• Warlike

    Hello Harald. A similar picture as the following, I had searched before from our database. It was a picture of the eviction at Mainzer Strasse.
    Krawalle beim Künstlerhaus Bethanien

    © Harald Hauswald/OSTKREUZ

    But this time the picture shows the riots at „Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien“ at Mariannenstrasse in May 2001 in Berlin Kreuzberg. When I look at the two pictures, one phrase of you comes to my head: You spoke of a warlike situation. Were there "war-like" conditions in that situation as well?

    Harald Hauswald: This time I got a stone in the shin,
    but it is not comparable with Mainzerstrasse, because there it was really hot, with 167 injured policemen.

    CW: Have you ever thought about becoming a war photographer?

    HH: When a good friend of mine, Volker Handloik, was shot dead in Afghanistan, I did not longer think about it.

    CW: Do you think that war photography has an important task, or satisfies it just sensationalism?

    HH: I think the photos of Robert Capa were important, but if „normal pictures“ have barely a chance at the World Press competition, then I think it is problematic.

     

    CW: Thank you, Harald.

  • Pepa Hristová - Sworn Virgins

    Jörg Brüggemann: Hello Pepa. In 2008 you photographed a very interesting, though hardly known subject in Albania: the "Sworn Virgins", living in the villages of the "Cursed Mountains". What is that all about?

    Sworn Virgins

    © Pepa Hristová/OSTKREUZ


    Pepa Hristova: "Sworn Virgins" are women, who have sworn for a life-long virginity in order to fit into the role of men. This has nothing to do with transsexualism. Instead, it is about a rise in the hierarchy of the strictly patriarchal society in Albania; from there on they are classified as men. I was interested in the continuation of this ancient tradition for the preservation of the male domination in a country, which, belonging to Europe, is located no further than 1200 kilometres from the western educated world. Secondly I am very interested in the striking role change of these women, which also has a great impact on their psyche and physiognomy. Over the years their facial features hardens, their voice becomes deeper, outside the family they are not recognized as females anymore. Many of them were also saying that they have never experienced menstruation. They renounce every kind of sexuality for their entire life, which includes any kind of partnership and marriage. I have great respect for these women and the life they have chosen. I am fascinated by the power of this inner attitude.

    read on ...

  • Right-wing extremism

    Christoph Wilde: Hello Harald. Once again, a rare colour photo of yours, which I took from the database.

    NPD Demonstration

    © Harald Hauswald/OSTKREUZ

    On it we see an NPD ("National Democratic Party of Germany") demonstration against the reopening of the German Armed Forces Exhibition in Berlin. Were there counter-demonstrations?

    Harald Hauswald: There are always counter-demonstrations, but I did not see anything.

    CW: Was there right-wing extremism in the GDR?

    HH: Of course, there were 'Balds' and it was widespread among 'Normalos' and there were also such phenomena in the football scene. But all that always occurred in secrecy and the press never wrote about it, with one exception - the attack on the Zionskirche (Zion's Church) and the trials following it. The case had too much publicity in West Germany, it had to be reported.

    CW: How did the government deal with right-wing extremism?

    HH: It didn't.

    CW: Thank you, Harald.

  • Identity check

    Suitable for today's 20th anniversary of the storming and occupation of the Stasi headquarters in Berlin today follows another interview with Harald Hauswald about his conflicts with the state security of East Germany.

    Christopher Wilde: Hi Harald. After our last meeting I searched for the following picture in our database. I know that this picture was published in the book "Ost-Berlin".

    Standard bearer

    © Harald Hauswald/OSTKREUZ


    The picture shows a policeman during an identity check. Were you able to photograph this image openly or did you have to do it secretly, so that the official did not notice?


    Harald Hauswald: Of course it was not open, I had to take off the prism of my Pentagon-Six camera, put the camera under my arm and shot backwards.

    CW: The State Security of the GDR Stasi controlled you. About the book "Ost-Berlin" there was a special report with absurd comments. Were there any consequences when the book was published in West Germany?


    HH: For me it was prohibited to print in the GDR.


    CW: There were Stasi files not only about the "Ost-Berlin" book. When you applied the insight of the documents and read them for the first time, were there disappointing or unpleasant surprises?


