Willi Ruge and Fotoaktuell: Adventures for the Press ute eskildsen I believe that a photo illustrator or press photographer must like aviation, required technical knowledge, and work for first and foremost be a journalist, and only then a photographer the press promised both mobility and danger. and businessman. It was an auspicious time and place to choose such a — Kurt Hahne, Die Illustrations-Photographie, 1914 career. The first German magazines were launched in Berlin, which had been the capital of the German Reich since 1871. In 1930 the Hackebeils Illustrierte Zeitung paid tribute to pho- The Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung and Die Woche, both based tojournalist Willi Ruge for his work over the past seventeen in the city, were the best-selling magazines at the turn of years. Ruge, then, must have begun publishing photographs the century, and Berlin would become the center of German in the illustrated press in 1913, at age twenty-one.1 He publishing after World War I.5 Develop ments in half-tone would later recall, “I was very lucky to be able to pursue my printing and rotogravure at the end of the nineteenth cen- career from around 1909 onwards, and I truly experienced tury, combined with phototechnical advances that allowed the most turbulent decades at first hand.”2 Willi Ernst Karl for hand-held cameras and reduced exposure times, Ruge was born in Berlin in 1892, the son of Ernst Karl Ruge opened this industry up for photographers, creating a new and Emma Später. He grew up and went to junior high field of work: photojournalism. As photographs replaced school in Berlin and at age fifteen began an apprenticeship the engraved images that had hitherto been standard in as an optician before training as a photographer.3 He was print, press illustrators’ studios gradually shut down and interested in aviation technology as a teenager and appar- photographers took over. It was the custom around the turn ently had hoped to become a professional pilot.4 It is not of the century for press photographers to work indepen- surprising that he turned to photojournalism: photography, dently, submitting their photos to a variety of publishers fig. 1 Willi Ruge. French troops in Essen, Germany, during their occupation of the Ruhr Valley. 1923. Ullstein Bild/The Granger Collection, New York. © The Granger Collection Ltd. Eskildsen 1 in his future activities. Later, after the war, he witnessed the virulent political upheavals in Berlin and beyond. Preserved are some very early photographs of battles in the Scheunenviertel neighborhood of Berlin, uprisings in Upper Silesia around 1920, and the French occupation of the Ruhr area in 1923 (fig. 1), including the burial of the thirteen Krupp workers shot by French soldiers in Essen that year.8 In the late 1910s, Ruge established the press-photo agency Fotoaktuell to distribute his photographs. The busi- ness was founded as “Photoaktuell, Willi Ruge Inh.” (proprietor Willi Ruge). Over the years, it took different names, spellings, and logos: for example, Presse- Illustrations-Verlag and Presseverlag Fotoaktuell GmbH in the 1920s and 1930s; then Luftberichterstattung Bildberichterstatter (Schriftleiter IRDP/Reichsverband der Deutschen Presse) Großreportagen in the late 1930s. The first press agencies had been founded in Germany at the end of the nineteenth century. After 1900 the number of press photographers increased considerably, leading to the formation of the Verband Deutscher Illustrations- Photographen (Association of German illustration photo graphers) in 1910. Its mission was to safeguard and settle the conditions under which the growing business of photographic images operated. Because it had become difficult to enter the market as an individual (negotiating for copyright, payment, and publication rights), many pho- tographers — including Wilhelm Braemer, Alfred Groß, Robert Sennecke, and Willi Römer — set up their own com- panies and agencies to arrange the distribution and sale 9 fig. 2 Willi Ruge. The high-jumper Alfred Lehninger in Berlin. 1924. Ullstein Bild/ of their work. Like Ruge, they had photographed the revolu- The Granger Collection, New York. © The Granger Collection Ltd. tionary battles in Berlin in 1918 and 1919; many of their documentary photos were also sold as postcards. The great many subjects shown in the extant prints of Ruge’s work indicate that Fotoaktuell’s archive must and illustration agencies or distributors. A number of bro- have been quite substantial by the end of the 1920s. Photos chures and other publications, widely available in Berlin, of sporting events predominated in the early years: Ruge dispensed practical hints as well as cautionary advice trained his eye for the perfect snapshot during tennis to those flocking to the