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W–001 · Documentary photograph and sources

A Look of Hatred

At first, Joseph Goebbels was smiling at someone to the left of the camera. Then he saw the photographer, and his expression changed. That was how Alfred Eisenstaedt remembered meeting him in the garden of Geneva’s Hotel Carlton in September 1933.

1. Into the lens

Joseph Goebbels in the garden of Geneva’s Hotel Carlton, September 1933. Alfred Eisenstaedt / Time & Life Pictures.
Joseph Goebbels in the garden of Geneva’s Hotel Carlton, September 1933. Alfred Eisenstaedt / Time & Life Pictures.
Provenance and sources for frame 1

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series of September 1933, held by Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images. The displayed file is a public editorial digital copy, not a negative or licensed archival master. The series is copyrighted; the order of frames on WITNESS is not claimed to be the exposure order. Displayed file: 2000 × 2932 pixels. Full image record in Russian.

time.comView image file

Goebbels had come for the fourteenth session of the League of Nations Assembly. Since March 1933, he had headed Nazi Germany’s propaganda ministry. Eisenstaedt was working in Germany as an accredited photojournalist and photographing the delegations in Geneva. In the portrait, Goebbels grips the arms of his chair and looks straight into the lens.

2. With the delegation

Goebbels walks amid the German delegation at the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Goebbels walks amid the German delegation at the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Provenance and sources for frame 2

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series of September 1933, held by Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images. The displayed file is a public editorial digital copy, not a negative or licensed archival master. The series is copyrighted; the order of frames on WITNESS is not claimed to be the exposure order. Displayed file: 1920 × 1466 pixels. Full image record in Russian.

time.comView image file

3. Before the radio address

Goebbels in the Carlton garden before a radio address, September 1933. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Goebbels in the Carlton garden before a radio address, September 1933. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Provenance and sources for frame 3

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series of September 1933, held by Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images. The displayed file is a public editorial digital copy, not a negative or licensed archival master. The series is copyrighted; the order of frames on WITNESS is not claimed to be the exposure order. Displayed file: 828 × 1090 pixels. Full image record in Russian.

time.comView image file

In a 1985 book, Eisenstaedt called them “the eyes of hate.” In another account, he recalled moving closer and continuing to photograph. Eisenstaedt said Goebbels expected him to retreat. Other frames in this entry show the delegation passing, preparations for a radio address and the speech itself. TIME publishes them as one Geneva series; the order here is not presented as the exact shooting sequence.

4. Papers in the garden

Another view of preparations for the radio address in the Carlton garden. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Another view of preparations for the radio address in the Carlton garden. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Provenance and sources for frame 4

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series of September 1933, held by Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images. The displayed file is a public editorial digital copy, not a negative or licensed archival master. The series is copyrighted; the order of frames on WITNESS is not claimed to be the exposure order. Displayed file: 750 × 1060 pixels. Full image record in Russian.

time.comView image file

5. With two companions

Goebbels stands between two unidentified men in the hotel garden before the radio address. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Goebbels stands between two unidentified men in the hotel garden before the radio address. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Provenance and sources for frame 5

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series of September 1933, held by Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images. The displayed file is a public editorial digital copy, not a negative or licensed archival master. The series is copyrighted; the order of frames on WITNESS is not claimed to be the exposure order. Displayed file: 828 × 1056 pixels. Full image record in Russian.

time.comView image file

Eisenstaedt came from a Jewish family. Retellings claim that Goebbels’s expression changed at the very moment he was told the photographer was Jewish. Eisenstaedt’s published recollections contain no such episode. He wrote only that Goebbels noticed him and his expression changed.

6. At the microphone

Goebbels speaks on the radio in Geneva, September 1933. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Goebbels speaks on the radio in Geneva, September 1933. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Provenance and sources for frame 6

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series of September 1933, held by Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images. The displayed file is a public editorial digital copy, not a negative or licensed archival master. The series is copyrighted; the order of frames on WITNESS is not claimed to be the exposure order. Displayed file: 828 × 1080 pixels. Full image record in Russian.

time.comView image file

7. A Geneva portrait

Another portrait of Goebbels from Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series.
Another portrait of Goebbels from Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series.
Provenance and sources for frame 7

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series of September 1933, held by Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images. The displayed file is a public editorial digital copy, not a negative or licensed archival master. The series is copyrighted; the order of frames on WITNESS is not claimed to be the exposure order. Displayed file: 828 × 1073 pixels. Full image record in Russian.

time.comView image file

Eisenstaedt emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1935. The following year he became one of the first staff photographers of the new weekly LIFE. The Geneva series survives in the Time & Life Pictures editorial archive.

8. In the hotel garden

Goebbels in the Carlton garden, Geneva, September 1933. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Goebbels in the Carlton garden, Geneva, September 1933. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Provenance and sources for frame 8

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Geneva series of September 1933, held by Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images. The displayed file is a public editorial digital copy, not a negative or licensed archival master. The series is copyrighted; the order of frames on WITNESS is not claimed to be the exposure order. Displayed file: 1920 × 1479 pixels. Full image record in Russian.

time.comView image file