    HH: It was a bit hard to read that there were about 40 people who reported on me and some were quite busy there. The reports were sometimes so detailed that it could have brought me to prison for several years, but my acquaintance with Western journalists and the related Western public saved me from that.

    CW: Thank you Harald.

  • "Schiffbauerdamm" (Part 1)

    Dear reader,
    we apologize that we are only able to offer this post in German.
    Please use one of the translation programs on the internet (e.g. Google Translator) to translate the interview into English.

    Your sincerely,
    The Ostkreuz blog team

    Arno Fischer (Jahrgang 1927, Fotograf aus Ostberlin, Mann von Sybille Bergemann), ist mit seinen Bildern aus dem Berlin der 1950er Jahre bekannt geworden und hat zurzeit eine Retrospektive im Haus der Kunst in Bonn. Neben seiner Tätigkeit als Fotograf hat er mehrere Fotografengenerationen als Lehrer geprägt. Auch Annette Hauschild war in seiner Klasse an der FAS und ist immer wieder begeistert von den Geschichten, die er zu erzählen weiß. Hier ein kurzer Auszug aus einem längeren Telefongespräch. Die Fortzetzung wird in kürze folgen.

    Annette Hauschild: Lieber Arno, über eure Wohnung am Schiffbauerdamm erzählt man, dass es dort legendäre Treffen mit Fotografen aus aller Welt gegeben hat. Wie kam es dazu?

    Wohnung im Schiffbauerdamm

    © Sibylle Bergemann/OSTKREUZ

    Arno Fischer: Es fing schon an in der Hannoverschen Straße, da wohnten wir bis Anfang der 70er in einer 1,5-Zimmerwohnung direkt gegenüber der Ständigen Vertretung der BRD. Die Leute, die sich damals ständig bei uns trafen waren u.a. die Mahlers, Roger Melis, Michael Weidt und Brigitte Voigt, einfach gleichgesinnte Fotografen. Um an Fotowettbewerben, die international im sozialistischen Ausland ausgeschrieben wurden, teilnehmen zu können, mussten wir eine Gruppe bilden, ein Fotoclub sein. Wir nannten uns „direkt", weil Jutta Voigt meinte, „eure Fotos sind doch so direkt“. Wir gewannen dann auch als Gruppe mehrfach Wettbewerbe.

    Später dann, in der viel größeren Wohnung am Schiffbauerdamm, lud ich auch oft meine Studenten aus Leipzig ein. Ich habe anfangs das Fernstudium betreut, das waren Leute, die schon mit Fotografie ihr Geld verdienten, die waren froh nicht nach Leipzig kommen zu müssen. Ich hatte übrigens den einzigen Lehrstuhl, der so heißt: Professor mit künstlerischer Lehrtätigkeit für Fotografie.

    Und dann gab es das Centre Culturel Francais in der Friedrichstraße Ecke Unter den Linden. Das leitete Dominique Pallairse, der war ein ausgesprochener Fotofreak und zeigte dort häufig Fotografie. Da sind immer alle hingegangen, er lud Leute ein wie Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joseph Koudelka und andere Magnum-Fotografen.
    Seine Gäste wollten DDR-Fotografen kennen lernen und so kamen sie immer zu uns und alle unsere Freunde waren auch da.

    read on ...

  • Alexanderplatz

    Christoph Wilde: Hello Harald, welcome to our first interview this year. I've chosen one of your most famous photos from our archives which shows a group of flag bearers on Alexanderplatz in Berlin, escaping the rain. Back then this photo was published in Western Germany.
    Alexanderplatz
    © Harald Hauswald/OSTKREUZ
    Do you remember its first publication? 

    Harald Hauswald: It was first published in the book Ost-Berlin ('East Berlin').

    CW: Please tell us how the coffee-table book Ost-Berlin ('East Berlin'), which was published by Piper in 1987, came about and how the material made it to Western Germany?

    HH: Peter Pragal from Stern and Hans-Jürgen Röder from Protestant Press Service transported the photos and Lutz Rathenow took care of the rest. Piper had already published a book of poems by Lutz and thus they easily agreed on publishing our book, too.

    CW: How did you manage to publish photos in the media of a capitalist country?


    HH: The situation in Berlin was special, a little bit more than a dozen West German journalists lived here and I had got to know some of them through work.

    CW: Thank you Harald.