Zoltan (Zvi) Kluger (February 8, 1896 – May 16, 1977) was an Israeli photographer. He is known as one of the most important photographers in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

Biography

Zoltan Kluger was born in the city of Kecskemet in Hungary in 1896. During World War I he served as an airborne photographer in the

Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops The Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops or Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (german: Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen or , hu, Császári és Királyi Légjárócsapatok) were the air force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the e ...

. At the end of the 1920s he emigrated to Berlin, the capital of Germany, where he worked as a press photographer. In April 1933, with the rise of the Nazis to power, he arrived to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

as a tourist, and then received a British certificate to stay, thanks to the intervention of

Moshe Sharett Moshe Sharett ( he, משה שרת, born Moshe Chertok (Hebrew: )‎ 15 October 1894 – 7 July 1965) was a Russian-born Israeli politician who served as Israel's second prime minister from 1954 to 1955. A member of Mapai, Sharett's term was b ...

. Later that year, Nachman Shifrin, whom Kluger met in Berlin, founded the "East Photography Society for the Press" in Tel Aviv. In 1934 Kluger joined Shifrin and became a partner and chief photographer. Kluger's prominent clients were the JNF and Keren Hayesod photography department, which sent Kluger to photograph economic enterprises and immigrants. In 1937 Kluger took a series of 250 aerial photographs, commissioned by Zalman Schocken. The book "Ella Pnei Israel" was published in which Kluger's photographs are accompanied by a text by

Moshe Shamir Moshe Shamir ( he, משה שמיר; 15 September 1921 – 20 August 2004) was an Israeli author, playwright, opinion writer, and public figure. He was the author of a play upon which Israeli film '' He Walked Through the Fields'' was based. Biogr ...

. Kluger married Sarah, and the two had a son, Paul, who was sent in the early 1950s by the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

to study in the United States and remained there. In 1958, Kluger and his wife immigrated to the United States following their son. His wife threatened to commit suicide if they didn't follow their son. Kluger opened a photography shop in New York. At the same time, he made a living by filming events, mainly of the Hungarian community in New York. Shortly after the couple arrived in the United States, his wife fell ill and died, and he remarried to Irena. Kluger's mother and sister, Elsa survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ar ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croat ...

. His mother died in 1949, while her daughter, husband, daughter, husband and children emigrated to the United States in 1956 and settled in California. Kluger and his sister renewed their relationship. Kluger remained in the United States until his death. Zoltan Kluger died in Manhattan, New York in 1977, leaving an archive of some 50,000 negatives distributed among several public archives, including the Keren Hayesod collection in the

Central Zionist Archives Central Zionist Archives (CZA; he, הארכיון הציוני המרכזי) is the official archive of the institutions of the Zionist Movement: the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, and Keren Hayesod/the ...

, the Jewish National Fund collection, the Government Press Office, the State Archives and the IDF Archives. In 1968, a collection of about 40,000 negatives from the years 1933-1948 came to the State Archives, and in 2017 the entire collection was uploaded to the State Archives, which includes a search engine in pictures and can be used.

Exhibitions

Zoltan Kluger works have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Israel, including the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

. In 2008, the first solo exhibition of Zoltan Kluger was held at the Eretz Israel Museum in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. The exhibition was named "Zoltan Kluger - Principal Photographer, 1958-1933", curated by Dr. Ruth Oren and Guy Raz.

Gallery

Buffs, Company 10- באפס, פלוגה 10-ZKlugerPhotos-00132jb-090717068512809f.jpg 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa.-ZKlugerPhotos-00132h2-09071706851237ff.jpg , 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa.-ZKlugerPhotos-00132h2-09071706851237f7.jpg , 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa.-ZKlugerPhotos-00132h2-09071706851237f8.jpg , 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa.-ZKlugerPhotos-00132h2-09071706851237fb.jpg , 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa.-ZKlugerPhotos-00132h2-09071706851237fe.jpg , 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa.-ZKlugerPhotos-00132h2-090717068512384c.jpg , 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa.-ZKlugerPhotos-00132h2-907170685123820.jpg , 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa.-ZKlugerPhotos-00132h2-907170685123875.jpg , 14th Regiment Coast Battery, Royal Artillery, Haifa 20 שנה למעברות - הצגת שיר השירים-ZKlugerPhotos-00132q0-09071706851384ec.jpg , 20 Years to the Maabarot - The Song of Songs Play 25 שנה לדגניה ב - הצעיר גילעדי, יליד המקום-ZKlugerPhotos-00132q0-907170685138478.jpg 430 שבויי מלחמה חוזרים הביתה-ZKlugerPhotos-00132qg-907170685139142.jpg 430 שבויי מלחמה שבים הביתה-ZKlugerPhotos-00132qg-907170685139194.jpg ATS - Arab חיל עזר לנשים - ערבי-ZKlugerPhotos-00132iy-090717068512745a.jpg Buffs 6th Coy (חיילים עברים בשירות רג'ימנט מזרח קנט, "באפס")-ZKlugerPhotos-00132h4-0907170685123a2f.jpg , Buffs, 6th Company Buffs, 6th Company באפס, פלוגה 6-ZKlugerPhotos-00132je-09071706851285b6.jpg , Buffs, 6th Company File:A Bukharan dance performed by members of the Rina Nikova ballet in the citadel of Jerusalem - Restoration.jpg, A Bukharan dance performed by members of the Rina Nikova ballet in the citadel of Jerusalem, 1946

References

External links

Zoltan Kluger
application for

citizenship in Israeli State Archive.

Biography

Exhibitions

Gallery

References

External links

See also