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Film Synopsis
After the war with Hannelore is a documentary portrait of Hannelore Scheiber in post-war Berlin. The story follows a linear chronology from her birth in January 1945 to her family circumstances during the war and post-war era, contact with Russian soldiers, the Russian blockade, and the Berlin Airlift (Luftbrücke) from 1948 to 1949. The film documents her school years from 1951 to 1967, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, meeting her husband Jean Devigne, their courtship and marriage, up through their crossing through Checkpoint Charlie in 1982. My intention with this documentary was to film Hannelore at specific locations in Berlin and document her stories and memories in situ through an historical context. My goal was to catch her emotions surrounding her experience growing up in post-war Berlin.

Film Stills
This collection of photos was taken on location in Berlin in September of 2006, during the shooting of my documentary After the war with Hannelore. Some of these shots will be used in the final film as stills, or animated in the seven vignettes about Hannelore’s life in Berlin. I have chosen to exhibit these stills as they are key icons and signposts I used when storyboarding the film.

Berlin is still a city on the mend from a difficult past. In the short time between my first and last visits, I noticed certain changes had already occurred. On my most recent trip I re-shot some of the same locations and noticed, for instance, that the Alt Galerie on the Museum Island I once had access to was now inaccessible because of renovations. Another instance was a section of the wall that I had photographed in Potsdamerplatz; it was gone when I returned because of a building project.

Even though the bullet holes are being filled and the chancellery is gone and buried, there are still ominous layers of Berlin’s past being unearthed. One English tour guide cited the case of the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler bunker, which was found by Pink Floyd’s crew when sweeping for mines, prior to setting up their famous ‘The Wall’ concert in 1990.

Berlin is a capital full of history and still engaged in the process of rebuilding and healing from its past. I still feel the ghosts and horror that renovations can’t completely erase, but I also feel a new generation is emerging guilt-free from the Nazi regime of their grandparents and from the totalitarian era their parents knew. I genuinely feel that there is a public will to bring Berlin back to its former civilized glory. I am optimistic that Berlin, like Paris in the 20th Century, will thrive as a bohemian city of change, on the move, dynamic, affordable, green with bike paths on every sidewalk. In a time of so much war and unrest in the world, it is an example of how humanity can rebuild from rubble and reconcile after owning up to the harsh realities of two consecutive dark regimes gone mad.

These photos are a reflection of that will to rebuild, heal and reconcile. They are also an extention of the seven vignettes of Hannelore’s life and my way of reciprocating all that she’s given me in our friendship. I also believe very strongly that photos, films and oral histories like hers are valuable records documenting the epicenter of WWII in Europe, the post-war period, and the Cold War. What makes these seven vignettes and photos special is that they are so personal. As we are confronted with war on an ongoing basis, I think there is value in narrative historical war documentaries that deal with the real and direct impacts of warfare on human beings. Personal testimonies offer a specific, concrete means for understanding the horrors of war. And because they are so personal and real, they avoid the abstraction and separation that are possible when war is discussed through the language of politics, operations, or policies. Documentaries and photo exhibitons of this nature offer a unique opportunity for understanding.