t o com pete against t he visu al att ra ction of film. E dit
ors preferred a wide range of topics; most of them avoided contempora
ry poli t ica l issu es or d ea lt w it h t he m r e t ros pec t iv ely, a n d in
st ea d concentrated on the broader issues of social and cultural
developments, international events, sports, and fashion.
The result was a celebration of Germa n culture. Typical topics ranged
from concer ts and thea trical performa nces incl ud ing f ilm studios to
inside reports from schools, monasteries, or sports events to travelogues
and expeditions, while photostories describing u nemployment, working
conditions, poverty, or issues like rearmament or political extremism
were rare or non-existent (Hardt, 1989). Lorant, for instance, claimed
proudly that he had never used a photograph of Hitler in the M iinchner
Ill ust rierte Presse before 1933 (1983). This was in stark contrast to the
editors of the AI Z , who opted for docu men ta r y p ho tog r aphy t ha t
exposed the social and political conditions of society and remained
confrontational ra ther tha n inconsequential, with photogra phs that had
been provided by workers rather than photojournalists .who were simply
identified as worker-photographers.
In spite of these developments in photojou rnalism and their public
a ccep t a n ce, p ri ma ril y bec a u se of t he ed i t or ia l in ex pe r ien ce
or mismanagement of pictures, as late as 1931 some German publishers
still rejected the idea that photogra phs had enriched the German press.
Their assessment of press photography repeated well-worn references to
poor taste and phr ases about the u nsa tisfactory qualit y of photogra
phs, despite the recent add ition of well paid picture editors (Zeitungs-
Verlag, 1931, 99).
There may have been some reason for skepticism, particularly if
one listened to Bert Garai, "the man from Keystone," who talked much
about his success in faking events, photogra phs, and deceiving
personalities into having their pictu re taken (Garai, 1966). His practices
confirmed the complaints of some German publishers or ed itors about
the falsif ication of visu al ma t er ial. I nd eed , t her e were re pea ted
d iscussion s-a nd r ebu tt a l s by ed ito rs-r el a t ed t o t he u se o f
"fa lse" p ho t o gr a p h s, photogra phs taken at different times u nder
diff erent circumstances for example, and how to control the accuracy
of each image. It was an issue that pitted the reputation of
photographers and picture agencies against the trust of newspa per
staffs, and picture editors in par ticular.
However, it was also acknowledged that editorial staffs should have
known better and were to be blamed for acting carelessly, in bad taste,
or without political instincts in the course of selecting and trea ting
photogra phs and texts. Consequen tly, they were accused of a lack of
professional conduct, which was seen as affecting not only the quality of
their own newspa pers, bu t also as enda nge ring the prestige of t he
German press (Zeitungs-Verlag, 1931, 99-100).
388 Hanno Hard
t
Indeed, the lack of political instinct among editors, regard ing their
choice of photographs, was a frequent criticism; it was reinforced by the
publication of a letter to the editor of Zeitu ngs-Verlag which complained
abou t the pict u re cover age of inter na tional political meet ings and
questioned the priorities of the press to act in the national interest. The
w r i t er ch a rged t h a t w h en p h ot ogr a p h ers en ga ged i n ca n d id
photogra phy d u ring infor mal meeti ngs, coff ee or lunch brea ks, and
other equally innocuous events, they ignored their mission, which was
to respond to Germany's vital interests. They also misunderstood their
prof essional responsibilit y towards the (national) interests of readers,
who expected meaningful photographs (Zeitungs-Verlag, 1932, 528).
Th is l ett er wa s a n obvious r esponse t o t h e ca n d id po li t
ical pho togra phs by Salomon, whose work appea red mostly in na t
ional picture magazines and frequently in the context of photo essays
which had the expressed pu rpose of amplif ying the polit ical events of
the week. Its pu blica tion in Zeitungs-Verlag merely suppor ted the
official opinions of German pu blishers concer ning the qualit y and
status of pho togra phs in the press. Their crit ique was rela ted to the
cultural missio n of t he press, the influence of for eign ta ste cult u r
