Franz Ehrlich. Biography and Catalog of Works

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Friedrich von Borries
• Subject Area: Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology
• Term: from 2015 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 281316174

The life and work of the architect, designer and artist Franz Ehrlich (1907–1984) reflects the political upheavals in twentieth-century history. He studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau from 1927–30. In 1934 he was arrested for “preparations for high treason”, and was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp in 1937, where he was assigned to work in the construction office. He was released in 1939 but stayed in Buchenwald as a “civil prisoner” (as he himself described his position in the SS construction office) before being transferred to Berlin in 1941. From 1943 he was in the Wehrmacht penal division 999, and was released from captivity as a prisoner of war in 1946. Ehrlich became a member of the Socialist Party SED and commenced work in the department of reconstruction in Dresden. He began to make a name for himself in the Soviet zone of occupation and the recently founded GDR as a town planner, architect, trade fair designer, and furniture designer. As a freelance architect, he designed cities and building complexes as well as items of furniture and interior design fittings for ministries, political, scientific and cultural institutions. Despite his elevated position as an “anti-fascist resistance fighter”, he remained vulnerable to becoming the victim of Stalinist purges. In 1954, he was enlisted by the Ministry for State Security.Publically, Ehrlich repeatedy positioned himself as a Bauhaus supporter, whic movement he wanted to achieve recognition in the GDR as a progressive tradition. He was criticized for being a formalist by the Deutschen Bauakademie. From the early 1960s, Ehrlich found a new primary occupation as the interior designer of GDR trade missions abroad. In this, he worked together with the furniture manufacturer Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau, as he had done since 1946. The firm also produced his well-known 602 furniture series. In the 1980s, Ehrlich was regarded as one of the country’s most important architects and designers. He held a critical view of research into the Bauhaus movement which had developed since the 1970s and its appropriation of history, which he argued it deliberately falsified following a preconceived idea or opinion.The project “Franz Ehrlich: Biography and Catalog of Works” seeks to systematically explore the life and work of this multifaceted designer. Accepted narratives and myths are questioned, and Ehrlich’s life is considered within its historical context. With Ehrlich as an example, the project examines the relationship between design and sociopolitical structures in the twentieth century . To realize this aim, documents in the Bauhaus Dessau foundation archives as well as numerous records on Ehrlich in various archives have been critically evaluated; monographs, newspapers, and academic journals from the time have been examined carefully, and interviews have been conducted with contemporaries and experts. The project culminates with the publication of a comprehensive monographic study on Franz Ehrlich.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants