Erich Andres

From 1921 to 1923, Andres was apprenticed to a typesetter in Dresden during which time he started to take photographs of landscapes, people, traditional costumes and folk customs with a home-made camera. In 1923 and unemployed he moved to Hamburg where he found work typesetting in a printery while freelancing as a photographer; his first sale was in 1927 of a cover image for Hamburger Anzeiger, then the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung published his pictures of his travels in 1927/28 through southern Europe. In 1928/29 he also hiked through Yugoslavia, Greece and Italy.

In the Great Depression he again found himself without regular employment. His pictures of Hamburg's unemployed, of the workers' council meeting in Hamburg's trade union building, and workers' self-help were published in the Hamburger Echo and in Volk und Zeit, and in photo series entitled “Crisis” from November 1930 he pictured his own unemployment card.[1]

Andres' conducted his first major photo reportage during the years 1931–2 in the multi-ethnic state of Albania, then coming increasingly under the influence of Mussolini.[2] Andres' pictures show Albania at the time of King Ahmet Zogu, they expose its poverty and backwardness when on the surface the country had still a picturesque, nostalgic oriental flavour.[3] Andres planned to publish the pictures as a book entitled People of Albania with publisher Reimar Hobbing, but the project was not realised, though as a result from 1932 he started working full-time as a photojournalist.[1]

Andres worked as freelancer after the war, living at Langenfelder Straße 60, Hamburg, and at first documented devastated Munich, its black market and the city's reconstruction and often used a ladder for an unusual perspective. Later he worked for Der Spiegel and the Hamburg daily newspapers. In April 1958 he photographed the Bewegung Kampf dem Atomtod protests against atomic weapons and later recorded the inauguration of the Hohe Weide Synagogue and the North Sea floods of 1962. From 1962 onwards he illustrated annual reports and calendars.

One of Andres' photographs, of girls in traditional costumes dancing a 'Ring o' Roses',[10] was selected by Edward Steichen for the world-touring Museum of Modern Art exhibition The Family of Man, that was seen by 9 million visitors, and for its catalogue.[11]

His photography of the destruction of Hamburg[12][13] by Allied aerial bombardment provides a rare German perspective and has since been published in book form and exhibited.[14][15][16] He was often consulted as an expert by museums seeking images of the history of Hamburg. In 1993 a re-edition of Hans-Erich Nossack's Der Untergang illustrated with Andres' photographs was sponsored by the Hamburger Abendblatt for the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the firestorm.[17][18]

Andres was interviewed by Heinrich Breloer and Horst Königstein for their award-winning 1982 television film The Axe of Wandsbek.

He died in Hamburg on 6 February 1992.

The Dresden City Museum holds his archive. Pictures with a reference to Hamburg are held in the Hamburg Office for the Protection of Monuments and additional copies in the picture archive of Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin.[19] Since February 2019, the Cologne-based United Archives GmbH obtained exclusive rights to imagery not related to Hamburg and Dresden.[20]

• Nossack, Hans Erich, Andres, Erich (1993). Der Untergang Hamburg 1943 (in German). ISBN 978-3-8225-0236-5. OCLC 165500202.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Andres, Erich, Orendt, Stefan (1992). Albanien [1931, 1957, 1990 ; ein Fotolesebuch (in German). ISBN 978-3-86163-031-9. OCLC 246656795.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Andres, Erich, Zimmermann, Jan, Junius-Verlag (2018). Tod über Hamburg Fotos und Notizen aus dem "Feuersturm", 25. Juli bis 1. August 1943 (in German). ISBN 978-3-88506-835-8. OCLC 1083825121.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Andres, Erich, Zimmermann, Jan, Beutler, Willi, Lüden, Walter, O'Swald-Ruperti, Ruperti, Scheerer, Theo, Schmidt-Luchs, Hugo, Schorer, Joseph, Junius-Verlag (2017). Hamburg - Krieg und Nachkrieg Fotografien 1939-1949 (in German). ISBN 978-3-88506-802-0. OCLC 990201787.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Andres, Erich; Wisser, Horst (1998). Kindheit in Hamburg: in den 50er Jahren (in German). Gudensberg-Gleichen: Wartberg. ISBN 978-3-86134-479-7. OCLC 48119507.
• Andres, Erich, Gemeinnützige Wohnungs- und Siedlungsbaugenossenschaft "Süderelbe" (1972). 25 Jahre "Suüderelbe" 16. Sept. 1947-1972 (in German). Hamburg: Hammonia-Verl. OCLC 248709423.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Zimmermann, Jan, Andres, Erich, Beutler, Willi, Lüden, Walter, Oswald-Ruperti, Ruperti, Scheerer, Theo, Schmidt-Luchs, Hugo, Schorer, Joseph, Junius-Verlag (2017). Hamburg Krieg und Nachkrieg (in German). ISBN 978-3-88506-802-0. OCLC 1073858921.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• Andres, Erich, Müller, Ulli (1994). Erich Andres, der Mann mit der Leiter 50 Jahre unterwegs mit dem Hamburger Fotoreporter (1920-1970) (in German). Hamburg: Dölling und Galitz. ISBN 978-3-926174-52-9. OCLC 845480996.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)