es, a n d traditional journalistic practices. It was also combined with a
critique of editorial staffs and their ha ndling of photographs and texts.
But their comments also included a suggestion that foreigners and their
business practices had introd uced cultu rally undesirable photographs.
Their lack of education ( Bild ung) and their ignorance of Germa n culture
and the cultural req uirements for supplying appropriate images, had
somehow aff ected, if not confused , the editorial selection p rocess
(Zeit u ngs Verlag, 1931, 99). Such rema rks contained the seeds of
contem pt and disrespect for anything foreign within a concrete historical
situation in which thousa nds of foreigners contributed effectively and
prominently to the cultural life of Berlin and Germa ny.
Under these circumstances, newspa per publishers showed a peculiar
reaction to the political and cultural cha nges in Germa ny; it was the
r esponse of a press establishment tha t was not only conser va tive by
natu re, and therefore inclined to preserve trad itional practices, but also
pa r t icula rl y respo nsive to its own historica l conscio usness in th
e af termath of the war, including German y,.s treatment at the hands of
it's former enemies, the struggle over the meaning of a democratic society,
and finally, to the specter of modernity.
In fact, the off icial reaction of German publishers to photogra phic
practices in their publications expressed the chauvinism of a na rrow,
provincial outlook on the cultural developments in society. It was also
the conservative voice of commerce which expressed its f ears about a
secure place in society; thus any ref erences to expectations and abilities
of readers related to the condition of picture journalism were also the
expressions of anxiety over the consequences of technological change
and cultural diversification for the press. It was the voice of a press that
 had been prepa red for its own demise by indust ria l interests. These
interests never completely appropria ted the press, bu t succeeded in
corru pt ing t he pr ess economica lly a nd in d iscred iting d emocra t ic
institutions wit h the aid of newspa pers (Koszy k, 1972, 169). A t stake
were major issu es of socia l a nd political progress and the impact of
modernity-with its interest in the visual-on the power of the press to
define rea lity au thorita tively a nd exclusively. George Orwell once
suggested that language suff ers when the political atmosphere is bad;
interesti ngly enough, there were signs of bad times in these official
comments about pictures and the press. Af ter all, only a few years later
Na z i pr ess la ws respond ed successf u lly t o simila r d ilem ma s in a
language of authority that was directed at journalists and spoke of the
common will, culture, and strength.
Thus, the popular bourgeois magazine press had promoted a modern
visual culture in Weimar Germany with the help of creative editors and
a large number of talented photographers. Their accomplishments were
noted by the newspa per press, especially when magazines claimed to
provide news a nd infor ma tion. It resu lted in a n a war eness of the
potential of photogra phic covera ge. A ppropria te photogra phs were
sought to help maintain and reinforce the cultural mission of the press
against increasi ng ef forts to introd uce foreign, tha t is, non-Germa n,
material and unconventional professional judgements regarding the uses
of p h ot ogr a p h y. Th ere wa s a l r ea dy a n ol d gen er a t i on of
p r ess photogra phers in the 1920s which needed to adjust to contem
porary standards of speed and versatility within a changing industry; they
must have wondered about the growing number of magazine
photographers, in pa r t i cu la r, w h o h a d a ccom p l ish ed a consid
er ab le d egr ee of professional freedom and were able, even under
increasing competition, to produce exemplary work.
By 1932, the criteria for photojournalists were well established and
equaled those of reporters: journalistic instincts, the ability to see and
act quickly, and a solid education together with good manners. At the
same time, there was the realization that the Germa n press (and the
prof ession of photo reporters) lagged behind similar developments in
the United States and Britain and that photojournalism had remained, by
and large, a small business rather than advanced to become an industrial
enterprise since it had emerged from studio photography (Lachma nn,
1932, 75).

