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Friedrich Nietzsche as a student.
Ca. 1869.
©The Nietzsche Channel.

Colorized images are available in the series:
Friedrich Nietzsche in Words and Pictures.

This enhanced image of a photograph taken by Gebrüder Siebe, Leipzig is now dated "1867" by the Goethe-Schiller Archive (GSA 101/11). GSA had previously dated it "1868-69." Judging from Nietzsche's correspondence, it was probably taken after February 12, 1869, i.e., when he was still in Leipzig and had heard of his appointment to Basel. According to a 10-16-1868 letter to his mother and sister, Nietzsche stayed in the Hotel Stadt Dresden in Leipzig. The hotel was also the location of a Gebrüder Siebe photo studio. In his letters at the time, Nietzsche never mentioned Gebrüder Siebe, or having his photo taken, so he probably revisited the place later, around the time he heard about his new position at Basel. Nietzsche left Leipzig for Naumburg in March 1869. On April 13, 1869, he departed Naumburg and arrived in Basel on April 19 to start his academic career. Nietzsche first mentions this unidentified photo in a mid-July 1869 letter from Basel to Erwin Rohde in Italy. He sent a copy to Paul Deussen in August, with a handwritten dedication: "An Paul Deussen / den treuen / Kameraden." The photo and dedication was first published in Paul Deussen, Erinnerungen an Friedrich Nietzsche. Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1901, frontispiece: