Hermann Burchardt
Hermann Burchardt (November 18, 1857 – December 19, 1909) was a German explorer and photographer of Jewish descent, who is renowned for his black and white pictorial essays of scenes in Arabia in the early 20th century.
Life
Burchardt, born in Berlin in 1857 to a
Burchardt first arrived in
In Sana'a and the port city of
Expeditions
His first trip in the Spring of 1893 brought him to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt.[7] Later he settled in Damascus for a few years, using this as a base for his travels throughout the region until he was killed in Yemen while en route from Mocha to Sana'a.
Most of Burchardt's photographs have now been dated and their geographical location determined. A small but exquisite part of the collection has now been masterfully edited and commented in a volume with texts in both English and German.
It covers Burchardt's journey over the period of December, 1903 to March, 1904, when he traveled from
Personal effects
After his death, Burchardt's nephew, Max Ginsberg, donated in 1911 more than 500 photographic plates and contact sheets of the traveler (taken from the estate of Hermann Burchardt) to the Berlin Museum of Ethnology (Museum für Völkerkunde), today, the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, for a total of nearly 2000 negatives, glass and celluloid plates, where they lay dormant and forgotten in their boxes, until after the year 2000, at which time, with support from the German Research Foundation, they were scientifically analyzed and published.
Burchardt kept a diary of his travels, but for many years it was thought that his diary was lost. Burchardt's private notes in his diary were necessary to identify many of his photographs, without which it would have been nearly impossible. In a search for the estate of Eugen Mittwoch, who evaluated Burchardt's papers on Yemen as late as the 1920s, part of Burchardt's estate came to light in the National Archive in Jerusalem. In these boxes were diaries, letters and lists with picture titles.[15][16] At the end of processing of the photographic estate, about 90% of the almost 2,000 pictures could be identified and dated.
The results of this work were partly issued in Yemen and the Arab States of the Gulf Coast and reviewed there with great interest. The National Museum in Sana'a has a small permanent exhibition of black-and-white photographs of the German traveler, Hermann Burchardt.
As an avid traveler Burchardt had photographed extensively not only in the Arabic Middle East (e.g. archaeological sites in Hauran of Syria, etc.)[17] and North Africa (including Morocco),[18] but also in Turkey and Persia, and Australia.
It is believed by some that Burchardt used the home of Gustav Sachs in Moabit, Berlin, as his home base on return from travels, as well as a mailing address. In February 1906, he gave a lecture at the General Assembly of the Berlin Society for Geography.
Professor Eugen Mittwoch, based on the testimony of Burchardt's Yemeni-Arab secretary which he translated into German, wrote a book entitled, Aus dem Jemen (published in Leipzig in 1926), in which he describes Hermann Burchardt's final journey in South Arabia.[24] At his funeral, Burchardt was eulogized by an Italian merchant who had befriended him on his last visit to Sana'a.
Publications / Literature
During Burchardt's stays in Germany, he lectured at the Berlin Geographical Society. His lectures were partly published in the journal of the Society.
- Hermann Burchardt, Von den Juden des Jemen [Of the Jews of Yemen], Berlin 1913 (post-mortem)
- Hermann Burchardt, August Fischer (ed.): Arabische und persische Handschriften: Aus dem Besitz des verstorbenen Reisenden Dr. Burchardt. Privatdruck in der Buchhandlung Gustav Fock 1921. [Arab and Persian manuscripts: From the estate of the late Dr. Burchardt's travels]
- Eugen Mittwoch (Bearbeiter): Aus dem Jemen: Hermann Burchardts letzte Reise durch Südarabien. Festgabe für den 4. Deutschen Orientalistentag in Hamburg. Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Brockhaus, Leipzig 1926. [From Yemen: Herman Burchardt's last trip through southern Arabia]
- Annegret Nippa: Lesen in alten Photographien aus ISBN 3-909105-29-7.[25]
- Annegret Nippa, Peter Herbstreuth (editors): Unterwegs am Golf: Von ISBN 3-89930-070-X. (deutsch, englisch)
- Franziska Bloch: Mit geschultem Blick. Hermann Burchardts Reise in Südsyrien 1895. Fotografien eines deutschen Orientreisenden. Katalogbroschüre zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung des Deutschen Archäologischen Institutsin Berlin, Außenstelle Damaskus, in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Ethnologischen Museum, Berlin 2010. (German/Arabic)
- Burchardt, Hermann, Die Juden im Yemen, in: Ost und West 2 (1902), Berlin [The Jews in Yemen, in: East and West 2 (1902)], pp. 337–341; sowie: ders., Reiseskizzen aus dem Yemen, in: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde 17 (1902), pp. 305–322.
- Burchardt, Hermann, Ost-Arabien. Von Basra bis Maskat auf Grund eigner Reisen, in: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde 21 (1906) [Eastern Arabia. From Basra to Muscat on basic own travel, in: Journal of the Geographical Society 21 (1906)], pp. 305-322.
- Arabische und Persische Handschriften [Arabic and Persian Manuscripts], Burchardt, Hermann. - [p. l.] : [s. n.]Leipzig ( : Otto Wigand), ([1921]), [Privatdr.] (published post-mortem)
- Unterwegs am Golf : von Basra nach Maskat = Along the Gulf : from Basra to Muscat / photographs by Hermann Burchardt ; [edited by] Annegret Nippa, Peter Herbstreuth ; [Englische Übersetzung, Mitch Cohen]. Berlin 2006
External links
- Moroccan Jewish Families, a pictorial essay
- The Danan Synagogue of Fez (Morocco)
- Messages from H. Burchardt's Last Letter, Ost und West, Berlin 1910 (German)
- Scenes from Oman (1903-1904)
References
- ^ "הצילום הראשון של יהודי תימן הדהים את העולם היהודי ב-1901". Haaretz הארץ (in Hebrew).
