Family-held objects and volumesRB-SCAN-048

Walter Gemm places the Rathaus steps beside the Roland

This portfolio sheet shows Halberstadt’s Rathausfreitreppe and Roland amid the traffic of the old city. Gemm made the view, and the family kept it with the postwar portfolio. The landmarks secure the title, but the cropped plate number and the portfolio’s acquisition history remain open.

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This object

SeriesFamily-held objects and volumes

Archive reference
RB-SCAN-048
Date
Images made in 1945; Bestehorndruck portfolio issued circa 1945–1946
Medium
Bestehorndruck reproduction on heavy card stock, after a drawing or painting
Physical dimensions
Approximately 40.5–41.5 × 29–30 cm in complete-copy descriptions; this family sheet has not been independently measured
Digital image
1682 × 2600 pixels
Evidence status
Documented family-held portfolio sheet; artist and portfolio identified; acquisition history open
Uncertainty
The original tiny plate number was apparently cropped from the scan's narrow right edge. Staining, a torn lower-right corner and other edge losses are visible.
Source and provenance
One-page PDF scan of a family-held card-stock portfolio sheet, supplied to Rabbi Daniel Dolph Reichenbach by email and accessioned on 26 August 2026.
Custody history
Daniel Reichenbach reports that his grandfather Dolf bought the portfolio sheets. Eight sheets kept by Daniel's father were scanned in August 2026; Daniel supplied photographs of two more family-held prints in September 2026, bringing the illustrated group to ten of the twelve. His earlier report of a print with his aunt is retained as family testimony, but has not been counted as an additional eleventh sheet because its relationship to the two new photographs is unconfirmed. No receipt, inscription or dated family record establishes when or where Dolf acquired the portfolio.
Credit
Reichenbach Family Archive; artwork credited to the named artist; Bestehorndruck, Halberstadt
Rights
Family-held copy displayed at reduced resolution for historical identification, education and commentary. Copyright in the underlying artwork is not claimed by the Reichenbach Family Archive; no independent reuse rights are granted.
Image treatment
Full captured sheet rotated upright and reduced to a 1682 × 2600-pixel WebP access image. The captured borders, foxing, staining, tears and edge losses are retained; no cleanup, restoration, replacement or generative alteration was made. The source scan itself appears to crop part of the narrow right edge.

Portfolio and artist research

Several sheets are signed and dated 1945, and a separately catalogued Bestehorndruck plate is described as issued in 1945. Gemm's official biography dates his initiation of the twelve-view memorial portfolio to 1946, so the catalogue preserves the 1945–1946 publication uncertainty.

Published under the seven editorial rules.

Permanent citation

How to cite this object

Chicago-style suggested citation

Reichenbach Family Archive. “Walter Gemm places the Rathaus steps beside the Roland.” Images made in 1945; Bestehorndruck portfolio issued circa 1945–1946. RB-SCAN-048. https://www.reichenbacharchive.org/objects/rb-scan-048.

Permanent URLhttps://www.reichenbacharchive.org/objects/rb-scan-048