Fred Stein – Photographer, Exile, and Chronicler of the 20th Century
Book Presentation and Discussion with Daniel Siemens and Theresia Ziehe (in German)
Hannah Arendt with a cigarette, Thomas Mann at his desk, Einstein smiling. The photographs are world-famous, but their photographer is largely unknown: Fred Stein, master of portrait photography, captured over 1,200 prominent personalities and intellectuals of his time.
The Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB) presents the first biography of Fred Stein in a reading with author Daniel Siemens, professor of European history at Newcastle University in the UK: Der Fotograf Fred Stein. Ein deutsch-jüdisches Leben 1909–1967 (The Photographer Fred Stein. A German-Jewish Life 1909–1967). After the book presentation, Theresia Ziehe, curator of photography at the JMB, will provide insight into the museum’s collection on Fred Stein.
Thu 26 Mar 2026, 7 pm
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)
The JMB first presented Stein’s work in a major retrospective in 2013. The museum’s collection includes both photographs and a collection of documents entitled Das war nicht unser Deutschland. Ein Lesebuch für die Kommenden (That Was Not Our Germany: A Reader for the Next Generation). This project, on which Fred Stein worked intensively in the last years of his life, remained unfinished.
Fred Stein
Fred Stein fled from Dresden to Paris in 1933. There, the trained lawyer had to build a new life from scratch and discovered photography. Even after fleeing again to New York in 1941, photography remained his profession. With his Leica and later also a Rolleiflex, he captured the cities of his emigration in countless street photographs. He also portrayed prominent personalities of his time.
Book cover Der Fotograf Fred Stein. Ein deutsch-jüdisches Leben 1909-1967 (The Photographer Fred Stein. A German-Jewish Life 1909–1967), Ch. Links Verlag, 2026