PHOTOJOURNALISM ON THE LEFT-COMMUNISTS AND SOCIALISTS

Photogra phs became pa rt of an ideological / political struggle when the

lef t, prima ril y t h r ough t he w or k of Mii nz enbe r g, recog niz ed t h e
potential of images as means of propaganda against the background of a
burgeoning popular picture press. The reaction was not only a critique
390 Hanno Hard
t
of photog ra phy as a wea pon in the ha nds of the worki ng class. The
f u nc tion of ph otog ra p hy, like t he func tion of ar t, wa s poli t
icized . Photogra phs served not merely to reprod uce the surfaces of
everyday lif e, but to expose the conditions underneath the ordinary and
familiar representa tions of society. Miinzenberg's AIZ , in particula r,
became a forum for a type of photogra phy that identif ied with the
documentary style of Soviet photography and applied it to construct an
alternative reality through combinations of text, photogra phs, and
photomontage. But while it encouraged an id eological perspective and
the political engagement of photogra phers, the AIZ also served German
bou rgeois editors and photogra phers as a professional guide and creative
resource; it a llow ed t hem t o r espo nd successf u lly to freei ng ph
otog ra p hic expression from pre-war conventions while still satisf ying
the specific institutional demands of the middle-class press.
There was public support expressed for the critical documentary work
that appeared in the AIZ , whose circulation rose from 200,000 in 1925
to 500,000 by the early 1930s (Biithe, 1977, 15). For insta nce, the tent h
anniversary edition in 1931 included an appraisal of photojournalism by
Bertold Brecht (1975) who suggested that

"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.

