[Leica] IMG: Kennedy in Berlin, 1961

[Nathan Wajsman]

Correction. In the second paragraph, I obviously meant to write “I assume that it was NOT on sale in Communist Poland”.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman

Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/>
http:// <http://www.greatpix.eu/>www.greatpix.eu
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws <http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws>Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ <http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/>

Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator <http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator>

YNWA













> On 29 Jul 2018, at 07:36, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote:
> 
> In connection with our upcoming move, I have been packing books and other things, including stuff that I have kept from my father’s things since he died in 2004. I discarded things (newspapers etc.) that he had kept but that had no obvious connection to him. I kept copies of articles that he had published and various other writings, and of course all the old family photos. But what I want to share here is an interesting historical document—interesting, both because of the events it depicts but also of the status that photography once had. It is basically a set of nine postcard-sized photos of Kennedy’s visit to West Berlin in 1961 (this is when he delivered his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” address) in a small cardboard enclosure. On the front it simply says “President Kennedy in Berlin”; on the back the publisher is identified—Kunst und Bild—and the buyer is assured that the enclosure contains “nine genuine photos”.
> 
> I have no idea when and how my father got hold of this. It must have been published shortly after the visit, but I assume that it was on sale in Communist Poland where we lived at the time, nor in East Germany, a country my father visited often. I suspect that he might have picked it up in West Germany on his way to France some time in the 1960s—he went a couple of times to visit the French branch of the Wajsmans, and in those days such a trip was made by train. He always made those trips alone, the authorities would not let us all travel to the West, so effectively my mother and I were the assurance that he would not defect.
> 
> In any event, at the tiny risk of infringing the copyright of Kunst und Bild (tiny, because German copyright on published photographs lasts 50 years after first publication, and I am assuming that these were published shortly after Kennedy’s visit in 1961, so more than 50 years ago), here they are:
> 
> https://www.greatpix.eu/Kennedy-in-Berlin/
> 
> A memento of a time when photographs were valued possessions and when a US president visiting Europe came here with significant moral authority. Both in contrast to today’s situation.
> 
> Cheers,
> Nathan
> 
> Nathan Wajsman
> 
> Alicante, Spain
> http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/>
> http:// <http://www.greatpix.eu/>www.greatpix.eu
> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws <http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws>Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ <http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/>
> 
> Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator <http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator>
> 
> YNWA
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