Obituary: Thomas Billhardt

January 30, 2025

The renown German photojournalist passed away on January 23, 2025. He was 87 years old.
The first three decades of his professional life were defined by opportunities to work as a freelance photographer in the GDR, as well as all over the world. His extraordinary career began unexpectedly in 1961 when, while still a student at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, he visited Berlin where the FDJ (Free German Youth) Central Council sent him on assignment to Cuba. The following years represented a balancing act between being too close to politics and propaganda, and the freedom to work as a humanist photographer. “I made the most of the opportunity. It served my interest, but it was also in their interest,” he admitted during an interview in 2017.

The SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) sent Billhardt out to witness the struggle for socialist ideals, and to the settings of the Cold War, turning him into one of the most privileged photographers in the GDR. It was his images of the Vietnam War, in particular, that brought him international acclaim. The travelling, and his experiences of class conflict, war and destruction changed his perspective of the GDR. “If I hadn’t been able to travel, I would have been very unhappy in this GDR prison,” he once said. With regard to his motifs – also from areas where he observed revolution, poverty and misery –, he considered himself a contemporary witness and tried to bring a humane side to every situation. He was a humanist who took a position – which was already evident in his work from the fifties, documenting daily life in the GDR. He had discovered photography at a very early age: born in 1937, it was his mother, photographer Maria Schmid-Billhardt from Chemnitz, who first encouraged and trained him in the medium, before he went to study in Magdeburg and Leipzig. The privilege of being able to travel was, above all, the aspect that characterised his multifaceted life’s work.

Over the last few decades, Billhardt also photographed with Leica cameras: an M6 and an S3 were among his preferred models. Even after the GDR was no more, he remained a committed photographer and humanist. He gave particular attention to the children of the world, which led to his long collaboration with UNICEF. In 2019, as an honorary member of the BFF (German Professional Association of Freelance Photographers and Film Makers) he was indicted into the BFF Hall of Fame alongside Volker Hinz. In 2017, to mark Billhardt’s 80th birthday, the Camera Work gallery, which had represented him for over 25 years, hosted a retrospective made up of 100 photographs. From Camera Work’s obituary: “We have lost one of the most important reportage photographers in the history of the German partition. Thomas Billhardt always searched for the moment, the truth and the story behind the pictures. His photographic work, which took him to over 50 countries, gave people a voice. Billhardt was never just a photographer – he was a storyteller and a chronicler of humanity.”
Ulrich Rüter
All photos: © Thomas Billhardt/CAMERA WORK Gallery
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Obituary: Thomas Billhardt