PHOTOJOURNALISM ON THE RIGHT-THE NAZI PRESS

Theor et ical insigh t s in t o t he power of p ho t o gr a p hs and ed it

orial developments concerning the application of photogra phs were
highly suggest ive t o t he polit ical far r igh t. Howeve r, t he employ me
n t of photography rather than language and texts for political purposes
by the Nazi press was another matter. The Nazi press never participated
in the con cep tio n of p ho tog r a p h y a s a com me r ci a l pr od u c t
or soci a l documentation until af ter 1933. It was delayed, if not
disregarded, for several reasons, most of them related to the hierarchical
structure of the par ty press, funding, and the availability of
photojournalists. According to Koszyk (1972), the lack of capital and the
absence of journalists in the provincial Nazi press had marginalized these
publications and red uced many of them to propaga nd a pamphlets (384).
A 1931 review of the spread of Nazi newspa pers accounted for 97
publications (among them 46 dailies), most of them located in Bavaria
and Prussia (Deutsche Pre sse , 1931, 69). Af ter the 1930 elections, t he
number of daily newspapers rose quickly to reach 86 with a circulation
of over 3 million by 1933 (Koszyk, 1972, 385). A t that time, the record
showed 120 Nazi publications (most of them weekly newspa pers) among
4,700 newspapers in Germany with 7.5 percent of the total circulation.
Eleven years later, however, 82 percent of the 970 remaining newspapers
were owned by them (Wulf, 1966, 7). At that time, press photography
was regulated and take-overs of the press and magazines resulted in a
massive exploitation of images for political purposes.
Until then, the existing Nazi press had not been very eff ective in its
u se of p hot ogr a p hic ima ges. Ev en a f t er Hi t ler ha d or d er ed t
h e est ablish me n t of t he Il l u s t r ier t e r B eoba ch t er i n 1926 b y
Hei n ric h Hoff ma n n, his personal photog r apher an d t he chosen "Bildbe
rich terstatter" of the pa r ty, and Max Amann, Nazi publications from the
Volkischer Beobachter to provincial weeklies did little to exploit the power
of photogra phy. Because of a general lack of adequate funding in the
1920s, the Nazi press was visually impoverished; according to Z. A. B.
Zeman (1973), "technical equipment at the disposal of Nazi propaga nda
was rat her primitive" (24). In addition, the Nazis had initially restricted
t hei r p ro pa ga n d a eff or t s t o p olit ica l mee t i n gs a n d face-to-fa
ce encounters. They celebrated the success of their rhetorical skills. In M ein
Kampf, Hitler had already insisted on the priority of the spoken word,
394 Hanno
Hardt
a n d a n eglect of t h e w r i tte n w or d i n t h e Na z i p r ess ha d bee
n acknowledged as late as 1932 (Stein, 1987, 49). Instead, oratory became
identif ied with the success of the Nazi party and was credited with the
final victory. "In the Nazi beginning was the word-print reinforced it,
but in an ancillary capacity," according to Richard Grunberger (1971,
391).
There were individ ual attempts to improve the situation of the party
press. For insta nce, Otto Strasser, who eventually left the NSDAP, in
1926 criticized the poor journalism of the party press as sensational and
editorially thin; he also suggested improvements to attract and keep
rea d ers, incl u d ing the use of n ews p ho togra phs (Stein, 1987, 71
). Although his conceptualization was successful with his own
newspaper, he had violated party policies. Instead, the press continued to
be run by part y functionaries, needed advertising revenue, and was
circula ted mainly among party faithfuls. The major publications were
guaranteed a monopoly position within the ranks of the party press,
including the use of picture supplements or the establishment of rival
illustrated papers. Even af ter the 1930 elections, when the Nazis tried to
gain control over the bourgeois press through infiltration rather than
competition, their success was rather modest. In general, the Nazi press
was considered an ou tcast wit h its extremist ed itorial messa ges w
hich did not fit the German experience of a party press; its content was
controlled through directives of the party leadership and its journalists
were forbidden to work for other publications (Koszyk, 1972, 383).
An exception was Joseph Goebbels' Der Ang rif f by the beginning of
1933. It used single photographs to comment on social and economic
issues, not unlike the practices of the AIZ, and to identif y and attack
Jewish bu sinesses. In one case, the news pa per p ro vided extended
photographic coverage to report the murder of a popular SA man with a
series of ten tw o-colu m n pho togr a phs, sprea d over t w o pa ges, to
visualize his funeral ( Der Ang rif f, February 6, 1933).
Generally, however, t he pr ess la cked the suppor t and ta len t of
prof essionals, like photogra phers and picture editors, who probably
never sympathized with the Nazi cause. In fact, Gidal reports that most
of the im por ta n t pho tojou rnalists ha d refused pictu re agencies the
per mission to off er their work to the Nazi press (1972, 26). Also, the
conce p t ion of pr ess ph otogr a p h ers w a s r u led b y .cen t r a liz ed
considerations and governed by the organization of the party press. The
role of journalists in the party organization was contained within the
defini tion of the Na zi press (by Hitler and Goebbels) as a political
instrument of agitation and with strictly political goals; jou rnalists,
including photographers, were to serve as mobilizers under Goebbels'
goal "not to inform, but to stimulate, incite, prod" (Stein, 1987, 101).
Also, during the early 1930s, an anticipated party press service was
