Strache, Wolf. Berlin Eine Erinnerung by Wolf Strache.

Stuttgart: DSB, 1959. [47 black-and-white photos of Berlin, Germany, one to a page. Dr. Wolf Strache (1917–1991), in addition to his photographs, is remembered as the co-editor of Das Deutsche Lichtbild, the German photographic annual. He produced more than a dozen photography books beginning in 1935.] Fine with chipped dust jacket.  Summary:

Berlin: Eine Erinnerung (Berlin: A Memory), published by Deutsche Städte-Bücher (DSB) / Verlag Die Schönen Bücher in Stuttgart, is a poignant photographic elegy that documents the architectural and cultural heritage of Germany's capital prior to its widespread wartime destruction. Curated and photographed by Dr. Wolf Strache—a prominent photojournalist and co-editor of Das Deutsche Lichtbild—the volume serves as a permanent visual archive of a vanished city.

Key Elements of the Work

• The Visual Layout: The book is structured around 47 high-quality, full-page black-and-white photographs. Each plate is dedicated to a single, unhurried view of Berlin’s urban landscape, allowing the textures and geometric lines of the city's classic architecture to take center stage.

• The Topographical Catalog: Strache systematically records the landmarks that defined Berlin's historic core and modern identity. The collection features pristine imagery of the Brandenburger Tor, the Berlin Cathedral (Dom) alongside the Lustgarten, Unter den Linden, Alexanderplatz, the historic Berliner Schloss, and Weimar-era modern architectural triumphs like the Shell-Haus.

• The Concept of "Erinnerung": Rather than capturing the immediate trauma of postwar rubble, the book intentionally focuses on images captured just prior to or during the early stages of the war (including his iconic street photography from the 1930s and early 1940s). It emphasizes the quiet, everyday "islands of the past"—the old taverns, churches, and historic quarters that local Berliners cherished amid a rapidly modernizing metropolis.

Narrative Intent

The monograph functions as a profound act of preservation and collective memory. By publishing these pristine views in the late 1950s—by which point Berlin was not only physically shattered but increasingly divided by the geopolitical realities of the Cold War—Strache offers a bittersweet retrospective. The work frames Berlin not as a symbol of mid-century political ruin, but as an enduring cultural monument, frozen in time through the precise lens of straight photography.