burgeoning profession early in the matches, high-jump competitions (fig. 2), motor races, and century.6 In a 1913 handbook for aspiring press photogra- events at Luna Park, the popular Berlin amusement park. phers, Paul Dobert, editor-in-chief of Die Woche, wrote, The archive also includes journalistic portraits and photos “Thousands of professional photographers and tens of thou- of trade fairs, art exhibitions, and conventions, as well sands of amateur photographers worldwide are eager to as the annual carnival celebration in Cologne. The titles for be part of the illustrated press. They are tempted by money Ruge’s reportages, provided on the backs of the photo- and fame, and it seems easy to become a contributor; all graphs, are diverse: Photographed Fun (Das fotografierte you have to do is ‘take a shot,’ develop it, copy it, and then Vergnügen), Can Astrology Be Taken Seriously? (Ob an send off the finished photo. Usually, however, the photo der Astrologie was dran ist?), The Moon Shot Will Come (Der will be returned to the newcomer, and he will quickly notice Mondflug kommt), The Caged Woman (Die Frau im Käfig), that it is not so easy to deliver perfect photographs to Whims of Nature (Launen der Natur), New Challenges for the the press.”7 Unemployed (Neue Aufgaben für Arbeitslose), and Laughter, No work by Ruge has been found in publications before Man’s Safety Valve (Lachen, das Sicherheitsventil des the late 1910s, but it is likely that he began attempting to Menschen). The wide range of subject matter — from scien- sell single images to the press before that time. During tific developments to politics to entertainment — accords World War I, both at the front and as an air gunner he took with the variety of photographic material in demand photos under dangerous conditions, developing the techni- generally in the expanding illustrated-magazine market in cal expertise and adventurous spirit that would be so useful this period.10 Eskildsen 2 The Hackebëils Illustrierte Zeitung article from 1930 cel- work of several image makers — techniques that were also ebrated the “heroes of the camera” who braved the harnessed in new, photo-based advertising for magazines dangers of bodily harm, arrest by the authorities, and dam- themselves. Photo reportages promoted the “new” photo- age to their equipment. Ruge is respectfully cited as “one of graphic medium and associated it with speed: for example, the most daring contemporary press photographers.”11 Sasha Stone’s reportage The Hundred-Horsepower Office — Acrobatic flying performances were all the rage, and Ruge’s It’s No Utopia (Die 100pferdige Büro — keine Utopie), published fascination with airplanes and the public’s interest in aerial in UHU in 1926, devoted to the increasing rationalization of artistry had led to many photo reportages on the subject. office labor, and . And Everything Happened in 1/100 of a In spring 1922, Franz Hailer became the first German pilot Second ( . und Alles geschah in 1/100 Sekunde), by a photogra- to successfully land his airplane on an alpine plateau, pher named Joffe, in the Weltspiegel in 1929.15 Along with touching down below the Zugspitze, the highest peak in this, as their status grew, photographers were increasingly Germany; Ruge accompanied him in the air and docu- given bylines for their reportages, a privilege formerly mented the feat. That same year he collaborated with reserved for writers. The news photographer Erich Salomon Deutsche Luft-Reederei, a precursor of Lufthansa, to pro- covered international and political negotiations; Alfred duce the 35mm documentary film Aeolus, The Song of Songs Eisenstaedt and André Kertész monitored the urban scene; of Flying (Aeolus, das hohe Lied der Fliegereii). He contributed Umbo and Martin Munkácsi produced pictures recogniz- to other aviation films of the early 1920s and worked for able for their innovative compositions; and Stone interested the German aviation industry — the manufacturer Rumpler, himself in a variety of subjects and fields of photography. for example. He also attended competition flights in Felix H. Man was one of the busiest photographers in the Germany and abroad and flew with daredevil stunt pilots, Weimar Republic. Yet none of them had formal visual art such as Ernst Udet.12 training, with the exception of Stone and of Umbo, who had Udet, a well-known World War I flying ace, had, in studied at the Bauhaus. They found new perspectives on 1918, been among the earliest pilots to successfully para- familiar objects and situations, discovered views hitherto chute from a disabled aircraft. Ruge accompanied Udet on unseen, developed the series as a working method, formu- a stunt flight at an air show, and the resulting reportage, lated their own individual styles, and quickly became