Paul Guermonprez

Paul Gustave Sidonie Guermonprez (December 28, 1908 – June 10, 1944)[1] was a Belgium–born Dutch photographer, graphic designer, and a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II.

Paul Gueromonprez
Paul Guermonprez (1935)
Born
Paul Gustave Sidonie Guermonprez

(1908-12-28)28 December 1908
Ghent, Belgium
Died10 June 1944(1944-06-10) (aged 35)
Overveen, Netherlands
EducationBauhaus Dessau
SpouseTrude Guermonprez (m. c.1933–1944, death)
RelativesHeinrich Jalowetz (father-in-law)
Trude Guermonprez in the studio of Co-op 2 (1937), Amsterdam

Early life and education

Paul Guermonprez was born 28 December 1908 in Ghent, Belgium.[2] His family fled during World War I, eventually resettling in the Netherlands. Guermonprez attended the De Suikerschool Amsterdam, after primary school. From 1929 to 1932, he worked on a sugar plantation in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).[3]

In 1932, he attended Bauhaus Dessau in Germany before the schools closure, studying with photographer Walter Peterhans. In 1933, Guermonprez moved back to the Netherlands because of the rise in Nazi Germany.[4] After moving to Amsterdam he worked as a Commercial artist, founded his advertising company Co-op 2, and he taught classes at the recently established New Art School, Amsterdam (Nieuwe Kunstschool, Amsterdam).[4] In 1939, he married textile artist Trude Guermonprez.[5]

Career and World War II

When war broke out in 1939, he was drafted as an officer in the Dutch army. By 1940, Germany occupied the Netherlands, and Guermonprez was no longer in military service. Due to the Nederlandsche Kultuurkamer, an institute enforced by the German Nazis that required creative professionals to register their activities, Guermonprez closed his company Co-op 2 in 1942 in protest.[6] For three weeks in 1941 he was arrested.

From 4 May 1942 to 30 July 1943 he was held hostage in the St. Michielsgestel Concentration Camp.[6] After his conditional release, he and his Jewish wife, Trude Jalowetz, went into hiding with the help of the Dutch resistance. They fled to Maria Helena Friedlander (nee Bruhn), a German woman, wife of Henri Friedlaender. She hid them with other fugitives in the attic of her house in Wassenaar, South Holland.[7]

Death

He was arrested in 1944 and executed on 10 June 1944 in Overveen.[1] After the war, Guermonprez was buried in the Dutch Honorary Cemetery Bloemendaal (Erebegraafplaats Bloemendaal).[1] He was awarded the Dutch Cross of Resistance (Verzetskruis 1940–1945) posthumously on 9 May 1946.[1]

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam has many of his photography works in their permanent collection.

References
  1. "Guermonprez, Paul Gustave Sidonie". Traces Of War. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  2. Visser, Hripsimé (1996). 100 X Photo: 100 Photographs from the Collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Stedelijk Amsterdam Museum. THOTH Publishers. p. 74, 88. ISBN 978-90-6868-147-5.
  3. "Ontdek fotograaf, docent aan academie Paul Guermonprez". rkd.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  4. "Bauhaus Archive Commemorates Hajo Rose's 100th Anniversary with Exhibition". Artdaily.cc. 16 September 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  5. "Trude Guermonprez". Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Collection. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  6. "Paul Gustave Sidonie Guermonprez". Stichting De Eerebegraafplaats te Bloemendaal (in Dutch). 9 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  7. "The Righteous Among the Nations Database".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Guermonprez.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.