"It wasn’t me!" A sign for the village of "Dexheim" in Germany seems to say "Derheim" thanks to an unknown vandal.
Photo by client Ralph Kroehler, October, 2001.
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Born on September 7, 1964 and raised in Valley City, North Dakota and later Lake Benton,
Minnesota where he graduated High School, James Derheim was trained as a photojournalist in
the U.S. Navy. He volunteered for a five-year stint, which was extended to a
highly-rewarding 10 year career as a Navy photojournalist, radio and television
broadcaster and Navy spokesman, serving tours in Adak, Alaska; Misawa, Japan and
finally Germany, a special nomination assignment where he was one of only two sailors
on a staff of more than 500 professional civilian journalists and photographers.
He achieved the rank of Petty Officer First Class while at the European Stars and Stripes,
published in Darmstadt, Germany. While at the paper, Jim covered such varying events as the fall of
the Berlin Wall to the aftermath of the War in the Gulf, from a momentous eruption of Mt. Etna (where
he photographed the active, lava-spewing volcano while suspended from a hovering Marine helicopter!)
to an unforgettable interview with a Jewish survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. His work has
appeared in the International Herald Tribune and the Washington Post as well as thousands published
in 'Stripes during his five years there.
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Between 1989 and 1994, he photographed events and places in more than a dozen countries, including all of
central and western Europe plus Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Bahrain and a momentous trip to Siberia on
a relief flight that delivered food and medicine to citizens in the city of Semipalatinsk.
In 1990, during his second year of service in Germany, Jim had the idea of providing photographs, maps
and other detailed information to people researching their family trees in Europe. Jim left the Navy in
March, 1994 in order to devote all of his time to this new venture. Since the early 90s, European Focus
has completed projects for clients in Germany, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the Czech and Slovak
Republics, Hungary, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Norway, England and Ireland. Many of his clients have
German heritage, so Jim’s excellent language skills in this area play a key part in the success of his
business.
Jim started European Focus Private Tours in early 1995 to satisfy the desire of those individuals or
small groups of family members who want to walk their ancestral roads in person, but who cringe at the
thought of a mass-produced bus tour.
Jim lives with his wife Jenean (they were married on January 13, 2003) in Sarasota, Florida. Although he
lives in America, Jim is worlds away from where his heart and soul really live – somewhere on the other
side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Request a proposal for the photography of your ancestral town. (Only if you’re already familiar with what
I can do for you)
Find out about Private Tours
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