The cameraman, director and collector Ernst Hirsch has shaped the visual memory of the city of Dresden like no other. Over more than seven decades, Hirsch amassed a unique treasure trove of documentary films dating from 1903 to the 2000s. This year, Ernst Hirsch is celebrating his 90th birthday and the Dresden Technology Collections are dedicating a major special exhibition to his life's work.
In addition to images of Old Dresden, its destruction and reconstruction, the films provide astonishing insights into everyday life in the city and the beginnings of amateur film. For the first time, recordings of conversations with former Dresden Jews that Hirsch conducted in Israel in 1997 will be shown.
