Leonid Brezhnev visiting Bonn 1973: Photographer on the event

The lead of "Pictures and Times" of 26 May 1973, the Saturday after the end of Leonid Brezhnev's state visit, is a picture showing him with Willy Brandt. Between the two, the Soviet ambassador Valentin Falin.
I took the picture on the same occasion in the Chancellor's bungalow as the more famous one, which is usually shown from Brezhnev's visit. Falin pushed the Russian interpreter aside and took over the translation himself. Willy Brandt seems very thoughtful. Brezhnev touches Brandt's arm with his index finger, suggesting a serious conversation. In addition, Falin's gestures reinforce the scene.

But the occasion for this informal meeting was a harmless one.
Yes, they wanted to discuss the other dates on Saturday before lunch.

Her pictures can be found immediately if you search the net for Brezhnev's visit in 1973. Where were the other photographers, was there no one standing next to you?
There was also a colleague from the dpa and the Federal Press Office as well as two Russian photographers. You couldn't get in there without further ado. It was the first time after the war that a General Secretary of the CPSU visited the Federal Republic, so the boost in journalists was accordingly. There were hundreds of journalists and photographers. And it was the highest level of security. You needed a so-called pool card. The term was new to me at the time, because it was the first time I had attended a political event in Bonn. Incidentally, it was not initially planned that the F.A.Z. would accompany the state visit with its own photographer. I asked the editorial office to be allowed to go to Bonn.

Although you were still quite unknown, did you still get the pool card and far more renowned colleagues did not?
To do this, it is necessary to know that the pool ticket for a meeting Scheel-Brezhnev with industrialists was on Saturday afternoon. I suspect that I had a stone in the board with the FDP chairman and then Foreign Minister Walter Scheel. Scheel knew that I was the author of the photo of NPD thugs, which had caused quite a stir, and he told me at a later FDP event in Frankfurt's Volksbildungsheim that my photograph had achieved more than what all parties had done against the entry of the NPD in the 1969 federal election. I don't know if and how that might have helped me – that's pure speculation. The reason could also be that I was young and certainly looked nice, which might have made some things easier for me.

But that doesn't explain how you were able to be present at the pre-lunch meeting.
The employee of the Foreign Office told me that the pool card for the appointment with Scheel is the same color – namely gray – as the card for lunch. But one code letter was different. I took a chance, showed the grey card and got past the security forces.

Impudent!
Sometimes it has to be! I learned this from Erich Salomon, the great predecessor, who was the first to try to look behind the scenes on political occasions and record things that are not formal and for the press. I tried it and was happy that I made it.

Let's talk about the pictures that became icons of the Brezhnev's visit. There are several versions, but two of them have been shown most often.
My first choice is the image bordered by Brezhnev to the left and Scheel to the right. I also show this at my exhibitions. Here, too, you can see Brandt's thoughtfulness again. Willy Brandt seems to be thinking: "What will become of the whole thing?" However, I cannot say what was discussed. You're so focused on the actual work that you don't notice it.

Then there is the picture, which is bordered to the left by Egon Bahr, State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery.
Which is justified! Compared to the first picture, it is interesting to see how more and more people joined in. The scene has developed and condensed.

In the current F.A.Z. magazine we show a picture of Brezhnev's meeting with the representatives of German industry, because we could not find the famous picture in any May issue of 1973 in the F.A.Z., which almost drove us to despair!
It hadn't been printed either. Other motifs had been chosen for the current reporting, which is perfectly fine.

In 1976 you had a photo exhibition at the Hamburg Museum of Arts and Crafts, where you showed this picture. On April 9, 1976, the F.A.Z. drew attention to the exhibition with this very picture.
Then this was probably the first time that it was printed in the F.A.Z. It was annoying that the Hamburgers cropped the picture for the exhibition poster horribly and made a portrait format out of it, which I find impossible!

We would never do that. Thank you very much for the interview.