[SQUATTERS IN BERLIN – PHOTOGRAPHY] Press photographs: 147 original prints, mainly dating to 1981 and 1982.

Vintage silver gelatin prints, measuring ca. 20 × 25 cm. White margins mostly hole-punched and with typewritten index card inscription; very occasionally affecting the image; a few prints with the stamp of the picture service "The Associated Press GmbH" to verso. Overall about very good. Item #54206

Striking group of photographs which give a cross-section through the press documentation of the so-called “Häuserkampf” (house fight) in Berlin. Photographed are facades of squatted houses with slogans, posters, and banners, scenes of violent fights on the streets between police and squatters, burning vehicles and street barricades, police evacuations of squatted houses, arrests, looted stores, smashed glass windows, house demolitions, children playing in front of ruins and in wrecked cars, and more rarely scenes of renovation work carried out by the squatters on their own initiative.

Two incidents play a prominent role in the convolute: the left-alternative congress TUWAT (see no. 16) and the death of squatter Klaus-Jürgen Rattay, who fled into the street during a police eviction and was run over by a bus. Two pictures show Rattay lying in front of the bus while passersby rush to him. Numerous pictures document the mourning demonstrations.

The year 1981 was characterized on the one hand by the fact that many houses were occupied within a short time, and on the other hand by an escalation of violence between police and squatters. Some of the photos show conditions similar to civil war, although it must be remembered that the press photographers had a great interest in taking pictures that were as spectacular as possible. A few of the photographs also show an aesthetic will to form and go beyond the repertoire of ordinary press photography.

Price: €2,800.00

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