- ^ Original German: Postkarte. Mokka, den 8. Dezbr. 09. Diese Karte erhältst Du aus dem gottverlassensten Neste Asiens. Es übertrifft alle meine Erwartungen, was Zerstörtsein anbetrifft. Es sieht aus wie eine durch Erdbeben gänzlich zerstörte Stadt. Die Weg von Taiz nach hier, 3 Tage, war oder sollte unsicher sein. Es waren wohl die gewöhnlichen Unruhen beim Steuereintreiben, bei denen es auf beiden Seiten einige Tote gegeben. Hier wohns im italienischen Konsulat, und der Konsul reist mit zurück nach Sanaa. Photos von hier werden sehr interessant sein. Die letzte Etappe in der Ebene fürchterlich heiss, schlechtes Wasser, Chinin gebe allen meinen Leuten (11 an der Zahl, inkl. 8 Zaptijeh). Werde froh sein, sobald wieder das Hochplateau des glücklichen Arabien erreiche (Michael Friedländer, Hermann Burchardt: Mitteilungen aus seinen letzten Briefen [Messages from his last letters], published in Journal: Ost und West [Illustrated monthly magazine for all of Judaism], issue 2 / February 1910, Berlin, p. 108).
- ^ Michael Friedländer, Hermann Burchardt: Mitteilungen aus seinen letzten Briefen (Messages from his last letters), published in Journal: Ost und West (Illustrated monthly magazine for all of Judaism), issue 2 / February 1910, Berlin, p. 109 (German); in 1926, in the Vienna publication, Menorah: Jewish family journal for science, arts and literature (issue 8, p. 436), the author had written that Hermann Burchardt was "murdered in communion with his companion Marchese (sic) Benzoni, in Yemen, on the way from Mocha to Sanaa."
- ^ "Explorers Murdered. In Southern Arabia". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 December 1909. p. 7. Retrieved September 4, 2015 – via Trove Digitised newspapers.com.
- ^ Aus dem Jemen (ed. Eugen Mittwoch), Leipzig 1926, p. 39 (German).
- ^ Michael Friedländer, Hermann Burchardt: Mitteilungen aus seinen letzten Briefen (Messages from his last letters), published in Journal: Ost und West (Illustrated monthly magazine for all of Judaism), issue 2 / February 1910, Berlin, p. 110 (German).
- ^ Many of the photographic images of this place relate to the architecture of the town Siwa, photographs that are now stored at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. See, for example, Siwa, viewed from the east, by Hermann Burchardt; Siwa, eastern part; Siwa, western part; Siwa, viewed from the south; Siwa, main street.
- ^ The town al-Hofuf, as photographed by Hermann Burchardt in 1904. Today, photos of Hofuf made by the photographer are held in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin; Hofuf (click on photo to enlarge); Hofuf in 1904.
- ^ Abu-Dhabi, click on photo to enlarge.
- ^ View of the city Muscat and its walls in 1904 (Click on photo to enlarge); Muscat's wall and gate.
- ^ Eastern Arabia. From Basra to Muscat on basic own travel, in: Journal of the Geographical Society 21 (1906)], pp. 305-322.
- ^ Photo of Rabbi Sālem al-Jamāl (left) and Rabbi Yiḥya al-Abyadh (right), in 1907, by Hermann Burchardt.
- ^ Three companions, Radāʻ, circa 1902.
- ^ "Jewish family in Rauda".
- ^ Unterwegs am Golf: von Basra nach Maskat (ed. Annegret Nippa, Peter Herbstreuth), Berlin 2006, p. 5.
- ^ Annegret Nippa, Lesen in alten Photographien aus Baalbek [Photos von Hermann Burchardt], Zürich 1996, p. 9; The National Library of Israel (Jerusalem), ARC. Ms. Var. 525 (Hermann Burchardt Archive).
- ^ Early photographs of Hauran's archaeological sites, taken in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by German explorer and photographer, Hermann Burchardt, are now held at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. See: The castle (citadel) of Salkhad, photographed by Hermann Burchardt (click on photo to enlarge it); Melach Es-Sarrar (Malah) in Hauran, in 1895; Dibese, 400 meters west of Suwayda; Qasr (fortress) al-Mushannaf, in Hauran (click to enlarge); The citadel, Khirbat al-Bayda, in Hauran (1895); The ruins of Khirbet al-Bayda.
- ^ Early photographs of Moroccan Jewish families, taken in the early 20th century by German explorer and photographer, Hermann Burchardt, are now held at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. See: Jewish couple in Morocco on the roof of their house; Jewish family during the Feast of Tabernacles on the roof of their house; Moroccan Jews in 1905, by Hermann Burchardt; Jewish family, 1905; The Saba Synagogue, 1905; Jewish family in their home; The Ibn (Aben) Danan Synagogue, in the Mellah of Fès (click to enlarge); Jewish family in Morocco, early 20th century (click on photo to enlarge); Family portrait, Morocco; Mother and children in lounge, Morocco.
- ^ Matrah. Harbor in the city, by Hermann Burchardt.
- ^ The fore end of the boom, a small open sailing boat, by Hermann Burchardt.
- ^ Marketplace of Hofuf, click on photo to enlarge.
- ^ Sheikh Muhammad Beg Nossar, of Hauran, Syria (click on photo to enlarge).
- ^ Jews studying in synagogue in Sana'a, 1907.
- ISBN 965-235-011-7
- ^ Book presents rules for a historically oriented use of photography as a genre of source. The author works under the premise that a visually-based ethnography also preserves facts that are forgotten in oral traditions and are not mentioned in written sources.