The West German journalist Harry Hamm (1922-1979) was born in Amsterdam. He served with the Wehrmacht in World War II and spent the early postwar years (1945-1949) as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. After his return to Germany, he studied political science in Frankfurt am Main and Montpellier, and worked as a journalist for the German newspapers *Die Welt* and the *Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung*. In August 1961 Hamm managed to get a visa to visit Albania as a foreign journalist. It was a time of great political turmoil in the Balkan country. Russian and eastern European specialists were leaving the country and new Chinese specialists were arriving. The photos in this collection are taken from his book *Albania: China’s Beachhead in Europe*, London 1962, a well-informed account of the dramatic events that took place in Albania during the change of alliances.
1 Comment
# The Photo Collection of Harry Hamm
# Albania in 1961
The West German journalist Harry Hamm (1922-1979) was born in Amsterdam. He served with the Wehrmacht in World War II and spent the early postwar years (1945-1949) as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. After his return to Germany, he studied political science in Frankfurt am Main and Montpellier, and worked as a journalist for the German newspapers *Die Welt* and the *Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung*. In August 1961 Hamm managed to get a visa to visit Albania as a foreign journalist. It was a time of great political turmoil in the Balkan country. Russian and eastern European specialists were leaving the country and new Chinese specialists were arriving. The photos in this collection are taken from his book *Albania: China’s Beachhead in Europe*, London 1962, a well-informed account of the dramatic events that took place in Albania during the change of alliances.
Source: [AlbanianPhotography.net](http://www.albanianphotography.net/hamm/)