Iosif Berman

{{Short description|Romanian photographer and journalist}} {{Infobox person | name =  | image = Iosif Berman - Autoportret.jpg | alt =  | caption = Iosif Berman's photographic self-portrait, ca. 1938 | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1890|01|17}} | birth_place = Burdujeni, Kingdom of Romania | death_date = {{Death date and age|1941|09|17|1890|01|17}} | death_place = Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania | other_names = I. B. Urseanu | occupation = Photographer, journalist | years_active = 1913–1940 | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = Raisa }} [[File:Iosif Berman - Echipa de cercetare coordonate de profesorul Dimitrie Gusti.jpg|thumb|The team of ethnographic research coordinated by Dimitrie Gusti]] thumb|A feast at a monastery, photograph by Iosif Berman

'''Iosif Berman''' (January 17, 1890, Burdujeni – September 17, 1941) was a Romanian photographer and journalist during the interwar period.

==Early life== Iosif Berman was born in {{Interlanguage link multi|Burdujeni|ro}}, near Suceava to a Jewish father who had been awarded Romanian citizenship for participating in the 1877 Romanian War of Independence.<ref name="historia_mieochi">[http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/portret/articol/iosif-berman-omul-o-mie-ochi-foto Iosif Berman „omul cu o mie de ochi“] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027031924/http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/portret/articol/iosif-berman-omul-o-mie-ochi-foto |date=2010-10-27 }}, ''Historia''</ref>

From an early age, Berman became interested in photography, and as a child he spent time in the company of the itinerant photographers of Suceava and Cernăuți.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/> Before the age of 18, he moved to Bucharest, where he earned money to buy a camera.<ref name="natgeo">Domnica Macri, [http://www.natgeo.ro/locuri-si-oameni/cultura/8672-iosif-berman?showall=1 "Iosif Berman - Un fotograf roman in National Geographic."], ''National Geographic Romania'', June 2008, p.39</ref> His first photos were published in 1913 in the newspaper ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Dimineaţa|ro}}'' depicting the cholera lazaretto from Turtucaia.<ref name="natgeo"/> He continued working at ''Adevărul'' and ''Dimineaţa'' newspapers, both of which were owned by left-wing activist Constantin Mille.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/>

During World War I, he was a regiment photographer and he was able to take photos of the October Revolution in Odessa, but his photographic plates were confiscated, on turns, by the Whites and by the Bolsheviks.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/><ref name="natgeo"/> In 1918, he contributed to ''Realitatea Ilustrată'' with a set of photographs of the fleeing German Army.<ref name="natgeo"/> After his regiment was disbanded, he traveled to Novorossiysk, in the Caucasus, where he met Raisa, whom he married and with whom he had a daughter, Luiza.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/>

==Photojournalist==

Between 1920 and 1923, he was a correspondent from Istanbul for the Romanian newspaper. After returning to Romania, he was a photographer for the major Romanian newspaper, taking photographs of the Royal Family.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/>

During the mid-1920s, Berman collaborated with sociologist Dimitrie Gusti, who studied the Romanian village and traditions, and with {{Interlanguage link multi|Filip Brunea-Fox|ro}} for his reportage articles.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/>

His photographs were published in all the major Romanian newspapers of the time: ''Adevărul'', ''Dimineaţa'', ''Curentul'', ''Realitatea ilustrată'', ''România ilustrată'', ''Ilustraţiunea română'', ''Cuvântul liber'', ''{{Interlanguage link multi|L'Indépendance roumaine|fr}}'' and also in ''The New York Times'' and ''National Geographic'', being a correspondent of the Associated Press and Scandinavian Newspaper Press.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/>

==Fascist era==

In 1937, the Octavian Goga government closed down the left-wing newspapers for which he worked and his life's work, the boxes with the photographic plates from the archive of the ''Adevărul'' and ''Dimineaţa'' newspapers were confiscated.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/> Nevertheless, he continued to work and to send photographs to ''The New York Times''.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/>

Following the advice of Romanian historian and later Prime Minister Nicolae Iorga, Berman began using a pseudonym, I. B. Urseanu, (which is a translation of his Jewish name) in order not to attract the attention of the antisemitic Iron Guard.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/>

Nevertheless, in 1940, he was banned from continuing his work due to the Anti-Jewish laws which were enacted by the National Legionary State. Depressed, he soon died on September 17, 1941. According to his daughter, he succumbed to a renal disease for which he refused to get any treatment.<ref name="historia_mieochi"/>

==Legacy== After World War II, the communist government tried to use the photos for propaganda, but they were hardly propaganda material. According to a researcher at Museum of the Romanian Peasant, he presented a realist view of the village, with its poor, its gypsies, and its village idiot.<ref name="natgeo"/>

Nevertheless, the photos were rediscovered after the Romanian Revolution at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant, which also published a monography on him. A documentary on his life and work was also made, called "Omul cu o mie de ochi" (The Man with a Thousand Eyes), directed by {{Interlanguage link multi|Alexandru Solomon|ro|3=Alexandru Solomon (regizor)}}.<ref name="natgeo"/>

==References== {{reflist}} {{commons}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Iosif}} Category:1892 births Category:1941 deaths Category:People from Suceava Category:Romanian Jews Category:Adevărul people Category:War photographers Category:Romanian war artists Category:Romanian male photographers Category:Romanian photojournalists Category:Romanian newspaper reporters and correspondents Category:Photographers from Bucharest Category:20th-century Romanian journalists Category:20th-century Romanian male journalists