Close Up
The Picture Man
The energetic, nature-loving Dr. Bett-
man, who enjoys a vigorous daily rou-
tine of walking and push-ups, seems at
first an incongruous match for his staid,
old archive.
But his office at home gives him away.
Nestled among his antique furniture,
endless shelves of history books and scat-
tered family pictures is a tiny doset hous-
ing the remnants of his world-famous
files.
Intending only to make a modest liv-
ing in his new country, the unassuming
scholar and author has forever made his
mark on photojournalism and the United
States.
"Am I proud of what I've done?" Dr.
Bettmann said as he glanced at a bust
ed by its beauty — and by the anecdotes
people spun about Bach's life.
When he was 10 years old, Dr. Bett-
mann was asked to sing the composer's
melodies with the Thomas Kirche choir.
"I thought nothing about a nice Jew-
ish boy going to synagogue on Friday and
singing to the glory of Christ on Sunday,"
he laughed. "Looking back, I think I just
appreciated Bath's music for what it was
— works of extraordinary beauty that
provided a rich emotional experience for
each of us."
Germany tolerated its Jewish inhab-
itants for most of Dr. Bettmann's child-
hood; his family enjoyed a prominent
place in their community. Dr. Hans
Bettmann operated an orthopedic din-
books and pictures," Dr. Bettmann said.
"He was one of the most decisive influ-
ences over my career."
A German army physician in World
War I and a dedicated bibliophile, Dr.
Hans Bettmann also bestowed Otto with
a strong love for his country and its cul-
ture. Even after he was forced to flee his
homeland in 1935, Otto cherished the
culture of its people for many years.
"We did not believe Hitler would last,"
Dr. Bettmann said. "We couldn't believe
Germans — one of the most advanced
peoples — could be such incredible
beasts."
But conditions in Germany rapidly
worsened. In 1913, two years after Dr.
Bettmann was recruited into the church
of Johann Sebastian Bach, the subject
of his latest book, mounted behind his
desk. "Someone once asked Bach how he
wrote all that miraculous music and
Bach said, 'Miraculous? It's not miracu-
lous. I just worked hard.'
"That's how I feel. I just worked hard."
Dr. Bettmann, a k a "The Picture
Man," was born in 1903 in Leipzig, Ger-
many, where Bach taught music for 27
years at the Thomas Kirche (St. Thomas
Church). Leipzig was a thriving cultural
center where Dr. Bettmann grew up im-
mersed in ancient and modern art forms.
The building where he lived with his
parents, Dr. Hans and Charlotte Bett-
mann, and his brother, Ernst, was just
500 feet from Bach's spectacular former
residence. Dr. Bettlliann was captivat-
is in their home that pioneered the use
of X- rays. Invitations to Otto's childhood
birthday parties were jealously sought
by kids all over the city because his fa-
ther let the children peek at X-rays of
their skeletons.
But no one was as fascinated by the
ghostly images as Otto. Soon he was
regularly rooting through his father's
trash for discarded medical and anatom-
ical pictures, collecting them like base-
ball cards.
One X-ray that hung in his father's of-
fice especially enchanted him. It depict-
ed the skeletal hand and wedding ring
of the wife of Dr. William Roentgen, who
pioneered the use of X-rays.
"I must give credit to my father for in-
troducing me early in life to the world of
choir, a schoolmate scrawled a message
onto the blackboard that summarized
the hatred of the times: "All Jews are
swine. Bettmann is a Jew; hence
Bettmann is a swine."
The culprit was severely punished and
apologized to Dr. Bettmann. But the
trauma of his first brush with anti-Semi-
tism remained with him.
"I realized Jews must strive to excel
and prove they are on par, and maybe
even superior, to the rest of humanity,"
he said. "I will admit in this regard, anti-
Semitism has its function."
Dr. Bettmann dreamed of becoming
a medical doctor like his father, but his
hopes were dashed when Ernst, who was
also a physician, declared that someone
in the family should try something new.
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Dr. Bettmann decided to turn his pic-
ture hobby into a full-time passion. He
pursued a doctorate in cultural history
and art at the University of Leipzig.
In 1927 he landed what he described
as the "ideal job" at a rapidly growing
music publishing firm, C.F. Peters in
Leipzig. His fate as an archivist was
sealed. His boss, Henri Hinrichsen, pos-
sessed many original music manuscripts
and portraits of artists. Dr. Bettmann
spent long hours studying and covet-
ing his employer's treasures.
Once, impressed by Dr. Bettmann's
piano rendition of Mozart, Mr. Hinrich-
sen gave his astonished employee an
original page from Robert Schumann's
Album Blaetter. He also promised to
send him overseas to establish an Amer-
ican branch of the company.
But the young scholar did not stay in
Mr. Hinrichsen's good graces for long. A
year later, he was bluntly informed he
"was not the type to establish a business
in the USA."
Wounded by his mentor's change of
heart, Dr. Bettmann resigned and re-
turned to school in the late 1920s. He
earned a doctorate in master librarian-
ship and was hired as curator of rare
books at the Prussian State Library. It
was the perfect position to whet the ap-
petite of a young man interested in old
pictures and books, he said.
His first assignment was to create an
exhibit titled "Reading and Books in
Graphics and Painting." Intrigued by
the subject, Dr. Bettmann plunged into
the project wholeheartedly. He was
proud of the results, preserving them
with photographs he stuffed into an old
cigar box.
"I began to wonder, 'Why not expand
this sampling to include
a whole gamut of subjects
Books
documented in works of
confiscated by
this group of
art that would add up to
young Nazis in
a pictorial history of civili-
1933 were
taken to a huge zation?' " Dr. Bettmann
fire in the
said.
Operplatz to be
In the years that fol-
burned.
lowed, the stacks at the
Prussian library echoed with the click of
his Leica camera. He photographed rare
pictures of everything from windmills to
executions and added them to his cigar
box collection. When he had exhausted
his local resources, he traveled to li-
braries and museums in France, Italy
and the Scandinavian countries for more
images.
His good fortune didn't last. In 1933,
Adolf Hitler purged all Jews from Ger-
many's civil service. Ironically, Dr.
Bettmann was fired by his Jewish boss,
Dr. Jacob Rosenberg, who remained em-
ployed temporarily because he was a
World War I veteran.
In retrospect, Dr. Bettmann's "en-
forced unemployment" was a blessing in
disguise. His family was able to support