POST 138: INTRIGUING DISCOVERIES ABOUT RATIBOR’S HELIOS PHOTO STUDIO

 

Note: Since late 2018, I have received three separate inquiries regarding the Helios Photo Studio in Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland]. The first query provided the inspiration for writing Post 72 about cabinet cards, a style of photographic portraiture popular from around 1870 until World War I. Following publication of Post 72, two additional readers contacted me, the first in January 2021 and the most recent in May 2023. The first reader informed me that Claus Ogerman, a famous German arranger, conductor, and composer who made his name in America, was the son of the owners of the studio, while the second reader graciously sent me photos of the inside of the studio from the 1930s and 1940s showing the owners and staff. While none of my family is connected to the workshop, several photos astonishingly picture people whose names have come up in connection with unrelated research I’m involved in. This is the first of two posts stemming from what I’ve learned, the second post of which will be written by a guest author.

Related Post:

POST 72: FAMILY CABINET CARDS FROM RATIBOR & BERLIN PHOTO STUDIOS

 

This post is the first of two interconnected stories related to Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland], the town in Upper Silesia where my father, Dr. Otto Bruck, was born in 1907. The stories are interrelated in a fascinating way and will be presented as two separate posts because the connection is asynchronous. I discovered the links years apart, as I will explain in the following two posts. I will author this first post, and a young Polish student, Ms. Magda Wawoczny, researching the Jewish history of Ratibor will be a guest author of the subsequent story.

The discoveries generally emanate from Post 72 which I published in February 2020 right around the time the Covid-19 pandemic was declared. In that post I introduced readers to so-called “cabinet cards,” a style of photograph which was widely used for photographic portraiture after 1870; these consisted of a thin photograph mounted on a card typically measuring 108 by 165 mm (4+ ¼ by 6+ ½ inches). (Figures 1a-b) Typically, the name of the photographic studio was imprinted on cabinet cards below the photograph. Often a lithographic design covered most of the photo backing. Many designs incorporated attractive graphics, including medals or awards the studio supposedly won at some exposition or competition, or perhaps a medal of merit or excellence that was awarded by a European monarch. Sometimes, there was even an indication that the photographer or studio was the “official” photographer of a named monarch.

 

 

 

The inspiration for Post 72 came from an English lady with a Polish surname, a Ms. Gisela Szpytko, who contacted me in December 2018 asking if I had ever heard of “Helios Photography” in Ratibor; Ms. Szpytko explained her mother, who passed away in 1998, had worked there during the 1930s. Unfamiliar with this establishment, I asked my retired lawyer friend from Racibórz, Mr. Paul Newerla, who now researches and writes extensively about the history of Silesia and Ratibor whether he was familiar with this business. Paul indeed was and sent me a photo of the street along which the studio had been located (Figure 2a), a fuzzy photo of the store’s sign (Figure 2b), and an advertisement for “Photo-Helios” from a 1936 Ratibor Address Book (Figure 3); he also sent a page from the 1923 Ratibor Address Book listing all the town’s photographers at that time identifying the Photo Helios’ proprietor as Hans Ogermann, spelled with two “n’s.” (Figures 4a-b) I shared everything Paul sent with Ms. Szpytko who gratefully acknowledged receipt of the materials, telling me she was planning on visiting Racibórz soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After assisting Ms. Szpytko, I set aside the issue of the Helios Photo Studio though as mentioned it gave me the inspiration to write Post 72 about cabinet cards since they produced them. Naturally, I mentioned the studio in my post. I honestly expected this would be the last time I would write about Helios Photography. This was not to be.

A little less than a year after publishing Post 72, in January 2021, I received an intriguing email from a gentleman named Mr. Jakub “Kuba” Stankiewicz about my story. As it turns out, Mr. Stankiewicz is a jazz pianist and the director of jazz studies at the Academy of Music in Wrocław, Poland, known as Breslau when this section of Poland was part Germany. Kuba explained that the owner of Photo Helios, Hans Ogermann, was the father of Claus Ogerman (1930-2016) (Figure 5), who was one of the best contemporary composers and arrangers; Claus was born in Ratibor on the 20^th of April 1930 and lived there until 1945.

