Fred Stein began in 1934 to work as a portrait and press photographer in Paris. The curator of the exhibition \u201cReport from Exile \u2013 Photographs by Fred Stein\u201d<\/a>, Ulrike Kuschel, sheds light on Stein\u2019s membership in the Association of German Journalists in Emigration within the context of the \u201cPariser Tageblatt\u201d affair.<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1935, the \u201cPress photographer Alfred Stein\u201d was unanimously accepted, together with four other colleagues, as a member of the Association des Journalistes Allemands \u00c9migr\u00e9s<\/em> (Association of German Journalists in Emigration), as the undated protocol of a meeting of the executive board notes.[i]<\/a> The members of the association who were responsible for approving new applications for membership included, alongside Georg Bernhard (1875\u20131944), chairman of the board, one of the most eminent economic journalists of the Weimar Republic and editor-in-chief of the \u201cPariser Tageblatt\u201d; Leopold Schwarzschild (1891\u20131950), publisher of the \u201cNeues Tage-Buch\u201d; the art critic Paul Westheim (1886\u20131963); the publicist and politician Hellmut von Gerlach (1866\u20131935); and the journalist Milly Zirker (1888\u20131971).<\/p>\n Hellmut von Gerlach: Von Rechts nach Links, Europa-Verlag Z\u00fcrich, 1937. The photo on the book jacket is one of the portraits made by Fred Stein \u00a9 DHM, Photo: Indra Desnica<\/p><\/div>\n Fred Stein probably had many different reasons for joining the Association of German Journalists in Emigration. In his mid-twenties, he had given as the primary reason for fleeing Germany that he was politically endangered;[ii]<\/a> in exile he wanted to continue his political engagement and participated, for example, in the activities of the \u201cAnti-Hitler Youth\u201d.[iii]<\/a> Moreover, the journalists\u2019 association, whose members Bernhard, Kurt Caro, Richard Dyck, Hans Jacob and Erich Kaiser made up almost the entire staff of the later founded \u201cPariser Tageszeitung\u201d, gave him access to a circle that included many prominent journalists, intellectuals and writers \u2013 an important step for the young, self-taught photographer, who needed to have contact with the press. Not least of all, the association helped to cope with elementary personal problems that confronted the often stateless and penniless refugees, such as by donating clothes or helping to acquire identification papers.<\/p>\n In November 1935, Stein requested support from Georg Bernhard and Milly Zirker, who had belonged to the intimate circle of the \u201cWeltb\u00fchne\u201d, published by Carl von Ossietzky. Stein wanted to join the \u201cinternational journalist organisation\u201d[iv]<\/a> as well as the Association Professionnelle de la Presse \u00c9trang\u00e8re en France<\/em>, because, as he wrote, \u201cfor my jobs at current occasions I am almost handicapped without the necessary credentials.\u201d[v]<\/a> Bernhard thereupon wrote to the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration internationale des journalistes<\/em>, of which he had been chairman for a time:[vi]<\/a> \u201cM. Stein, journalist and member of our organisation, has the honour of requesting you herewith to confirm his status as a journalist. He needs it for the renewal of his identification card.\u201d [vii]<\/a> Bernhard also offered to sponsor Stein\u2019s application to the Association Professionnelle der la Presse \u00c9trang\u00e8re<\/em>.[viii]<\/a><\/p>\n Georg Bernhard, Paris, 1936, Frankfurt am Main, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Deutsches Exilarchiv 1933\u20131945, EB autograph 1009 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n The fact that Stein listed Milly Zirker as a reference in a questionnaire for recognition as a refugee in 1936[ix]<\/a> is further evidence of the long-lasting, not only professional support he received from the Association of German Journalists in Emigration and its board members.<\/p>\n Only a year and a half later, in May 1937, Stein was elected to the journalists\u2019 new executive board, as is documented in an article in the \u201cPariser Tageszeitung\u201d headlined \u201cBoard member election in the \u2018Association of German Journalists in Emigration\u2019\u201d.