Franz Ehrlich


Franz Ehrlich was a German architect, calligrapher and graphic designer. Franz Ehrlich was a student at the Bauhaus in Dessau from 1927 to 1930.
Ehrlich was a Communist and was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazi regime in 1935. He was taken to Buchenwald concentration camp where, because he was an architect, he was tasked to design the entrance gates for the camp, including the motto Jedem das Seine. Ehrlich subsequently became the paid main designer for the camp's construction office, designing furnishings for the commandant's house among other jobs. Later a fellow prisoner claimed Ehrlich had helped the Resistance by passing construction details to them.
After World War II had concluded, Ehrlich worked on reconstruction in Dresden. During the 1960s he was employed as chief architect for the Leipzig Trade Fair; he designed a "Messturm" for it, but this was never built. From 1954 to 1975, he served the Stasi as an informer.

Legacy

Ehrlich became an important architect in the GDR. He bequeathed the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation a collection of approximately 7000 items, including life drawings, art works, furniture, plans, studies, photographs and publications. The collection is of considerable significance as it sheds light of the work of former Bauhaus students between 1933 and 1945 and on those who subsequently worked in the GDR.