Maria Graf and his colleagues Erich Mu ̈hsam and
Ernst Toller. In 1918, Breitenbach played an active
part in the successful November Revolution to
overthrow the Bavarian government and became a
member of the Provisional Central Workers’ Coun-
cil. Eisner became the first minister-president of the
Free State of Bavaria and Breitenbach was given a
small post in the new administration as diplomatic
courier for the Bavarian embassy in Switzerland.
Kurt Eisner was in power for only a few months
when his political opponents assassinated him. His
death precipitated the proclamation of the ‘‘Soviet
Republic’’ by the Bavarian left, and marked the end
of Breitenbach’s political ambitions.
Breitenbach remained associated with the So-
cial Democratic party in the 1920s, but his life
adopted a new focus—family, business, and art.
He married Pauline Schmidtbauer in 1918, more
than a year after the birth of their son Hans. The
marriage ended in divorce in 1926. He took over
his father’s business in 1922, and it went bankrupt
in 1930. It is not clear if this was due to his lack
of interest in the business. But what is certain is
that the many business trips through Central Eu-
ropean wine regions became photographic excur-
sions and led to his study of viniculture, which
won the gold medal at the Milan Photography
Competition in 1928.
In 1932 Breitenbach opened his own photo-
graphic studio and began a steady engagement as
stage photographer for the Mu ̈nchener Kammer-
spiele (Munich Studio Theater). His portraits of
great actors such as Alexander Moissi, Albert Bas-
serman, and Karl Valentin earned him modest artis-
tic recognition and financial success. His promising
career, however ended abruptly in the summer of
1933, when the Nazis came to power.
Itseemsthathislifewassparedbecauseofaphoto-
graph he made of Franz von Papen, Hitler’s deputy
in the National Socialist government. Legend has it
that SS agents visited Breitenbach with the intention
of taking him into custody. Breitenbach confronted
them with the Papen portrait and the accompanying
letter of thanks. Caught off guard by this first-class
reference, the SS left Breitenbach to confirm that
they had not descended on the wrong person. Brei-
tenbach wasted no time in leaving the country for
France. For the National Socialists, the participants
in the November Revolution of 1918 were the most
hated of opponents. They were decried as ‘‘Novem-
ber criminals’’ and were the victims of the first wave
of terror, which liquidated the political opposition.
Breitenbach, therefore, was a target of the Nazis
more because of his earlier political commitment
than his Jewish birth.
Breitenbach found himself in Paris among throngs
of artists and intellectuals who formed a network of
new alliances referred to as the ‘‘other Germany.’’
With his son Hans he took up residence in a Latin
Quarter hotel. The series of bureaucratic hurdles that
restricted the lives of the exiles made Breitenbach’s
initial stay in Paris difficult. However, Breitenbach
did not arrive as an anonymous person in Paris. The
Comite ́National de Secours aux Re ́fugie ́s Allemands
Victimes de l’Antise ́mitisme recommended him on
October 10, 1933 to the Police Prefecture. Such pro-
tection helped him set up a business. Two months
after his arrival in Paris he was invited to show his
work in an exhibition of exiled photographers at the
Librairie Lipschutz, held from November 20–30,- The exhibition was organized by the Comite ́
Franc ̧aise pour la Protection des Intellectuels Juifs
Perse ́cute ́s, a group of university professors dedicated
to assisting exiled Jews in France. After only a year,
Breitenbach had established himself as a professional
and artistic photographer in Paris. He held his first
solo exhibition in Paris at the Galerie de la Ple ́iade.
During these years Breitenbach experimented with
numerous techniques, including multiple printing,
solarization, hand-coloring, and bleaching. It was in
one area, however, that Breitenbach was a true inno-
vator. In 1937 he began using a process, developed by
French botanist Dr. Henri Devaux, to capture in
visual form odors from various things such as cam-
phor, cigars, coffee beans, and pine needles. These
‘‘odor emanations’’ resemble his work in photograms,
with which he also experimented.
Breitenbach also continued his work in portraiture,
shooting the leading figures of the day, including
playwright Bertolt Brecht, novelist James Joyce, and
painters Vasily Kandinsky and Max Ernst. He was
also a beloved teacher of photography, who promised
‘‘thorough individual specialist training’’ in courses of
several months or in compact seminars. His most
important pupil was Ruth Snowman, who became
also his lover and business agent and would aid him
in escaping France. It was in 1935 that Breitenbach
began to work as a photojournalist, documenting
Brecht’s theater productions in Paris and the exhibi-
tionFree German Art, among other events. Although
Breitenbach made only a modest living, he received
artistic recognition and was accepted into the Socie ́te ́
Franc ̧aise de la Photographie in 1938 and the Royal
Photographic Society of London 1939, the leading
photographic associations of the time.
On September 26, 1938, the seventieth expatriate
list announces ‘‘the forfeiture of the German citi-
zenship’’ of Josef Breitenbach; a year later he is in-
terned by the French authorities, his career once
again shut down. Breitenbach was released from
BREITENBACH, JOSEF