02 June 2009

Photos of life in East Germany


Stroll through Berlin-Lichtenberg... on the Rosenfelder Ring...

Manfred Beier giving a geography lesson to his 6th grade class at a Berlin school, 1949.

On Sunday in Leest, near Potsdam... "Girls at the Window."

"Frau H (71 years old) and her cousin Z. sitting In front of the house at Hafenstrasse 39 (who worked as a carpenter aboard the ocean steamer "Imperator" in 1914)"
They wanted to clean up the basement but found a treasure trove of photos instead. After Berlin teacher Manfred Beier died, his sons stumbled across 60,000 pictures. Their father, it turns out, created one of the best documentations of life in East Germany, and the first days of the West...

It is a photographic diary of the long life of Manfred Beier, who was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1927, grew up at Strausberger Platz square and was drafted as a teenager into part of the last-ditch Volkssturm German army defense at the end of World War II. He worked for decades after the war in the East German school system and always carried at least one camera with him... It's a photographic diary of German history. And it is the most comprehensive and complete documentation of everyday life in the German Democratic Republic -- unique in its photographic and cultural-historical value, experts say.
The Spiegel Online link explains more about the collection and has a gallery of 38 photos.

4 comments:

  1. Veronica C. HollmanNovember 4, 2014 at 6:34 AM

    Hi,
    I would like to ask the authorization of reproduction of one of the images published in your blog. How can I reach you to give more details of the publication? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MinnesotastanNovember 4, 2014 at 8:16 AM

      Most of the photos in my blog are harvested from the internet. In virtually every case, where the source is known, I credit the source in my post, and you would need to get in touch with them for reprodution or commercial use questions. I do have numerous photos of my own in the "butterflies" and "personal" categories, most of which I would welcome you to use. To get in touch with me regarding specific photos, please feel free to use the email address in the "about me" profile in the right sidebar.

      Delete
    2. Veronica C. HollmanNovember 5, 2014 at 6:29 AM

      thanks for your answer.
      The photograph I would like to include in my book is
      "Manfred Beier giving a geography lesson to his 6th grade class at a Berlin school, 1949".

      Are you the author of this photograph?

      PS. I do not find your email. My email is: vhollman@fch.unicen.edu.ar

      Delete
    3. MinnesotastanNovember 5, 2014 at 6:57 AM

      I did not take any photographs in East Germany in 1949. The one you describe is among the "60,000 pictures" by Berlin teacher Manfred Beier, as described in the post.

      If you click on the link (indicated in red letters), it will take you to Der Spiegel:

      http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/photographic-treasure-trove-what-east-germany-was-really-like-a-627720.html

      - from whence you can navigate to "the beier collection" -

      http://www.sammlung-beier.de/english

      - then you click on the word "gallery" and you will find all the photos I used for my post -

      http://www.sammlung-beier.de/gallerie-eng?start=20

      That page also includes links for "imprint/copyrights" and a "contact us" link you can click on to get permission to use that photograph and any others.

      Good luck with your work.

      Stan

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