Albert Zander (1 January 1864 in Chodzież near Posen – 12 August 1897) was a German engineer, photographer and entrepreneur. He was instrumental in the emergence of German tabloid journalism.

As an engineer, he was initially employed by the Carl Flohr[de] Berlin machine factory. On 26 May 1895, Zander photographed a fire that broke out on the company premises. Two of his photographs of this event were published by the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung.

Together with a partner, the merchant and photographer Siegmund Labisch, also from the Posen area, he founded the photo studio Zander & Labisch-Illustrations-Photographen in Berlin on 19 June 1895, which developed into the first German photo agency to produce and distribute up-to-date photographs for press organs in the spirit of photo journalism.

The photo studio developed considerably until Zander's early death: ten percent of all press photos published by the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung in 1897 came from Zander & Labisch.

Zander died in Charlottenburg at the age of 33.

Further reading

  • Anna Rosemann: Zander & Labisch – Auf den Spuren einer bekannten Fotoagentur. Masterarbeit zur Geschichte der Fotoagentur Zander & Labisch, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Lehrstuhl für deutsch-jüdische Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte, Exil und Migration, February 2017