Berlin's Liberty Bell

The exact copy of the Liberty Bell given by the US to the divided city of Berlin.

This photo is one of the rarest and most important in all my work.

After World War II, the US gave the divided city of Berlin an exact copy of our own Liberty Bell as the most cherished, most meaningful gift we could give. It signified our solidarity with this great city and its struggle within the communist boundaries against the greatest of odds.

The bell was hung in the tower of the city's City Hall, Rathaus Schoeneberg, and quickly forgotten.

The reason it was forgotten was that there was absolutely no safe access to the bell in that tower to photograph it, so there were no photos or documents of the bell where it resided and nothing visual to remind the world or the city of its existence.

But, for the early 1960's World's Fair in New York, the city fathers suddenly remembered they had this great symbol of US/Berlin solidarity and that it would be a slight to their great ally if they did not include a photo and description of the gift in their Pavilion at the World's Fair.

But no one could access it, and certainly not the typical architectural photographer with the kind of large-format cameras used for a quality image with this type of bronze-sculptural subject. So the city was in a dilemma.

Then, someone told them about me and the Messraster focusing device I was using for extraordinary photographic results with even smaller format cameras and the city approached me to do a photo of the bell.
There still was no normal way of getting up in the bell tower with any sizable camera and ancillary equipment like a tripod. There wasn't even any place to set the camera or tripod down or for anyone to stay up there without holding on to something for dear life, leaving no hands really safely free.

How I solved the problem was to take with me one single 35mm Nikon F camera, that had a Messraster installed in it by the inventor, (see www.anstendig.org, papers under focusing) Joseph Dahl. While the camera hung around my neck, I positioned myself in front of the bell on some crosspiece of the tower's girders and hung on for dear life to the next higher girder. Then, with my free hand, I put the camera to my eye, set the focus close to the right distance. I then achieved exact focus, not by turning the focusing barrel on the lens, but by leaning forward and back until the detailing of the bell's image was in exact focus, and took the photo with my free second finger that covered the shutter release, all the time struggling to keep the camera exactly parallel to the bell and not tilted in any way. And the lighting of the day was difficult, with no possibility of using a flash or other ancillary lights. So I had to wait up there holding on to my precarious spot with one hand for the fleeting moments when the sun cooperated and the lighting evened out somewhat. It took every bit of control I had acquired as an orchestra conductor and from the Auto-Genic training, which I was then studying with Dr. Hans Citron, Chef Artzt (Chief) of the Berlin Neurological Institute. Without those disciplines, I would certainly have freaked and ruined the opportunity.

In any case, the photo was a great hit. It saved the day and saved "face" for the City and was featured at the Berlin Pavilion and elsewhere. And the Messraster was also featured as the most prominent exhibit at the Pavilion and one of the great accomplishments of a Berliner, right in front of the entrance as one entered he Pavilion.

This copy is scanned from one of the original enlargements (prints) from that time. When I have time, I will post a copy from the original negatives, which I still have.

It is one of the photos of which I am most proud. And probably the most meaningful.

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