ABSTRACT
Walter Hege was the first photographer to be awarded, in 1955, the David-Octavius-Hill Medal by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Lichtbildner (GDL). His efforts to develop colour processing techniques had met with worldwide approval. His photographs of German cathedrals, the Athenian Acropolis and Greek temples are witnesses of the cooperation with the leading art historians of National Socialist Germany. As visual documents they represent details which may no longer be extant or may be altered. Simultaneously they are examples for an heroic monumentalism making works of art conform to racist ideals of beauty. This article will describe the relationship between some of Hege's photographs and the texts of art historians. Moreover it will reconstruct his biography in relation to German political history It will take a new approach, discussing the complex interrelation between the history of photography, art history, and National Socialist racism in Germany.
