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North Rhine-Westphalia. Birth of an Economic Miracle
North Rhine-Westphalia. Birth of an Economic Miracle
Wolff & Tritschler
January 27, 2026
Traffic policeman at Rudolfplatz, Cologne, 1953
The 80th anniversary of the founding of the West German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia is coming round in the autumn of 2026. It was created in the wake of the post-war reordering of the states within the occupation zones. With 18 million inhabitants, North Rhine-Westphalia remains Germany’s most populous federal state to this day. Furthermore, hardly any other state was as economically successful in the post-war period: in addition to coal and steel, mechanical engineering and the textile industry also contributed to a rapid upswing.
Wolff & Tritschler provided many fitting photo motifs of everyday life, capturing the new beginnings resulting from the much-vaunted economic miracle: not only was there sufficient food and new houses being built, but consumer goods also allowed people to once again dream of a better life. Experiences related to Fascism and the war were set aside, as pictures of faces with sparkling eyes in front of lavish shop window displays, children at new playgrounds, corporate glass palaces, and a modern state capital, Düsseldorf, with its new, car-friendly lay-out, were considered more effective. Clothes were colourful, the sky was blue – even if, in reality, soot threatened to dirty fresh laundry hanging out to dry. In addition to the still dominant portion of black and white images, colour photography was slowly making its way into the media. In this regard, the photography company was also able to provide pertinent motifs. It seems that Dr Paul Wolff – who passed away in 1951 – and his partner Alfred Tritschler (1905–1970) were able to seamlessly continue their entrepreneurial successes from the pre-war and war years.
Fortunately, this opulent photo book is not limited to the economic miracle referred to in the title. It draws on four decades of picture archives, built up by the photographers, who had dedicated themselves to Leica photography from early on. With their broad-based agency working on behalf of business and industry, they had been among the busiest and most successful image producers since the 1920s. The area that would later become North Rhine-Westphalia was a frequently-visited location for their photo shoots. In the new book, journalist, historian and political scientist Helge Matthiesen contextualises the images, while also providing an illuminating account of the photographers’ careers – from their beginnings and their adaptation during the Nazi era, to the 1960s, when agency images finally fell out of fashion and the two photographers slowly slipped into oblivion. Despite all the technical perfection and aesthetic sophistication with which they had once set exemplary standards, new and, above all, more international pictures were now in demand.
To this day, photographs taken by Wolff and Tritschler are considered historic sources. Seen from a critical distance, they have much to say about the dreams and the reality of the era during which they were taken. The photo book not only encourages readers to step into the history of a region, but to also ponder the role played by the image producers. One thing is certain: the volume provides a wealth of visual material, which includes many motifs rarely published before.
Ulrich RüterWolff & Tritschler provided many fitting photo motifs of everyday life, capturing the new beginnings resulting from the much-vaunted economic miracle: not only was there sufficient food and new houses being built, but consumer goods also allowed people to once again dream of a better life. Experiences related to Fascism and the war were set aside, as pictures of faces with sparkling eyes in front of lavish shop window displays, children at new playgrounds, corporate glass palaces, and a modern state capital, Düsseldorf, with its new, car-friendly lay-out, were considered more effective. Clothes were colourful, the sky was blue – even if, in reality, soot threatened to dirty fresh laundry hanging out to dry. In addition to the still dominant portion of black and white images, colour photography was slowly making its way into the media. In this regard, the photography company was also able to provide pertinent motifs. It seems that Dr Paul Wolff – who passed away in 1951 – and his partner Alfred Tritschler (1905–1970) were able to seamlessly continue their entrepreneurial successes from the pre-war and war years.
Fortunately, this opulent photo book is not limited to the economic miracle referred to in the title. It draws on four decades of picture archives, built up by the photographers, who had dedicated themselves to Leica photography from early on. With their broad-based agency working on behalf of business and industry, they had been among the busiest and most successful image producers since the 1920s. The area that would later become North Rhine-Westphalia was a frequently-visited location for their photo shoots. In the new book, journalist, historian and political scientist Helge Matthiesen contextualises the images, while also providing an illuminating account of the photographers’ careers – from their beginnings and their adaptation during the Nazi era, to the 1960s, when agency images finally fell out of fashion and the two photographers slowly slipped into oblivion. Despite all the technical perfection and aesthetic sophistication with which they had once set exemplary standards, new and, above all, more international pictures were now in demand.
To this day, photographs taken by Wolff and Tritschler are considered historic sources. Seen from a critical distance, they have much to say about the dreams and the reality of the era during which they were taken. The photo book not only encourages readers to step into the history of a region, but to also ponder the role played by the image producers. One thing is certain: the volume provides a wealth of visual material, which includes many motifs rarely published before.
ALL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE: © Wolff & Tritschler
North Rhine-Westphalia. Birth of an Economic Miracle+-
Helge Matthiesen (text), Dr. Paul Wolff and Alfred Tritschler (photographs)
176 pages, 175 images, 31 × 24 cm
German, Greven Verlag
Greven archive+-
Those interested in exploring more pictures can do so in the Greven archive. More than ten thousand images by Wolff and Tritschler are currently accessible for free there.
Wolff & Tritschler+-
Born on February 19, 1887, in Mulhouse, Dr. Paul Wolff studied medicine until 1913 (degree in 1914). After the First World War, he worked in film and as a photographer, meeting Oskar Barnack in 1921, and acquiring his first two Leica cameras in 1926. His standard work, Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica (My Experience with the Leica), was published in 1934. In 1934, he also founded the company in Frankfurt on the Main with Alfred Tritschler, who had been working for him since 1927. The company headquarters were destroyed during an air raid in 1944, but the archive of 35mm pictures, which was stored elsewhere, survived. Wolff passed away on April 10, 1951.
Alfred Tritschler was born on June 12, 1905. He completed photographic training in his home town of Offenburg (Baden), then began studying photographic technology in Munich in 1924. In 1927, he applied for a position with Paul Wolff’s company in Frankfurt. Later on, he became co-owner. He continued to run the Wolff & Tritschler company, independently, after Wolff’s passing on April 10, 1951. Tritschler himself passed away on New Year’s Eve, 1970. His nephew, Robert Summer, had already taken over the firm in 1963. More
Traffic policeman at Rudolfplatz, Cologne, 1953
Rhine panorama with industrial complex, near Duisburg, August, 1939
Window shopping on Königsallee, Düsseldorf, 1950
Laboratory at Trumpf, the historic chocolate manufacturer, Aachen, 1957
The A42 autobahn from Duisburg, heading to Bottrop, summer 1955
Joyful country life in Appelhülsen in Münsterland, 1934
Apprentices, after their shift, at the Carl Zangs mechanical engineering factory, Krefeld, 1950
Staged scene in the shop of the Eschweiler Mining Association in Herzogenrath-Kohlscheid, 1960
Young woman in the Kaufhof deco department, Cologne, 1960
Iconic parking building: the Haniel-Garage at Grafenberger Allee was built in the year 1951, Düsseldorf in the 1950s
Düsseldorf shop window, the 1950s
Modern living, right next to the Anna Colliery and Coking Plant in Alsdorf, 1959