 

 

Claus Ogerman, with one “n”, was born as Klaus Ogermann with two “n’s”, according to Wikipedia. The entry describes him as a German arranger, conductor, and composer best known for his work with Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Michael Brecker, and Diana Krall. In addition, Kuba Stankiewicz also mentioned some of Claus’ recordings with Bill Evans and Joao Gilberto. Wikipedia provides further details:

“In 1959, Ogerman moved to the United States and joined the producer Creed Taylor at Verve Records, working on recordings with many artists, including Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Kai Winding, and Cal Tjader. Verve was sold to MGM in 1963. Ogerman, by his own reckoning in Gene Lees Jazzletter publication arranged some 60-70 albums for Verve under Creed Taylor’s direction from 1963 to 1967.”

For Americans like me who may be unaware of Claus Ogerman even though much of his career was spent here, the many pop hits he arranged during this period will no doubt sound familiar to readers, including Solomon Burke’s “Cry to Me,” and Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party,” “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” “She’s a Fool,” and “Maybe I Know.”  In 1965, Ogerman charted his own name and recorded the RCA single “Watusi Trumpets.” Ogerman also worked with Diana Krall arranging and recording her 2001 album “The Look of Love” and conducting parts of her “Live in Paris” performance.

At the time Kuba Stankiewicz contacted me in January 2021 he was in the process of researching Claus Ogerman and preparing a conference at the Academy of Music in Wrocław devoted to his music. While Kuba and I have stayed in touch over the years due to our mutual interest in the Jewish history of Breslau where some of my accomplished Bruck relatives hail from, I mistakenly concluded the Ogerman connection to Ratibor and Helios Photography would assuredly be the last time I would hear about this studio. Once again, I was decidedly wrong.

Several months ago in May, I was contacted by yet another person in connection to the Helios Photo Studio, a German lady by the name of Ms. Jessica Nastos. Amazingly, Jessica’s great-grandmother also worked in the studio during the 1930s-1940s. As we speak, I’m trying to determine whether Ms. Nastos’ great-grandmother may have known and/or worked at the business at the same time as Ms. Szpytko’s mother; that would indeed be quite astonishing.

Jessica graciously sent me photos in her possession of the inside of the Helios studio taken in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as an envelope with the name of the business imprinted on it. (Figure 6) Naturally, Jessica included several photos of her great-grandmother. (Figure 7) When I learned her ancestor was named Elzbieta “Lilly” Slawik née Grzonka (1926-2016) my jaw dropped, and a big chill went through my body. I want to keep readers in suspense until the subsequent post so suffice it for now to say that I was already familiar with Elzbieta Grzonka; her name had come up during Ms. Magda Wawoczny’s research on an altogether different topic when Magda asked for my help. Stay tuned for the subsequent post.

 

 

 

 

The photographs Jessica Nastos sent me included images not only of Elzbieta but also her mother Pauline Grzonka (1895-1971) (Figure 8), who features prominently in the subsequent story, as well as several group pictures of the staff that worked at the Helios Studio; only one staffer was identified by name, a Ms. Maria Labudek. While not identified by name, I think the older gentleman and lady shown in two of the images are Hans Ogermann and his wife Emma Ogermann née Wrazidlo, the parents of Claus Ogerman. (Figures 9-10)

 

 

 

Obviously, the only relationship with my Bruck family of any of the above-named individuals is their association with the town in Upper Silesia where my father was born. While I have several cabinet cards depicting my family that were produced by studios in Ratibor, I don’t have any made by Helios Photography. That said, thanks to the contributions of several readers I have been able to learn a little more about the people who worked there and even uncover pictures of several of them from almost 80 years ago. Given all that was lost and destroyed during World War II, and the transition from German to Polish administration of most of Silesia, I consider this a modest contribution to the historical study of Ratibor.

 

REFERENCE 

“Claus Ogerman.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claus_Ogerman.