DER WEIßE FLECK/ THE WHITE SPOT
DDR HOHENSCHÖNHAUSEN

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limited edition of 25 available numbered and signed

This photo book, published in 2018 by Hirnkost Verlag, is the result of a year of intensive research into the traces left behind by the former Ministry for State Security (MfS) of the GDR.
The book combines three documentary levels on the history of the MfS:

Location photography: Photographs of the cold aesthetics of the MfS ministry floors and the oppressive interrogation rooms and isolation cells of the UHA Hohenschönhausen. The absence of people reveals the “banality of bureaucracy.”

Portraits & interviews: I interviewed and portrayed both former prisoners and Stasi officers. Their individual stories are explored in depth in a separate interview section of the book.

Documentary basis: The evaluation of Stasi files from the BStU underscores the bureaucratic coldness and control over the biographies of the victims.

The 224-page volume is divided into two parts and shows how closely political ideology and individual freedom were intertwined.
The title alludes to censorship, where the MfS headquarters was depicted on city maps as a nameless “white area.”
The work has been presented in several international exhibitions.