Ost-Berlin

"Ost-Berlin" is more than just a book; it is a legend. As opposition artists in the final years of East Germany, photographer Harald Hauswald and writer Lutz Rathenow were under constant state surveillance. Nevertheless, in 1987, they managed to capture the pulse of the times with their brutally honest portrait of East Berlin: Rathenow with his keen observations that bring to life the stubborn nuances of everyday life, and Hauswald with his photographs that simultaneously capture the harshness and warmth of the city's fractures. Thirty years ago, the peaceful revolution brought an end to the SED regime. The Jaron Verlag is seizing this opportunity to reissue "Ost-Berlin" in an expanded anniversary edition. The high-quality hardcover, printed in duplex and featuring a Surbalin cover, includes 30 previously unpublished photographs by Hauswald, some of which are printed here for the first time: impressive images from the legendary blues masses, the dilapidated Friedrichstadtpassage, and not least, the mass demonstration at Alexanderplatz on November 4, 1989, which heralded the end of East Germany. Renowned actor and musician Jan Josef Liefers is among many former East German citizens who feel transported back to the past through Hauswald's photographic material. In his foreword to the anniversary edition, he writes: "Those who flip through this book do not just look at good photos; they begin to smell, taste, and hear them." A truly special photographic and literary journey back to East Germany in the 1980s.