Heinz Pehlke

Heinz Pehlke (October 8, 1922 – March 12, 2002) was a freelance German cinematographer in film and television. In 1943, he worked as an assistant on the Nazi propaganda film, Kolberg directed by Veit Harlan and in 1962, on the anti-Nazi television film, Jeder stirbt für sich allein, directed by Falk Harnack.

Heinz Paul Helmut Pehlke was born in Berlin to Elisabeth (née Knaack) and Friedrich Wilhelm Pehlke, a merchant. He first became interested in photography at the age of 12. In 1939, Pehlke began attending a graphic arts school in Berlin. That same year, while on vacation at the Millstätter See, he happened to see a movie being shot, Kitty und die Weltkonferenz, directed by Helmut Käutner, and first became interested in filmmaking.

In late summer 1942, at the age of 19, he was accepted as a trainee at Döring Film Werke, which made promotional films, including for the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. While there, Pehlke worked as an assistant to Czech cinematographer Friedrich Jurda on a Nazi propaganda film, Einsatz ausländischer Arbeiter in Deutschland ("Foreign Worker Employment in Germany"), where they filmed at Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps for six weeks. The footage may be part of the 1943 Nazi film Wir Leben in Deutschland ("We Live in Germany"), archived at the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv; however, the credits don't mention Pehlke's participation. In autumn 1943, after the company was hit during a bomb attack, Pehlke sought a similar position at Universum Film AG (UFA). He was accepted in late August 1944 and began working at UFA on September 1, 1944 for 50 Reichmarks a week, though he had apparently already been working there as a temporary employee for several months. Pehlke finished his formal training at UFA.

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