supposed to include a picture service, but the photogra phic coverage,
particularly of Hitler, continued to be directed by the party leadership.
 In this case, it belonged exclusively to Hoff mann by directive to editorial
staff s throughout the coun try (Stein, 1987, 270). Af ter 1933, however,
there was a discussion of the wider use of Hitler photographs, based on
t he argu ment tha t images wer e powerful factors in crea ting pu blic
opinion (Zeitungs-Verlag, 1933c, 447).
With the time of the Nazi victory in 1933, the production and selection
of ph ot ogr aph ic ma t eria l wa s t o be gov er n ed b y t h e no tion
of responsibility to people and state which also defined the na tu re
of jou rnalistic work, including press photography, and controlled access
to the prof ession. In the mea ntime, German publishers struggled against
their own demise. Bu t it was too late. They were denounced by Hitler
who accused them of having betrayed his cause. The press law of 1934
changed the med ia landscape significantly.
Once in control of the German press through emergency decrees and
new laws, the use of photogra phs for propaga nda purposes became
wid esp r ea d . A t t ha t t im e p r ess ph ot ogr a p hy w a s r ed efin
ed a s .a necessary instrument of Nazi enlightenment. A Nazi writer
argued that its power of representation and appeal had popularized and
reinforced the id ea of race among large num bers of people and had
aided the efforts to rally the population around specific causes (Wulf,
1966, 126). Willy Stiewe (1933b), one of the most visible writers on
photography at tha t t ime, suggested that the futu re belonged to
images. "We hav e experienced the powerfu l eff ects of the pict ure on
the minds of the ordina ry m an, when the pict u re, falsified and retou
ched, was used deliberately as a wea pon against Germany by dark
sources." He also credited the power of photographs with the possibility of
starting new, large newspa pers, since the attract iveness of photog ra ph
ic images would eff ectively increase advertising revenues (3-4).
Elsewhere he was a mo ng t he first t o d ema n d a "cleansi ng" of t
he p r ofessio n from photo jo u rna lists w ho acted i r responsibly
towa r ds t he inter ests of
Germa ny and whose profit motives were more impo rta nt than their
ethics. He also urged that the activities of German pictu re sources and
their uses abroad be studied carefully (Stiewe, 1933a, 77).
Bu t more importantly, when the control of the German press through
state directives became a standard practice of the Nazi government, a
series of specific a nd concre te recom mend a tions abo u t the u se of
photogra phs, issu ed daily or whenever needed, rest ricted news and
documentary photography. They also provided editors with immediate
gover nment feedback to photogra phic pract ices. Off icia l reactions
ranged from reminders tha t Hitler port raits could only be published
with his approval and through registered picture agencies (Wulf, 1966,
107) to detailed comments and criticisms that resembled movie scripts. There
appeared one-paragraph notices in July and September 1933 that only
German enterprises and Arian photogra phers were allowed to do
business, foreigners exempted (Zeitungs-Verlag, 1933a, 458; 1933b, 618).
One of the reasons German photographers had liked working for foreign
396 Hanno Hard
t
pictu re agencies af ter Ja nua ry 1933, was tha t it was saf er for those
persecuted by the Nazis tha n any employment by domestic agencies
but not for long (Kerbs, 1983, 26-28).
Official guidance of photographic content did not occur until January
1934. A t that t ime it was forbid den to publish photographs showing
members of government and leading politicians at public functions, such
as ba nquets. Violators were closed down (Toepser-Ziegert, 1985, 18).
Since there were no earlier official restrictions, or official complain ts to
editors, this could be taken as a sign that initially photographs were not
seen as dangerous or subversive. Obviously their regulation did not play
a ma jor role d u ring t he initial phase of p r ess cont rol by t he Na zi
bureaucracy.
La t er howe ver, pic t u re ed itors, pa r t icularl y of ma ga z ines,
were summoned to attend special conferences, like in September 1936,
when the use of photogra phs against Bolshevism and in support of the
party rally in Niirnberg was decided. At that time, the publication of
tasteless and u psetting photographs, usually not found in the Germa n
press, was promoted to document poverty, forced labor, and atheism, and
specific topics were assigned to be covered by illust rated magazines
(Koszyk, 1972, 374). On another occasion in 1937, Goebbels expressed
his anger over the use of boring photographs by the press. He promoted
the use of lively and interesting photographs, condemned the use of
cliches in the coverage of public events, and u rged photographers to
spend more time capturing interesting scenes (Koszyk, 1972, 378).
As a r esult, t he Na z i p r ess seemed t o a ct conse r va t ively in the
adoption of photographs, but was actually short of funding while it was
gu id ed b y cen t r al pa r ty or d ers a nd t he con seq u en ces of Hitl
er's pref erence for speech, pure propa ga nd a, and pam phleteering at
the expen se of jou rnalist ic practices. Thu s, with some excep tio ns,
the propaganda mission of the press did not include the widespread and
consistent u se of pho t ogra phs. Af ter 1933, however, and wit h the
acquisition of much of the ma instream press and its ed itorial staffs,
photogra phic images became welcome and essen t ial instru men ts of
propaganda. I ndeed, as beca me apparent after 1945, the Nazis used
photogra phs (and film) to meticulously document their atrocities.

