Erich Lessing emigrated to British-mandated Palestine in 1939 from Vienna. He served as an aviator and photographer in the Sixth Airbourne Division of the British Army, returning to Vienna to work as an Associated Press reporter and photographer in 1947. He has photographed political events in Europe and North Africa including the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. In 1976 he began teaching at the Academy of Decorative Arts, Vienna and in 1980 was named honorary member of the Society of Artists (Künstlerhaus), Vienna. In 1984 he was named honorary member of the Ysterreichisches Museum der Photographie in Vienna.