After the fall

A word about the work

HHAU002
At the end of the 80s, Harald Hauswald worked on an assignment for a West German magazine wanting to show the state of hooliganism in East German football. It was a phenomenon that, according to the local authorities’ official line, didn’t exist in East Germany but remained the prerogative of a depraved Western society. For the assignment he met supporters of Union Berlin FC, thus marking the beginning of an adventure that would last for more than 25 years. Harald never left them again and followed them regularly for many years to tell the story of Germany through them.
This image was taken in 1992 at the end of a match between Union and Dynamo at the «An der alten Försterei» stadium.

In the days of East Germany, relations were tense between the two Berlin clubs. Union was the sightly rebellious club whereas Dynamo, supported by the Stasi, represented order and power. By 1992, things had changed, Dynamo had lost its support, and Union fans were becoming more defiant. Particularly as there was a period of uncertainty in the years following the fall of the Berlin wall. The system was changing and the police didn’t really know how to react, when they should intervene and when not to. The Union hooligans, young people who were lost and disorientated – like most of the East German population – by the brutality of change, took advantage of this newfound space and vented their feelings.

Jean-Denis’s choice

A really strong image. This provoking gesture is probably meant for rival supporters leaving the stadium, but isn’t it also in part for the police, and life as a whole ? A generic image for all the revolts, whether large or small, for all the essential or futile rebellions, for all the despair. Fuck !