Family History Book Research
Budget: £18 – £36 GBP
I am writing a book about my Great Uncle Gregory Harlip The story is as follows:
Gregory (Grisha) Harlip was one of the most famous photographers in Weimar Berlin photographing movie stars, cultural icons, and socialites with the conviction that he was creating enduring art. Born in Odessa on 28th Feb 1893, he came from a wealthy family on his mother's side and his father was a chemist. After his studies, (he as a Doctor of Economics) he fought in the First World War and then against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. Captured and imprisoned, he managed after two years to escape with nothing to begin a new life in Berlin. His self-belief and aesthetic sensitivity helped him build a reputation for brilliance and the Atelier Harlip became a production line of portraits of the good and the great, and he was contracted to UFA studies. In 1929, he married Monte Hachnochhi, (my grandmother’s sister) the Jewish daughter of a chocolatier and the ascent of the Nazis made it impossible for him to stay in Berlin. Arriving in London in 1937, he established a photographic salon in Bond Street in which he continued to produce immaculate portraits of some of the most famous people of the time. In 1940- 41, his coterie of bohemian European emigres who congregated in his studio and the purchase of an imposing mansion close to the RAF Fighter Command Base in Stanmore, made him become a suspect for MI5 as a Nazi or Communist spy and he was vigorously investigated. In 1945 he died at the age of 53 from lung cancer. My aunt Monte carried on the studio until her death in 1983.
Some years ago, when I began my research into Grisha, I discovered that we were in possession of a manuscript that he had written, part memoir, part treatise on photography. In addition, we have a fascinating visitor’s book from his studio in Berlin and London with a record of the astonishing people he photographed. What made the project suddenly very exciting was recovering the M15 documents (about 350 pages) from the National Archives which has given me quite a lot of biographical information that needs to validated.
What I am trying to explore in much more detail his life in both Odessa as a child and fighting the Bolsheviks as well as his subsequent ascent in Berlin.(I appreciate that research must be understandably very difficult at the moment in Odessa.)
I have attached his biography in the form of a statement he gave them being investigated by M15. This outlines his family history and is a useful starting point.
Gregory (Grisha) Harlip was one of the most famous photographers in Weimar Berlin photographing movie stars, cultural icons, and socialites with the conviction that he was creating enduring art. Born in Odessa on 28th Feb 1893, he came from a wealthy family on his mother's side and his father was a chemist. After his studies, (he as a Doctor of Economics) he fought in the First World War and then against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. Captured and imprisoned, he managed after two years to escape with nothing to begin a new life in Berlin. His self-belief and aesthetic sensitivity helped him build a reputation for brilliance and the Atelier Harlip became a production line of portraits of the good and the great, and he was contracted to UFA studies. In 1929, he married Monte Hachnochhi, (my grandmother’s sister) the Jewish daughter of a chocolatier and the ascent of the Nazis made it impossible for him to stay in Berlin. Arriving in London in 1937, he established a photographic salon in Bond Street in which he continued to produce immaculate portraits of some of the most famous people of the time. In 1940- 41, his coterie of bohemian European emigres who congregated in his studio and the purchase of an imposing mansion close to the RAF Fighter Command Base in Stanmore, made him become a suspect for MI5 as a Nazi or Communist spy and he was vigorously investigated. In 1945 he died at the age of 53 from lung cancer. My aunt Monte carried on the studio until her death in 1983.
Some years ago, when I began my research into Grisha, I discovered that we were in possession of a manuscript that he had written, part memoir, part treatise on photography. In addition, we have a fascinating visitor’s book from his studio in Berlin and London with a record of the astonishing people he photographed. What made the project suddenly very exciting was recovering the M15 documents (about 350 pages) from the National Archives which has given me quite a lot of biographical information that needs to validated.
What I am trying to explore in much more detail his life in both Odessa as a child and fighting the Bolsheviks as well as his subsequent ascent in Berlin.(I appreciate that research must be understandably very difficult at the moment in Odessa.)
I have attached his biography in the form of a statement he gave them being investigated by M15. This outlines his family history and is a useful starting point.