Thomas Hoepker Children playing at the Berlin Wall in Wedding. Berlin, Germany. 1963.
“In 1963 I was a young photographer working for Kristall, an illustrated magazine published in Hamburg, Germany. Two years e
(...) arlier the East German government had erected the ominous Berlin Wall, which divided the two German States. Walking along the wall and the barbed wire, I noticed that children on the western side used the ugly edifice as a playground. They climbed up to take a peek of the other side or bounced their football against the bricks. At another point, I could see a soldier from the East German army, who held his Kalashnikov rifle on his shoulder while he played with his little boy.”
– Thomas Hoepker © Thomas Hoepker | Magnum Photos