Erich Lessing was born in Austria in 1923 to a dentist and a concert pianist. Lessing emigrated with his family to Palestine in 1939 following Hitler?s annexation of Austria. Lessing worked in several kibbutzim in Israel, but later became a photographer for the British Army. In 1947, he returned to Austria and started working as a photographer for the Associated Press. In 1951 he joined Magnum. Lessing?s photographs were published in Life, Paris Match, Picture Post, Epoca and Quick. After the war, Lessing spent much time in the Communist bloc. In his photographs of the 1956 Revolution, one sees the thin veneer of peace before the revolution, then the moment when Hungarian society believed it had achieved victory, followed by the defeat and its aftermath.
Source: Múlt-kor
