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Sunday 9 June 2013

Heroes by Tita Binz

Every war knows his heroes who rise above good and evil. The morality of heroes is universally dictated by courage and bright policy. For that reason, each party has its heroes who are granted with respect by friend and enemy.

The valuation of heroes is in many cases with an award and for Germany in the Second World War there was the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The special feature of this award, at least compared to the First World War, was that also the ordinary soldier could earn it. By doing so it expressed the meaning that a hero could be hidden in all grades.
Most officers and soldiers who received the Knight's Cross are forgotten, but in the period 1940-1945 they spoke to the imagination. Far from the front lines some of them were photographed in the studio of Tita Binz.

Tita (Juanita) Binz (1903-1970) came from an intellectual family where the love of art was obvious. Although very little is known about Binz, she seems to have chosen early for photography. That choice will be facilitated by the fact that her uncle in the fashionable Paris of those days had a successful photo studio where she went to learn the job. Afterwards she visited various studios in Berlin, to open her own studio in 1939. One of her first clients was the publisher Film-Foto-Verlag (till 1941 Ross-Verlag). This publisher is to this day, most famous for her postcards of movie stars who figured in the German cinema.

Binz is later on asked to portray soldiers with the Knight's Cross. Of course that is uncommon for a typical entertainment company, but apparently they were also under the control of the new rulers who needed as much means for propaganda. It is at this point that two differend worlds seems to run together at least in pictures. The actor, the hero of the silver screen and the soldier, the hero of the theater of war were both raised in the same way.
Who initially sees the picture Günter Goebel (1917-1993) will not immediately think of someone who fought in 1940 by the invasion of France, was present during the invasion of Russia, survived the Battle of Stalingrad and was to be found at the largest tank battle in history in 1943 at Kursk. Heinrich Schüler (1903-1945) fought in France and Russia, was present at the Battle of Kiev and the Caucasus. Finaly he was killed in action in Poland. And that is as true for almost all the pictures Binz made.


But it was not only the image itself but also the design of the postcard that ensured that these two worlds together began to look like one another. It was decided that the lay out for actors also had to be used for the knight cross bearers.

Examples how the Film-Foto-Verlag made use off her format for actors. The pictures both the actor and the soldier are by Binz. There was just one thing that good not be copied and that's the looks. Actors are most of the time handsome man while for soldiers nature does not feel the necessity to combine these two.



To illustrate these two worlds which overlap each other is the actor Hannes Stelzer (1910-1944). In 1941 he will star as a war pilot in the movie Stukas. He is photographed on that occasion for Ross-Verlag/Film-Foto-Verlag as an actor in a uniform of the Luftwaffe.  Two years later, he is obliged to report for active duty and gets a pilot training. In 1944 he was killed in Russia as his fighter is knocked down.


Binz strips the war hero of the raw reality and focuses only on his character. And thus, these propaganda cards even in those days gave the feeling as 'not really', but they were no less popular. It is known that young women swoon acted at the pictures of Walter Scheunemann (1909-1949) and Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz (1893-1968).


Remarkably Binz photographed no soldiers of the Waffen-SS. This might be due to the fact that she was friends with Hans Oster (1887-1945), a convinced opponent of the Nazi regime. She knew by that friendship also the 'conspirators' Erwin von Witzleben (1881-1944) and Erich Hoepner (1886-1944) which she portrayed all three. These pictures where not made for Film-Foto-Verlag.


Tita Binz survived the war and died at the age of 67 at Mannheim (Germany).

Below a small survey of the pictures of Ritterkreuzträger by Binz for Film-Foto-Verlag.

Hermann Graf Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hermann Graf
1912-1988

Hermann Graf Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hermann Graf
1912 - 1988

Kurt Gehrke Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Kurt Gehrke
1903 - 1944

Hugo Primozic Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hugo Primozic
1914 - 1996

Walter Paulus Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Walter Paulus
1911 - 1987

Johannes Morawietz Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Johannes Morawietz
1911 -  alive 2013

Karl Hausmann Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Karl Hausmann
1912 - 1997

Otto Schulze Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Otto Schulze
1914 - 1945

Klaus Wagner Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Klaus Wagner
1917 - 1966

Gerhard Hein Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Gerhard Hein
1916 - 2008

Bruno Kohnz Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Bruno Kohnz
1914 - 1945

 
Friedrich Schneider
1899 - unkown

Hans Christern Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hans Christern
1900 - 1966

Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz
1893 - 1968

Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz
1893 - 1968

Bernd von Doering Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Bernd von Doering
1903 - 1944

heinz Guderian Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Heinz Guderian
1888 - 1954

Heinz Guderian Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Heinz Guderian
1888 - 1954

Harald von Hirschfeld Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Harald von Hirschfeld
1912 - 1945

Hermann Graf Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hermann Graf
1912 - 1988

Johann Mickl Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Johann Mickl
1893 - 1945

Oskar Dinort Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Oskar Dinort
1901 - 1965

Werner Rausch Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Werner Rausch
1916 - 1998

Josef Bremm Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Josef Bremm
1914 - 1998

Heinrich Schüler Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Heinrich Schüler
1903 - 1945

Richard Henze Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Richard Henze
1895 - 1985

Eberhard Zahn Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Eberhard Zahn
1910 - 2010

Peter Frantz Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Peter Frantz
1917 - 2001

Werner Lau Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Werner Lau
1908 - 1980

Gerhard Boldt Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Gerhard Boldt
1918 - 1981

Kurt Dix Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Kurt Dix
1908 - 1994

Rudolf Schlee Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Rudolf Schlee
1913 - 1979

Alfred Müller Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Alfred Müller
1916 - 1944

Herbert Ruhnke Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Herbert Ruhnke
1914 - 1945

Wilhelm Okrent Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Wilhelm Okrent
1916 - 1945

Walter Scheunemann Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Walter Scheunemann
1909 - 1949

Fritz Arndt Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Fritz Arndt
1910 - 2003

Werner Baumgarten-Crusius Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Werner Baumgarten-Crusius
1919 - 1995

Bruno Kohnz Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Bruno Kohnz
1914 - 1945

Ernst Nobis Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Ernst Nobis
1901 - 1963

Karl Torley Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Karl Torley
1913 - 1943

Ekkehard Kylling-Schmidt Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Ekkehard Kylling-Schmidt
1918 - 2000

Werner Ziegler Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Werner Ziegler
1916 - 2001


Hans erwin Schröder Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hans Erwin Schröder
1916 - 1943

Albert Dressel Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Albert Dressel
1914 - 1944

Günter Vollmer Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Günter Vollmer
1917 - 2004

Harro Brenner Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Harro Brenner
1911 - 1998

Heinrich Mahnken Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Heinrich Mahnken
1889 - 1944

Wolf Hagemann Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Wolf Hagemann
1898 - 1983

Karl Allmendinger Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Karl Allmendinger
1891 - 1965

Johann Hlauska Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Johann Hlauska
1914 - 1965


Fritz Fessmann Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Fritz Fessmann
1913 - 1944

Hans Mikosch Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hans Mikosch
1898 - 1993

Alfred Hemmann Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Alfred Hemmann
1895 - 1957


Gerhard Graf von Schwerin Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Gerhard Graf von Schwerin
1899 - 1980


 
Robert Meissner
1888 - 1953
 
Harald von Hirschfeld Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Harald von Hirschfeld
1912 - 1945


Ernst Kruse Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Ernst Kruse
1915 - 1944

Heinrich Boigk Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Heinrich Boigk
1912 - 2003

Gerhard Lemke  Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Gerhard Lemke
1919 - 2004

Otto Starosta Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Otto Starosta
1916 - 1985

Walter Kalkhoff Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Walter Kalkhoff
1913 - 1960

Johann Smölzer Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Johann Schmölzer
1911 - 1997

Kurt Kirchner Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Kurt Kirchner
1911 - 1944

Erich Bärenfänger Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Erich Bärenfänger
1915 - 1945

Erich Bärenfänger Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Erich Bärenfänger
1915 - 1945

Günter Goebel Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Günter Goebel
1917 - 1993

Georg Rietscher Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Georg Rietscher
1918 - 1991

Hugo Primozic Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hugo Primozic
1914 - 1996

Georg Michael Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Georg Michael
1917 - 1944

Karl Löwrick Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Karl Löwrick
1894 - 1945

Erich von Manstein Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Erich von Manstein
1887 - 1973


Erwin Rommel Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Erwin Rommel
1891 - 1944

Josef Harpe Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Josef Harpe
1887 - 1968

Erich Jaschke Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Erich Jaschke
1890 - 1961

Karl Wilhelm Specht Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Karl Wilhelm Specht
1894 - 1953

Karl Wilhelm Specht Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Karl Wilhelm Specht
1894 - 1953

Erich Löffler Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Erich Löffler
1908 - 1945

Wilhelm von Malachowski Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Wilhelm von Malachowski
1914 - 1980

Hermann Ammer Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hermann Ammer
1914 - 2000

Wolfgang Darius Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Wolfgang Darius
1911 - 2000

Karl-Heinz Noak Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Karl-Heinz Noak
1916 - 1978

Hans-Georg Haase Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Heinz-Georg Haase
1914 - 1943

Robert Vogel Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Robert Vogel
1918 - 1975

Otto Riehs Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Otto Riehs
1921 - 2008

Robert Rahlenbeck Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Robert Rahlenbeck
1923 - 2008

Joachim von Stolzmann Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hans-Joachim von Stolzmann
1898 - 1971

Franz Bäke Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Franz Bäke
1898 - 1978

Waldemar von Gaza Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Waldemar von Gaza
1917 - alive 2013


Bodo Spranz
1920 - 2007

Hans-Georg Romeike Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hans-Georg Romeike
1920 - 1944

Paul Baumann Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Paul Baumann
1914 - 1944