[x]<\/a> However, the seemingly insignificant announcement found in the estate of the writer Maximilian Scheer, himself a member of the Association of German Journalists in Emigration, raises new questions. How did it happen that Stein, a 28-year-old photographer, was elected to the board? There is reason to believe that he first decided to run for the post after the old board came under pressure due to the \u201cPariser Tageblatt\u201d affair and called for a new election.<\/p>\n Pariser Tageszeitung, 7 May 1937, p. 2 \u00a9 Berlin, Akademie der K\u00fcnste, Maximilian-Scheer-Archiv, Maximilian Scheer 1130<\/p><\/div>\n The \u201cPariser Tageblatt\u201d, the longest-running daily newspaper of the German-language exile scene, was founded in December 1933 in Paris. In the first issue, editor-in-chief Georg Bernhard guaranteed with his \u201clife achievement\u201d for the fundamental democratic convictions of the newspaper and formulated the claim \u201c[not to be] an \u2018emigrant paper\u2019, but rather a newspaper for all Germans [\u2026] who live outside of the power sphere of the Third Reich and do not want to relinquish their right to think whatever they want.\u201d[xii]<\/a> However, between the publisher, Vladimir Poliakoff,[xiii]<\/a> a Russian businessman, and the editorial staff under Georg Bernhard, it came to differences in the view of the paper\u2019s orientation. In the fight against the mutual adversary, the editors were willing to work together with other emigrant groups and organisations who did not necessarily share their liberal and democratic position.[xiv]<\/a> In 1936 the editorial staff decided to part with their politically more moderate publisher, who opposed this cooperation. In a \u201cstatement\u201d in the \u201cPariser Tageblatt\u201d, it was claimed that Poliakoff had negotiated with the head of the press and propaganda department of the German Embassy in Paris and wanted the newspaper to \u201cassume a more loyal position towards Hitler and his endeavours.\u201d[xv]<\/a> In order to \u201cprevent the successful outcome of the coup by the Hitler propaganda office\u201d,[xvi]<\/a> the editors took over the newspaper, which they published as of 12 June 1936 under the new name \u201cPariser Tageszeitung\u201d. Poliakoff\u2019s attempts to continue the \u201cPariser Tageblatt\u201d with a new editorial staff were successfully thwarted.<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, Leopold Schwarzschild wrote an article in the \u201cNeues Tage-Buch\u201d accusing Bernhard, a fellow board member of the journalists\u2019 association, and the newspaper\u2019s editor Kurt Caro of having launched \u201cknowingly false\u201d[xvii]<\/a> and unsubstantiated accusations against the publisher Poliakoff, whom he thus attempted to exonerate. Thereupon, Bernhard and Caro for their part accused Schwarzschild of trying to slander them. At a general assembly meeting of the Association of German Journalists in Emigration at the end of July 1936, a \u201ccommission for the examination of the Poliakoff \u2013 Pariser Tageblatt matter\u201d was appointed in order to clear up the repeated accusations and allegations,[xviii]<\/a> which no doubt partly stemmed from personal animosities. After 20 meetings, each lasting several hours,[xix]<\/a> the opinions of the five commission members were still so far apart that two separate final reports were issued. The report of the majority \u201cin the matter of Bernhard\u2013Schwarzschild and Schwarzschild\u2013Bernhard\u201d, written by Ruth Fischer, Arkadi Maslow and Robert Breuer for the Bernhard side, came to the conclusion that the Bernhard party, represented by the editorial staff of the \u201cPariser Tageblatt\u201d, had acted \u201cin good faith when they broke off relations with Poliakoff and founded [\u2026] the new newspaper.\u201d[xx]<\/a> The report of the majority was published in March 1937 in the \u201cPariser Tageszeitung\u201d and ended with the assessment that the matter had \u201ccaused a great deal of bad blood in certain circles of the German emigrants\u201d and that \u201cthis effect could have been avoided.