Muslim Woman in Veil

The German-born photojournalist and writer Lotte Errell (b. Rosenberg) documented the lives of women in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. After marrying the Berlin photographer Richard Levy in 1924, she adopted the surname Errell, after the initials of her husband’s name. The couple traveled to Ghana, and Errell’s photos and reports from the trip appeared in several German periodicals; they were later published in book form. Errell divorced Levy in 1933 and continued working as a photojournalist until 1934, when the German Press Association prohibited her from working in Germany. She moved to Baghdad in 1935, where she married another German exile, Herbert Sostmann. During World War II, she attempted unsuccessfully to immigrate to the United States; Errell was detained in several internment camps as a result. She returned to Germany in 1954.