Rudolf Fuchs Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Rudolf Fuchs
1919 - 1998

Josef Schreiber Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Josef Schreiber
1919 - 1945

Rolf Rocholl Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Rolf Rocholl
1918 - 1943

Adelbert Schulz Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Adelbert Schulz
1903 - 1944

Adelbert Schulz Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Adelbert Schulz
1903 - 1944

Richard Metzger Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Richard Metzger
1912 - 1982

Walter Eggemann Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Walter Eggemann
1911 - 1957

Bernhard Walterbach Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Berhard Walterbach
1918 - 1997

Hans-Ulrich Rudel Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hans-Ulrich Rudel
1916 - 1982

Hans-Valentin Hube Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Hans-Valentin Hube
1890 - 1944

 
Walter Nowotny
1920 - 1944
 
Otto Ernst Remer Ritterkreuzträger Knight Cross Holder Postcard
Otto Ernst Remer
1912 - 1997

 


Some pictures of the Knight Cross holders 'serie' where not taken bij Binz;

R 305 Eckehard Kylling-Schmidt*
R 306 Werner Ziegler*
R 335 Erwin Rommel*
R 358 Rolf Rocholl*

List of numbers en pictures of the knight cross holders by Tita Binz (Film-Foto-Verlag)

R 262 Hermann Graf (1) R 270 Otto Schulze
R 263 Hermann Graf (2) R 271 Klaus Wagner
R 264 Harald von Hirschfeld (1) R 272 Gerhard Hein
R 265 Kurt Gehrke R 273 Bruno Kohnz (1)
R 266 Hugo Primozic (1) R 274 Unkown
R 267 Walter Paulus R 275 Friedrich Schneider
R 268 Johannes Morawietz R 276 Hans Christern
R 269 Karl Hausmann R 277 Hyacint Strachwitz (1)
R 278 Hyacint Strachwitz (2)
R 279 Bernd von Doering
R 280 Heinz Guderian (1) R 290 Eberhard Zahn
R 281 Heinz Guderian (2) R 291 Peter Frantz
R 282 Harald von Hirschfeld (2) R 292 Werner Lau
R 283 Hermann Graf (3) R 293 Gerhard Boldt
R 284 Johann Mickl R 294 Kurt Dix
R 285 Oskar Dinort R 295 Rudolf Schlee
R 286 Werner Rausch R 296 Alfred Müller
R 287 Josef Bremm R 297 Herbert Ruhnke
R 288 Heinrich Schüler R 298 Wilhelm Okrent
R 289 Richard Henze R 299 Walter Scheunemann
R 300 Fritz Arndt R 310 Harro Brenner
R 301 Werner Baumgarten-Crusius R 311 Heinrich Mahnken
R 302 Bruno Kohnz (2) R 312 Wolf Hagemann
R 303 Ernst Nobis R 313 Karl Allmendinger
R 304 Karl Torley R 314 Johann Hlauschka
R 305 Eckehard Kylling-Schmidt* R 315 Fritz Fessmann
R 306 Werner Ziegler* R 316 Hans Mikosch
R 307 Hans Erwin Schröder R 317 Alfred Hemmann
R 308 Albert Dressel R 318 Gerhard graf Schwerin
R 309 Günter Vollmer R 319 Robert Meissner
R 320 Harald von Hirschfeld (3) R 330 Georg Rietscher
R 321 Ernst Kruse R 331 Hugo Primozic (2)
R 322 Heinrich Boigk R 332 Georg Michael
R 323 Gerhard Lemke R 333 Karl Löwrick
R 324 Otto Starosta R 334 Erich von Manstein
R 325 Walter Kalkhoff R 335 Erwin Rommel*
R 326 Johann Schmölzer R 336 Josef Harpe
R 327 Kurt Kirchner R 337 Erich Jaschke
R 328 Erich Bärenfänger R 338 Karl Wilhelm Specht (1,2)
R 329 Günter Goebel R 339 Erich Löffler
R 340 Wilhelm von Malachowski R 350 Waldemar von Gaza
R 341 Hermann Ammer R 351 Bodo Spranz
R 342 Wolfgang Darius R 352 Gerhard Konopka
R 343 Karl-Heinz Noak R 353 Hans-Georg Romeike
R 344 Heinz-Georg Haase R 354 Paul Baumann
R 345 Robert Vogel R 355 Rudolf Fuchs
R 346 Otto Riehs R 356 Josef Schreiber
R 347 Robert Rahlenbeck R 357 Johannes Kümmel
R 348 Hans-Joachim von Stolzmann R 358 Rolf Rocholl*
R 349 Franz Bäke R 359 Adelbert Schulz (1)
R 360 Adelbert Schulz (2)
R 361 Richard Metzger
R 362 Hans Gidion
R 363 Walter Eggemann
R 364 Bernhard Walterbach
R 365
R 366
Hans-Ulrich Rudel
Hans-Valetin Hube
R 367 Walter Nowotny











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