Burkhard Wollny is a photographer and train fan from near Stuttgart. He is especially keen on old steam locomotives. Before the fall of the Berlin wall, he repeatedly traveled to the GDR and to West Berlin where many of the old locomotives were still in service. This resulted in unique pictures of life in towns, in the provinces, at stations and on the railway lines.

Traveling by train was part of everyday life in the GDR. While West Germany became a car nation after the Second World War, East Germany remained largely faithful to its railways. Around 1980, 40 percent of passenger journeys were still made by train. From today’s perspective, that sounds like a progressive traffic concept but 40 years ago, it was considered backward. Small stations, crowded commuter trains and a wide network of branch lines took people to the farthest reaches of the workers’ and peasants’ state.

In 1975, Wollny applied for the “temporary ID card” for residents of West Berlin. According to the Berlin Agreement of 1971, this meant it was relatively easy for him to obtain entry visas for the GDR. He felt the pull of the Ore Mountains and the hills of Thuringia and traveled there extensively. Thanks to his unconventional, open nature, he easily came into contact with people and was able to photograph undisturbed. For example, besides the ever-present steam locomotives, Wollny also succeeded in capturing rare insights into everyday life at stations and beside the tracks. The selected photographs range from nostalgic railway romanticism to everyday life in a country that was desperately trying to keep pace with modernity, but in many cases was stuck in backwardness due to economic deficiencies and scarcity of resources.

Burkhard Wollny wurde 1950 in Freiburg im Breisgau geboren und wuchs in Stuttgart auf. Mit zehn Jahren besuchte er mit seinem Großvater häufig das Bahnbetriebswerk in Stuttgart. Dort fing er an, die Lokomotiven und Züge mit seiner kleinen Kodak Instamatic zu fotografieren. Später bekam er eine Praktika Spiegelreflexkamera geschenkt, mit der viele der Ausstellungsfotos entstanden. Der erfolgreiche Bankkaufmann und Unternehmensberater Wollny widmete einen Großteil seiner Freizeit seiner Leidenschaft für die Eisenbahnfotografie. Er professionalisierte seine Fotoausrüstung und entwickelte seine Filme selbst. Über die Jahre entstand so ein riesiges Archiv von insgesamt 100.000 Schwarzweißfotos und 96.000 Dias, auf denen verschiedene Eisenbahntypen, Lokomotiven, Züge und Bahnanlagen zu finden sind.