The Kochmann Korelle (3x4) by Charles J. Katz, Jr.

     When shooting a vintage camera, one might well remember something of its origin story. An old Leica brings to mind the courageous business decision made by Ernst Leitz to place the “Barnack camera” into production despite the misgivings of many in his company. Handling an Olympus Pen F one remembers that this was the first 35mm half-frame SLR in the world and that it came from the brilliant designer, Yoshihisa Maitani. One can list many other examples of vintage cameras that evidence engineering genius, business bets that paid off, or design elegance, but there is one old camera that I own that evokes something else altogether for me when it is in my hands.

     Whenever I am out with my Kochmann Korelle 127-film format camera, I find myself thinking more about the life of Franz Kochmann and the times in which he lived than about the camera itself. 

     Kochmann was born in 1872 in southern Poland.  He came from a family of prosperous merchants who owned a distillery business and a hotel.In 1913, Kochmann moved to Dresden and established various businesses there.  He became keenly interested in avant-garde art with a special receptivity to the German Expressionists. Eventually he owned a distinguished art collection that included works by Oscar Kokoschka, Emil Nolde, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Ernst Kirchner, Ernst Barlach and Ludwig Meidner. He was especially close to Meidner and Nolde.

     Dresden in those years was the center of the German camera industry. It included a large number of camera manufacturers, optical companies, and photographic supply providers. Kochmann joined this group when in 1921 he founded a company named Franz Kochmann Fabrik photographischer Apparate. The Kochmann company produced various well-regarded folding and reflex cameras in different formats for both amateurs and professionals. The Reflex-Korelle models were especially prized. His Enolde brand was named in honor of the painter Emil Nolde. 

     It was not to last for Franz Kochmann. After 1933, when the Nazis took control of Germany, Kochmann, being Jewish, was subjected to considerable restrictions and intimidation.  Eventually, his home, much of his art collection, his company, and his remaining assets were taken from him. The company continued on, reorganized under government control.  Kochmann and his family narrowly avoided the Holocaust by escaping to Holland in 1940 where they stayed out of sight for the duration of the World War II. After the war, Kochmann worked a bit in the Dutch camera industry but he never regained his former stature. Sadly, he died in 1956, the victim of an automobile pedestrian accident.

     Holding my Kochmann-Korelle made in 1932 takes me back to those cultured and creative days in Dresden soon to be overcome by hatred, violence, terror and death. I feel like I am holding on to what was good then, and that it is my obligation to remember and to carry on today the good in photography and in life.

 References

Schulz-Bennewitz, G. (2018). “Franz Kochmann:  A Lost Jewish Collection from Dresden,” in Riedel and Wenzel (Eds.), Ludwig Meidner:  Expressionism, Ecstasy, Exile. Gebr. Mann Verlag.

Mike Eckman (2018, February 20). “Kochmann Korelle 6x6 (1933),” Available online: https://www.mikeeckman.com/2018/02/kochmann-korelle-6x6-1933/

 - ©2020 Charles J. Katz, Jr.