CONCL USIO NS

The introd uction of photojournalism during the Weimar Republic was

the result of a collective awareness of the new potential of photogra
phic practices that reached across diff erent ideological territories and
were influenced by d evelopments abroad . It was a p plied eff ect iv ely
in producing commercial and political images while setting prof
essional standards of the field.
 However, with the exception of the magazine press, pa rticula rly of the
lef t and the liberal and conserva tive mainst ream, newspaper publishers,
includ ing political par ties, were cautious about the use of photogra phs.
The debate among organized publishers about the cultural mission of
t he press and it s res ponsibil it ies t ow ar d s a n educa t ed readershi
p suggests a d eeply conservat ive, if not reactionary, a t titude towa rds
cultural innova t ion and tech nological pr ogress. The discovery and
d eploy m en t of p h ot ogr ap hs seemed mo r e li k e a ne cessa r y,
ev en u na v oid ab le, r ea ct ion t o t h e in cr ea sed p opu la ri t y of
il lu st r a t ed magazines among all classes of German society. It was
accompanied by a f ea r of losing r ea d ers an d a d ver t i sin g r ev en
ue. In ad d i t ion, t he increasing popularity- and the real or imagined
eff ectiveness of visual r epr esen t a t i ons of r ea li t y-crea t ed a n
ew t h r ea t t o m ar gina l publications. Among them were party
newspapers, particularly regional and local publications with a lack of
fund ing and personnel, but also with a trad ition of an unrelenting
orthodoxy in matters related to the definition of a par ty publication.
Thus, t he off erings of Communist, Social Democra tic, or Na tional
Socialist newspa pers remained highly poli ticized and u na t tractive t o
man y read ers, (d espite the fa ct that ed ito rs a n d pa r t y lea d er
sh ip k n ew b et t er ) . Th e p r a c tice of photojournalism,
notwithstanding the uses of photographs particula rly in larger publica
tions, ma gazines, or supplemen ts, was never f ull y explored a,nd
utilized by newspa pers before 1933. Its variety, however, suggests t he
presence of alterna tive prod uctions of photography as jou rna lism
based on diff erent socia l and class interests vis-a-vis the domina nt
social order.
The t r ea t me n t of p ho tog r a phers pa r a lleled t he cons t ru ct
ion of photographs as journalistic or propaga ndistic means of
communication. While the mainstream press discussed the needs for
appropriate sources of pic tu re ma teria l, recogniz ing photogra phers
as jou rnalists w ith cam eras, n ewspa pers on t he lef t a n d ri gh t ei t
her cou n ted on t he potential of amateur (worker) photogra phy or
insisted on a controlled, politically motivated entry into the profession
through selection.
In the end, political change rather than poor editorial judgments or
bankruptcy accomplished the death of the lef t press and many bou rgeois
liberal and conserva tive newspapers and magazines. Wit h it came the
loss of opportunities for adaptation and innovation. Until then, and in
the realm of magazine journalism only, the lef t had creatively employed
photogra phy in an ef fort to confron t the pictorial represen ta ti on of
bourgeois reality. Although it catered to the interests of an enlightened
working class and attracted the attention of professional colleagues and
progressive readers, it may be assumed that it also served the Nazi press
as an example of effective propaganda.
For ins ta nce, H itler h a d w a t ched t h e elect i on pos t ers of t h e
Commu nist Par ty very carefu lly, and the NSDA P successful1y copied
 398 Hanno H ard
t
. letters and forms of these posters in working class districts. Hitler also
admitted t ha t "we have selected the color red for our posters af ter
caref ul and formal considerations, to tease and upset the lef t to come to
our meetings, even if only to disrupt them, to be able to tal k to these
people" (Fischer, 1989, 65). Likewise, Goebbels must have observed the
success of t he AI Z , since an a nal ysis of De r Ang rif f rev.ealed ma ny
similarities in the production and use of photographs for propaganda
purposes.
A nd fina lly, t he Na zi pa r t y em br aced wi t hout much d ela y, t
he importance of the visual statement as an eff ective and necessary wea
pon in its propaganda eff orts that followed its victory in 1933 as soon as
the Weimar press, includ ing its pict ure editors and photogra phers, was
com pletely under Nazi control. For instance, in a report about press
photography, a writer boasted by the end of 1933, that the number of
picture stories was rising in daily newspa pers and that the Volkischer
Beoba chter carried 500-600 photogra phs per mont h (Zeitungs-Verlag,
1933d, 44). Also, several top Na zi off icials besides Hitler (Heinrich
Hoff mann), including Hermann Goring (Eitel Lange), Robert Ley (Kurt
Boecker), and Joachim von Rippentrop (Helmut Laux) obtained their
own photographers, (Kerbs, 1983, 30).
Prior to these developmen ts, however, the climate of acceptance of
photojournalism was prod uced by a challenge of trad itional practices,
notions of culture, and definitions of form or style of commu nication.
It wa s ch ar a ct er iz ed b y th e ( poli t ical) st r en gt h of con ve
n t ion a l inter pretations of jou rnalism and a relucta nce to shif t contr
ol over definitions and access away from the newspaper industry or
political organizations to outsiders. They included individual
photographers or picture agencies, particularly foreign ones, which
provoked ideas about cultural domination.
In fact, the discourse about photogra phy as journalistic practice was
caught between the commercial and political intentions of newspaper
publishers and the success of visual representations of rea lity in the
public sphere. It was conducted in a general a tmosphere of distrust
among competing ideological interests, which became transparent in the
application of photogra phs to making sense of the social, political, and
economic conditions of Weimar s<?ciety.

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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