Dr. Ing. Joachim Siegfried Woltersdorf

was born on January 2nd, 1901 in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After successfully completing his high school diploma, he began an agricultural apprenticeship, which he completed with a diploma in agriculture. This was followed by a degree in soil science in Danzig. In April 1924 he met his future wife, Erika Heydemann. Waltersdorf, who was soon offered the opportunity to live on the Heydemann family estate, began to research the various soils in the region around the Senslau estate and then wrote his doctoral thesis on the conditions there. In the following years he worked for various clients, including from Holland, but like many of his compatriots, he lost his contracts during the global economic crisis. From then on, until he took over the position of estate manager for one of the Heydemann family estates in 1939, difficult times began in which the family had to move frequently. This was also the time when Waltersdorf became very active in photography and the 12 photo albums were created.

After the rediscovery, each of the 542 images was carefully digitized and carefully edited. During the editing and analysis of the images, it became increasingly clear what value the photographs that Joachim Waltersdorf took with a Rolleicord 1 during his trips and holidays in the 1930s have for posterity, both from the perspective of (amateur) photography and the general enlightenment/reappraisal of the time. The images not only reveal the photographer's love of travel and the fashion consciousness of the time, they also show in particular that Joachim Waltersdorf had a great interest in photography and the ambition to build on the skills of the professional photographers of his time. Among the hundreds of photos there are unusual perspectives of everyday situations, creative (self-)portraits, abstract architectural photographs, documentary photographs and photos that could have been used as postcard motifs at the time.