\u201d[xxi]<\/a><\/p>\n Editor-in-chief Bernhard triumphed: \u201cI can understand that Herr Schwarzschild will not be very pleased with the verdict.\u201d[xxii]<\/a><\/p>\n Leopold Schwarzschild, New York, 1942 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n The \u201cReport of the minority of the investigative commission in the dispute Bernhard\u2013Caro on the one hand and Schwarzschild on the other for the Association des Journalistes Allemands \u00c9migr\u00e9s<\/em>\u201d, written by Paul Dreyfus (1880\u20131940), a writer and lawyer, and the pacifist Berthold Jacob (1898\u20131944), arrived at the opposite conclusion. Berthold and Dreyfus, representing the Schwarzschild party, judged that it had been a \u201cdeliberate\u201d act by \u201cMessieurs Bernhard and Caro\u201d with the aim of ousting Poliakoff in order to install a different publisher. \u201cIt is a matter of a fight between capitalists, carried out from the one side with the means of \u2018miscarriage of capital\u2019 through libel.\u201d[xxiii]<\/a> This report, written in February 1937, was of course not published in the \u201cPariser Tageszeitung\u201d.<\/p>\n Berthold Jacob, Paris, 1936, Frankfurt am Main, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Deutsches Exilarchiv 1933\u20131945, EB autograph 1062 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n In May 1937, an election of board members of the Association of German Journalists in Emigration took place, in which Bernhard, confirmed in his office of First Chairman, apparently emerged in a stronger position. The new board, however, could not be compared with that of 1935. Alongside former members Bernhard and Zinker, there were now considerably younger and less substantial members: the communist Bruno Frei (1897\u20131988), Wolf Franck (1902\u20131966), who was also a board member of the \u201cSchutzverband Deutscher Schriftsteller\u201d (SDS, Association for the Defence of German Writers),[xxiv]<\/a> as well as Fred Stein, at age 28 the youngest. At its session at the end of May, the new board had to acknowledge that 13 members had resigned from the association,[xxv]<\/a> including Leopold Schwarzschild, Berthold Jacob and Paul Dreyfus, who by quitting \u2013 according to the description in the \u201cPariser Tageszeitung\u201d \u2013 \u201chad made it impossible to carry out the pending expulsion proceedings against them.\u201d[xxvi]<\/a> At the same time, the board announced that they had entered into an agreement with the German Freedom Library run by Alfred Kantorowicz and other communist writers and journalists.<\/p>\n This, however, was not the end of the affair, which has still not been entirely resolved and which Lion Feuchtwanger immortalised in his novel \u201cExil\u201d (1940). In July 1938, Bernhard was sentenced to a punitive fine in a defamation trial which Poliakoff had brought against him, and the \u201cPariser Tageszeitung\u201d was ordered to publish the court decision. In the newspaper edition of 24 December 1938, the decision, under the headline \u201cOn the conclusion of the conflict\u201d, was preceded by a \u201cstatement\u201d. In it the publisher and editorial staff, from which Bernhard had retired in January 1938,[xxvii]<\/a> informed the readers that they had come to the conclusion that Poliakoff \u201chad been wronged\u201d and that the attacks against him were \u201csincerely to be regretted\u201d.[xxviii]<\/a><\/p>\n The executive board of the Association of German Journalists in Emigration objected to this statement. In a proposed resolution, the board, still under the chairmanship of Bernhard, called the statement a \u201cgross deception of the public\u201d[xxix]<\/a> and stressed that they would \u201ccompletely adhere to their decisions insofar as they concern the person of Prof. Georg Bernhard, which the last general assembly had confirmed by re-electing him chairman.\u201d[xxx]<\/a> However, Fred Stein rejected the resolution, with the exception of the cited last paragraph, because it \u201ccreated the impression that Prof. Bernhard was in the right and Mr Poliakoff was at fault\u201d and criticised that the resolution was not suitable \u201cto promote the development of the association, on the contrary.