Franz Ehrlich (28 December 1907 in Reudnitz near

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

– 28 November 1984 in

Bernburg Bernburg (Saale) () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the Salzlandkreis district. The former residence of the Anhalt-Bernburg princes is known for its Renaissance castle. Geography The town centre is situated in the fertile Magdeb ...

) was a German architect,

calligrapher Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...

and

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

. He was a student at the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

Dessau Dessau is a district of the independent city of Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the ''States of Germany, Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Until 1 July 2007, it was an independent ...

from 1927 to 1930. Ehrlich was a

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

and was arrested and imprisoned by the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

regime in 1935.

Life

After completing elementary schooling at Täubchenweg in Leipzig, Ehrlich began a metal working apprenticeship where he became a part of the German Metal Workers' Union Metallarbeitergewerkschaft (DMV) and the Sozialistischen Arbeiter-Jugend (SAJ). In 1923, he visited the Bauhaus exhibition of

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in ) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against German Expressionism, expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle Mannheim, Kunsthalle' ...

architecture which sparked his interest in the movement. After completing his apprenticeship and other schooling he studied at the Bauhaus Dessau from 1927 to 1930. In 1930, Ehrlich left the Bauhaus and followed

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (; 18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-born American architect and founder of the Bauhaus, Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of ...

to work as a freelance designer in Berlin and later in Leipzig. After the takeover of power by National Socialism in 1933, Franz Ehrlich joined the anti-fascist resistance and took part in the production of illegal magazines and leaflets for the Young Communist League known as the Kommunistische Jugendverband Deutschlands (KJVD). Initially imprisoned in the Waldheim penitentiary, he spent most of his sentence in the Zwickau penitentiary. In August 1937 he was released from prison and taken into protective custody. He was taken to

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...

where, because he was an architect, he was tasked to design the entrance gates for the camp, including the motto '' Jedem das Seine'' (German: "to each his own" or "to each what he deserves"). Ehrlich subsequently became the paid main designer for the camp's construction office, designing furnishings for the commandant's house among other jobs. Later a fellow prisoner claimed Ehrlich had helped the resistance by passing construction details to them. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

had concluded, Ehrlich worked on reconstruction in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. During the 1960s he was employed as chief architect for the

Leipzig Trade Fair The Leipzig Trade Fair () is a major trade fair, which traces its roots back for nearly a millennium. After the Second World War, Leipzig fell within the territory of East Germany, whereupon the Leipzig Trade Fair became one of the most importan ...

. He designed a ''"Messeturm"'' (English: ''Trade Fair Tower'') for it, but this was never built. From 1954 to 1975, he served the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

as an informer.

Legacy

Ehrlich became an important architect in the GDR. He bequeathed the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation a collection of approximately 7000 items, including life drawings, art works, furniture, plans, studies, photographs and publications. The collection is of considerable significance as it sheds light on the work of former Bauhaus students between 1933 and 1945 and on those who subsequently worked in the GDR.

References

External links

Franz Ehrlich. ''A "Bauhäusler" in the Resistance and the Concentration Camp''
. An exhibition of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, 2 August to 11 October 2009 at the Neues Museum in Weimar. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ehrlich, Franz 1907 births 1984 deaths 20th-century German architects Bauhaus alumni Architects from Leipzig German communists East German architects Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Stasi informants