Erich Salomon

Born in Berlin, Salomon studied law, engineering, and zoology up to World War I. After the war, he worked in the promotion department of the Ullstein publishing empire designing their billboard ads. He first picked up a camera in 1927, when he was 41, to document some legal disputes and soon after hid an Ermanox camera usable in dim light in his bowler hat. By cutting a hole in the hat for the lens, Salomon snapped a photo of a police killer on trial in a Berlin criminal court.

With his multilingual ability and clever concealment, Salomon's reputation soared among the peoples of Europe. When the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in 1928, Salomon walked into the signing room and took the vacant seat of the Polish delegate as well as several photos. In time, diplomats were convinced that photojournalism was part of the historical record, and the photo opportunity was born.

After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, Salomon fled to Holland with his wife and continued his photographic career at the Hague. Salomon refused an invitation by Life Magazine to come to the United States, and he and his family were trapped in the Low Countries after Hitler invaded in 1940. Salomon and his family were betrayed to the Nazis and died in Auschwitz in July 1944.

Photos by Salomon:

• Summit Conference (1928; depicts foreign ministers of France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Japan, and Italy just before they signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact)

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