Thomas Hoepker: DDR / East Germany – Colour Works 1972–1990

The Kodachrome colors of Magnum photographer Thomas Hoepker bring the GDR back to life in an impressive way. This photobook presents 145 photographs, many of which are being published for the first time, and provides a deep insight into life in the “other Germany.” Wolf Biermann, the award-winning poet, songwriter, and GDR dissident, has written an essay for the book that places the photographs in a historical context.

No country has been photographed as intensively by Thomas Hoepker (1936–2024) as the former GDR. In 1974, he became the first West German photographer to be officially allowed to work in the GDR. He moved to East Berlin and traveled throughout the entire country from there. Until 1976, he reported for Stern magazine on the lives and everyday routines of people in the GDR. His color photographs, taken from the early 1970s until 1990, describe life in the GDR with empathy, understanding, and Hoepker's unmistakable humor. He documents the bright state parades in front of decorated prefabricated buildings as well as the decaying old towns. He takes us on a socialist window shopping tour and to the daily flag ceremony. He portrays artists such as Katharina Thalbach and Wolf Biermann, as well as the everyday life of coal miners in soot-covered backyards and farm workers in the fields of Thuringia. Hoepker shows the GDR in its own colors and succeeds in conveying an alternative image of the country and its inhabitants, as well as questioning the official representations of state propaganda, which had a monopoly on color photography. His memorable images of the historical upheavals of the reunification period, with which the photo book ends, make Thomas Hoepker a chronicler of the disappearance of the GDR from history.

Until now, only a small portion of Thomas Hoepker's photographs from the former GDR were known. For this book, the extensive collection of Kodachrome slides taken in the GDR in Thomas Hoepker's archive was reviewed and rescanned. The illustrated book invites readers to discover the complexity of life in the GDR in its very own colorful way. With his Leica camera, Thomas Hoepker has created memorable images that offer us and future generations the opportunity to relive this period.

Thomas Hoepker: DDR / East Germany – Colour Works 1972–1990

288 Pages: 145 Color Photographs

Hardcover, 19,5 x 28 cm

German / English