Youth Photography in the GDR
There was also a photography competition for young people in the former German Democratic Republic. Organized by the East German cultural association »Kulturbund der DDR«, the so-called »Leistungsvergleich der Kinder- und Jugendfotogruppen«, or »Comparisons of the Achievements of the Children’s and Youth Photo Groups of the GDR«, took place almost every second year from 1970 to 1989.
The photos submitted were almost exclusively the result of supervised collective work by groups of participants. In order to create fair conditions, the groups were all given the same technical photo equipment.
The photos submitted for competition in the often deliberately apolitical topics, such as »Observed on the street«, »People who interest me«, »That’s us« or »My boyfiend – my girlfriend«, show many motifs from everyday life in the socialist GDR. Although the state-run organization tried to place photography in the service of education, the pictures submitted to these »Comparisons« – not infrequently with a contradictory interplay between motif and title of the photograph – testify to a critical attitude toward the cultural politics of the GDR.
After the fall of the Wall the Children’s and Youth Centre was able to secure part of the collection of youth photography in the GDR. In cooperation with the »Gesellschaft für Fotografie« (Society for Photography), which organized the GDR event, it was possible to archive a selection of the works submitted to the »Comparisons« competition.
