Photography

Laelia Goehr

This website has been created by Julia Crockatt to share the photographs of her grandmother, Laelia Goehr, one of the many women photographers who came to the UK in the 1930s as a Jewish refugee from Germany. She took up photography seriously when she started war work in the 1940s and continued until the 1980s.

Many of her photographs have been seen and published, such as her well-known portrait of her mentor, Bill Brandt; others are in the family archive and have not been seen for many years, if ever.

It has been a fascinating journey for Julia, piecing together the story of someone who was a refugee not once but twice over, who on arrival in the UK had to start again in a new place with yet another language, and who with determination and hard work became a successful and well published photographer.