Forgotten Architects

 

 Forgotten Architects (Pentagram Papers 37)

by Myra Warhaftig

Pentagram Design, 2007

(Amazon)

First read by the author in 2008, reread 2023

Received as present from Michael Freidson, then editor of TimeOut New York

I'm traveling this week, so I only had time to reread a short booklet called Forgotten Architects. Last week's book was partially about Erich Mendelsohn, a German Jewish architect who had to flee Germany in the 1930s. This booklet continues that idea, as it is about the many Jewish architects in Germany who either had to flee were murdered by Nazi Germany. The book lists nearly 500 such people, including Mendelsohn, who was one of the relatively lucky ones. It makes for an unexpected Holocaust book with an architecture theme.  

A few names that are familiar include Paul Zucker, Arieh Sharon, and Richard Kauffmann. But most, even those able to escape, faced great hardship and had to rebuild their careers in new countries. For example, we read of Fritz Marcus, who along with his wife worked in Berlin but then fled to Paris and eventually Barcelona, where they were accused of being Gestapo spies. They fled back to France and worked as gardeners and housekeepers, before eventually ending up in London and teaching furniture design. 

The book is arranged by building type, beginning with private house and apartment buildings. Entries include brief biographies where possible, and photos of building projects which give a sense of the tremendous talent that was wiped out. Another section covers commercial architecture, and mentions an architect named Leopold Lustig, who ended up in Israel and designed a theater in Ramat Gan. There are several pictures of Jewish cemeteries designed by these architects. 

I don't really understand what the Pentagram Papers were, but a number of the volumes had to do directly with architecture, and many editions relate to design. I was given this volume, along with #38, by Michael Freidson, who had a copy (I assume) from TimeOut: New York.