[Leica] IMG: Kennedy in Berlin, 1961

[Nathan Wajsman]

Thanks to all for looking. Obviously, I did not make these photos so I cannot take any credit for them, but I was certainly happy to be able to share them with the lists.

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 23:46, Tina Manley via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> wrote:
> 
> +1!
> 
> Tina
> 
> On Sun, Jul 29, 2018 at 10:07 AM, CartersXRd via LUG <lug at leica-users.org>
> wrote:
> 
>> fascinating stuff
>> 
>> ric
>> 
>> 
>>> On Jul 29, 2018, at 1:36 AM, 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
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Tina Manley
> www.tinamanley.com
> tina-manley.artistwebsites.com
> http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley
> <http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/3B49552F-90A0-4D0A-A11D-2175C937AA91/Tina+Manley.html>
> 
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