Peter BOCK-SCHROEDER

Peter Bock-Schroeder (1913 - 2001) was born in Hamburg. At the age of 16, he completed an apprenticeship in photography at the Binder studio in Berlin. He then attended the private school of applied arts "Contempora" for two years, where he acquired the technical knowledge necessary for his profession from the famous photographer Erich Balg. At the age of 20, he joined the Social Democratic Party. When the party was banned after the National Socialists took power, he was arrested and conscripted into forced labor. After an escape attempt in 1938, he was imprisoned. In 1939, he was drafted into the Luftwaffe and later participated in the African campaign as a gunner and military correspondent. After the war, Bock-Schroeder was hired by the German News Service in Hamburg, which merged with the German Press Agency (dpa). In 1949 he became a photojournalist for the magazine "Stern" and also worked for the magazines "Quick" and "Revue". He traveled throughout Europe, America and the Middle East for this purpose. In 1956, he was the first West German photographer to obtain permission to take pictures in the former USSR. He managed to smuggle out films from there that are only now being shown. The last job of his career was the press service at Munich airport. Bock-Schroeder died in Munich at the age of 87.