Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2018/07/28

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Subject: [Leica] IMG: Kennedy in Berlin, 1961
From: photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman)
Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2018 07:36:37 +0200

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 But what I want to share here is an interesting historical 
document?interesting, both because of the events it depicts but also of the 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















Replies: Reply from cartersxrd at gmail.com (CartersXRd) ([Leica] IMG: Kennedy in Berlin, 1961)
Reply from jhnichols at lighttube.net (Jim Nichols) ([Leica] IMG: Kennedy in Berlin, 1961)
Reply from lluisripollphotography at gmail.com (Lluis Ripoll) ([Leica] IMG: Kennedy in Berlin, 1961)
Reply from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] IMG: Kennedy in Berlin, 1961)