Biography
Bela Liebmann (1899-199?), Hungarian Jewish photographer and businessman. Liebmann was born in Temesvar, Hungary (now Timisoara, Romania). In 1915 he became an apprentice in a business that sold surgical, optical and photographic equipment. During World War I he served in the Austro-Hungarian army in Italy at which time he received the Iron Cross for saving 120 German soldiers in Piave. In 1919, Liebmann moved to Budapest, where he began a career as a free lance photo journalist. He contributed to six different newspapers and traveled frequently to Szeged and other Hungarian cities. In 1923 he moved to Szeged where, in addition to contributing to the local papers, he worked as the manager of a surgical, optical and photographic equipment store. Four years later, in 1927, Liebmann opened his own optical and photographic supply store on Keleman Street in downtown Szeged. His business prospered and brought him considerable wealth, which he invested, in part, in an apartment house in the city. In addition to running his store, he also did photography in local theaters. In 1932 Liebmann married his first wife, Szerena (Szenka) Hortobagyi (b. 1912), and two years later their daughter Flora (Florika) was born. During World War II Liebmann was conscripted into the Hungarian labor service. His wife and daughter were deported, and in April 1945 were killed along with 38 other victims, in the village of Weissenbach by retreating SS soldiers. After the war Liebmann returned to Szeged, where he continued to photograph and eventually became Vice President of the Hungarian Association of Photographers. He also remarried during this period. In 1951 his business and apartment house were nationalized by the communist regime.
[Source: Marok, Tamas, "Foto: Liebmann: Vegigfenykepezte a szazadot," (Photo Liebmann: The Man Who Has Photographed the Entire Century), "Alfoldi Muhely: A reggeli Del-Magyarorszag kulturalis magazinja (The Shop of the Plains, a cultural supplement of the South Hungary newspaper), 1995 (no issue number or date).]