\u201d[xxxi]<\/a><\/p>\n Milly Zirker, 1944 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n Milly Zirker then sent Stein an emended, less confrontational version.[xxxii]<\/a> Zirker\u2019s hope that Stein would now approve the resolution, which the board did not plan to publish at that time,[xxxiii]<\/a> was apparently not fulfilled. Stein found \u201cno cause\u201d to change his standpoint[xxxiv]<\/a> and thus took a clear position against continuing the conflict. At all events, the carefully formulated resolutions and letters evidently concealed the vigorously waged discussions. In 1965, Stein recalled that he had already had \u201ca confrontation with Milly Zirker in Paris before the outbreak of the war\u201d and had wanted to step down from his functions in the journalists\u2019 association.[xxxv]<\/a> Stein, who had quite possibly joined the board of the Association of German Journalists in Emigration out of a feeling of loyalty, had had to endure the bitter experience in Paris \u201cthat the cooperation with communists in German organisations had become a farce (cultural cartel, journalists\u2019 association, SDS, youth).\u201d[xxxvi]<\/a><\/p>\n In the USA, Stein, who had been politically active since his youth, refrained from further political activities[xxxvii]<\/a> but remained in contact with former colleagues from the journalists\u2019 association, of which not only his New York portraits provide evidence. In 1943, Bernhard, whom Stein had photographed in his study in 1941, again wrote a reference for him. In it Bernhard confirmed Stein\u2019s membership in the Association of German Journalists in Emigration and recommended him \u201cas a good photographer\u201d.[xxxviii]<\/a><\/p>\n Fred Stein, around 1961 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n [i]<\/a> Protocol of a meeting of the board, no date (before 1 August 1935), Bundesarchiv R\/8052\/1, Bl.19.<\/p>\n [ii]<\/a> Questionnaire on an application for recognition as a refugee, \u201cCircumstances of the emigration\u201d, 30 December 1936, Archives de la Pr\u00e9fecture de Police de Paris. Stein, who began early on to participate in socialist youth organisations, had been a member of the Socialist Workers\u2019 Party (SAP) since 1931.<\/p>\n [iii]<\/a> Letter from Fred Stein to Georg Bernhard, 30 November 1935, Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R\/8052\/4 Bl. 50<\/p>\n [iv]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [v]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [vi]<\/a> Michaela Enderle-Ristori: Markt und intellektuelles Kr\u00e4ftefeld: Literaturkritik im Feuilleton von \u201ePariser Tageblatt\u201c und \u201ePariser Tageszeitung\u201c (1933\u20131940), De Gruyter, 1997, p. 16 https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/j.ctvbkk4gq (accessed 19 May 2021)<\/p>\n [vii]<\/a> \u201cM. Stein, journaliste et membre de notre organisation, a l\u2019honneur de vous demander par la pr\u00e9sente de bien vouloir lui certifier sa qualit\u00e9 de journaliste. Il en a besoin pour le renouvellement de sa Carte d\u2019Identit\u00e9.\u201c Letter from the Association des Journalistes Allemands \u00c9migr\u00e9s<\/em> (Georg Bernhard, Milly Zirker) to the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale des Journalistes<\/em> (Mme. Peladan) from 18 December 1935, Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R\/8052\/4 (?), German translation by Ulrike Kuschel<\/p>\n [viii]<\/a> Letter from Georg Bernhard to Fred Stein, 2. (?) Dezember 1935, Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R\/8052\/4 Bl. 62<\/p>\n [ix]<\/a> Questionnaire on an application for recognition as a refugee, \u201cIV. Circumstances of the emigration to France\u201d, 30 December 1936, Archives de la Pr\u00e9fecture de Police de Paris<\/p>\n [x]<\/a> Pariser Tageszeitung, Vol. 2, No. 329, 7 May 1937, p. 2<\/p>\n [xi]<\/a> Walter F. Peterson: Das Dilemma linksliberaler deutscher Journalisten im Exil. Der Fall des Pariser Tageblatts. In: Vierteljahrshefte f\u00fcr Zeitgeschichte. Jahrgang 32 (1984), Heft 2, p. 281<\/p>\n [xii]<\/a> Pariser Tageblatt, Vol. 1, No. 1, 12 December 1933, p. 1<\/p>\n [xiii]<\/a> Also: Vladimir Poliakoff\/Poliakov \/Poljakoff\/Poljakow<\/p>\n [xiv]<\/a> Walter F. Peterson: Das Dilemma linksliberaler deutscher Journalisten im Exil. Der Fall des Pariser Tageblatts. In: Vierteljahrshefte f\u00fcr Zeitgeschichte. Jahrgang 32 (1984), Heft 2, p. 288<\/p>\n [xv]<\/a> Pariser Tageblatt, Vol. 4, No. 911, 11 June 1936, p. 1<\/p>\n [xvi]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [xvii]<\/a> \u201eAn Leopold Schwarzschild\u201c (\u201cTo Leopold Schwarzschild\u201d), rejoinder by Manuel Humbert (Kurt Caro) in: Pariser Tageszeitung, Vol. 1, No. 28, 9 July 1936, p. 1<\/p>\n [xviii]<\/a> \u201eBericht der Minderheit der Untersuchungskommission in der Streitsache Bernhard – Caro einerseits, Schwarzschild andererseits: f\u00fcr die Association des Journalistes Allemands Emigr\u00e9s\u201c, Paris : Association des Journalistes Allemands \u00c9migr\u00e9s, 26 February 1937. Author: Paul Dreyfus, Deutsches Exilarchiv: EB 61b\/2 https:\/\/digipres.cjh.org\/delivery\/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE2990789<\/a> (accessed 19 May 2021)<\/p>\n [xix]<\/a> Pariser Tageszeitung, Vol. 2, No. 266, 4 March 1937, p. 3<\/p>\n [xx]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [xxi]<\/a> Ibid. p. 4<\/p>\n [xxii]<\/a> Ibid. p. 1<\/p>\n [xxiii]<\/a> Paul Dreyfus, Berthold Jacob: \u201eBericht der Minderheit der Untersuchungskommission in der Streitsache Bernhard \u2013 Caro einerseits, Schwarzschild andererseits f\u00fcr die Association des Journalistes Allemands Emigr\u00e9s\u201c, Paris, 26 February 1937, p. 43 https:\/\/digipres.cjh.org\/delivery\/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE2990789<\/a> (accessed 20 May 2021)<\/p>\n [xxiv]<\/a> Letter from Wolf Franck to Rudolf Leonhard, Paris, 17 March 1937, Berlin, Akademie der K\u00fcnste, Maximilian-Scheer-Archiv, Maximilian Scheer 1395<\/p>\n [xxv]<\/a> Pariser Tageszeitung, Vol. 2, No. 352, 30 May 1937, p. 2<\/p>\n [xxvi]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [xxvii]<\/a> Pariser Tageszeitung, Vol. 3, No. 875, 24 December 1938, p. 3<\/p>\n [xxviii]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [xxix]<\/a> As justification, it was stated that shortly before publication of the statement, two editors \u201chad been ousted and that the permanent advisor to Poliakoff had joined the editorial staff\u201d. Cf. Proposed resolution of 29 December 1938, Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R\/8052\/4 Bl. 117<\/p>\n [xxx]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [xxxi]<\/a> Statement by Fred Stein, no date (after 29 December 1938), Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R\/8052\/4 Bl. 116 (front side)<\/p>\n [xxxii]<\/a> Deleted from the formulation \u201cStatement [\u2026], in which a stand is taken against Prof. Bernhard and for Poliakoff\u201d were the words \u201cand for Poliakoff\u201d. Cf. Proposed resolution from 29 December 1938, Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R\/8052\/4 Bl. 117, and resolution of 4 January 1939, Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R\/8052\/4 Bl. 118<\/p>\n [xxxiii]<\/a> Letter from Milly Zirker to Fred Stein, 5 January 1939, Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R\/8052\/4 Bl. 104<\/p>\n [xxxiv]<\/a> Letter from Fred Stein to Milly Zirker, 15 January 1939, Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R\/8052\/4 Bl. 116 (back side)<\/p>\n [xxxv]<\/a> Letter from Fred Stein to Julius Epstein, 6 September 1965, Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p>\n [xxxvi]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n![\"Hellmut](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/0201_DHM00746103.jpg\")
![\"Georg](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/0417_EB_autogr_1009_VS.jpg\")
![\"Pariser](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/0404_Scheer_1130.jpg\")
What was the \u201cPariser Tageblatt\u201d affair about, this \u201cGerman exile scandal par excellence\u201d?[xi]<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Leopold](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Leopold-Schwarzchild-1942.jpg\")
![\"Berthold](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/0334_EB_autogr_1062_VS.jpg\")
![\"Milly](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Milly-Zirker-1944.jpg\")
![\"Fred](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Stein-ca.-1961.jpg\")
Sources<\/h3>\n