50 years of Germany through three generations
By Helly Minarti
JAKARTA (JP): For a nation, 50 years represents a short period. During the last half century many events have unfolded, some dramatic, others ironic and few euphoric, as shown in a photo exhibition titled Germany Since 1945: Seen by three generations.
Depicting almost all of Germany's high and low moments, the photos are a perfect backdrop for Technogerma '99, a biennial technological exhibition held outside Germany. This year it is taking place at the Jakarta Convention Center, March 1-7.
What is unique is that all the photos were taken by men from three different generations. They are of the Klar family, the late Willi (the grandfather), Dieter (Willi's son) and Retro Klar (Dieter's son). It is indeed 50 years of German history as seen through the viewfinders of three generations who chose photography as a profession.
Willi Klar (1907-1994) represents the war generation. Experiencing the world war himself, Willi had to give up his ambition to be a businessman due to the economic depression. He relied on his hobbies for a living: football and photography.
He had been to war and tasted captivity and his camera work spanned a great variety of subjects from 1945 to the early 1960s that shaped Germany as we know it. He took pictures of sport, fashion, industry, advertising and theaters, all contributing to his colorful approaches to objects. His work demonstrated his sensitivity whether applying a photo-journalist's eyes or setting up an arranged angle as in his advertisement shots.
The lost Third Reich was vividly reflected in ruined cities, bombed out buildings and children in shabby outfits. But instead of emphasizing gloom, Willi captured the unusual hope that arose after war ended, a kind of delight in starting anew even from scratch. He expressed not a bleak mood but the candid expression of ordinary citizens.
Willi was also lucky to catch the first glimpse of after-war normality on the streets as he observed with keen eyes the effect of formal change on people lives; how the currency reform and the introduction of the new Deutsche Mark helped restore some self- esteem among the German people.
His historical chronology moves by featuring photos of food parcels sent by American organizations, and finally Germany receiving Marshall Plan aid. More is found in shots of the Allied zones that divided Germany, shiny Volkswagen Beetles as the economy gradually picked up and on to the first pulses of industry in reopened and rebuilt factories. He even had a picture of the comeback of the black singer Josephine Baker, something impossible in the recently finished Hitler era.
His son, Dieter Klar, born in 1937, represents the transitional generation. Experiencing the war as a kid, Dieter's lenses focused on the "new" disintegrated Germany, the West and the East and the Berlin Wall. His pictures witnessed the maturing former DDR, the German Democratic Republic, in the east through scenes of political allies and their military attributes.
Dieter, at the beginning reluctant to jump into photo- journalism despite his early fascination with his old man's photographic equipment, then managed to build a versatile camera career. His portfolio ranged from fashion to industry and encompassed a short term in advertising before he served 17 years in the DPA (German Press Agency) as, finally, a photo journalist. Later Dieter switched to directing and producing TV programs for several channels but still kept up photography as a hobby.
Dieter's choice is colorful - from city architectural highlights like Berliner Dome and TV Tower in East Berlin up to high-profile politicians like Willy Brandt. He also caught the embryo of the Greens movement in Germany with his photos of an antinuclear rally where some of protesters walked naked.
The rise of environmental awareness among Germans and scenes of political chaos are put side by side with close-ups of politicians (one of them the younger Joschka Fisher - a founder of the Green Party and now Germany's State Secretary).
Dieter snapped the popular folk singer Udo Lindenbergh when the artist was finally allowed to visit East Berlin. He also pictured the back of the Nobel literature laureate Heinrich Boell when he took part in the blockade of an American missiles site in Germany.
He depicted fundamental changes in Germany's contemporary politics, from the 1968's student revolt to the rallies to street battles in the 1980s. But he also pictured pop-happenings like the concerts of Mick Jagger and Jimmy Hendrix or the emergence of the local lady rocker, Nina Hagen.
The young Retro, Dieter's son, represents the new generation born after the war (in 1967). Retro was charmed by photography when he was 15. But unlike his grandpa, who once brushed with advertising, he was more into a solid journalistic career. In his early 20s, he worked for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. Retro, who has had books published, now works as a photo-journalist for various newspapers and magazines.
The only photo in color in this exhibition is his and it depicts the dawn of the new era: the 1990s' reunification. He caught the euphoria in front of the Reichstag (parliament building). In his other pictures he comes across more symbolic by taking smart scenes around the Brandenburg Tor and along the former Berlin Wall.
He has continued to present fresh images of issues old and new passed on by the older generation. Among them were the problems of asylum-seekers in the early 1990s and the shadow of racialism that followed. He contrasted merry traditional carnivals with the somber youthful faces hanging around on the streets.
His choice of photo personalities include Katarina Witt, the beautiful ice skater from East Germany, and Bill Clinton during his visit in Berlin. In his later works, Retro put some bitter honesty as he portrays old people living longer in a prosperous Germany but abandoned since the extended family does not exist any more.
The photo exhibition is the story of how a nation once defeated in war and bearing guilt for its very dark history manages to rewrite its story over 50 years (some of the best photos are to be found at the technological exhibition). One thing is clear: it has not been achieved without pain or rainy days.