1938 – The tall ship Horst Wessel passes the lightship Kiel near Kiel in Germany. Photo: Ferd. Urbahns
The story behind the image
A while ago I acquired this postcard that was sent in May 1938.
It shows the tall ship Horst Wessel as it passes the lightship Kiel which marked the main entrance to Kiel harbour at the Baltic Sea. Both ships have an interesting history.
The Horst Wessel had been built as a sister ship to the first Gorch Fock in 1936 and was (just like the Gorch Fock) for educational purposes for marines. The ship survived WW2 and was transferred to the U.S. were it continued service as educational ship for the United States Coast Guard under her new name Eagle until now. It is located in New London, CT.
The lightship Kiel (in the back) had been installed in 1906 as traffic to Kiel and through the Kiel Canal had significantly increased. Originally it was called Gabelsflach but the name was changed to Kiel in 1922. It was hit during an air raid in May 1945 and sunk.
The photographer
Peter Detlef Ferdinand Urbahns was born in 1863 in Braake (Dithmarschen), Germany. He completed an apprenticeship as a photographer with Georg Johann Koch (1822–1902) in Schleswig, before continuing his training with Waldemar Renard (1850–1904) in Kiel from 1885 to 1889. Soon after, he opened his own around 1890 in Kiel and became one of the popular photographers for individual and group portraits. For a while he was even official court photographer to His Royal Highness, Prince Henry of Prussia.
His son Ferdinand took over the studio in 1938 (and it may well be that this image was shot by Ferdinand junior.)
Peter Detlef Ferdinand Urbahns died on 12th September 1944 in Stralsund, Germany.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | c. 1938 |
| Photographer | Ferd. Urbahns, Kiel |
| Location | Kiel, Germany |
| Image Source | 14 x 9 cm postcard |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 6364 x 3752 Pixels |
| Copyright | © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo: Ferd. Urbahns |
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