He also photographed the famous "brotherly kiss" between SED party leader Erich Honecker and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1979: photographer Thomas Billhardt has died at the age of 87. This was announced by the Camera Work gallery in Berlin, which manages his life's work. His family also confirmed his death. The Professional Association of Independent Photographers paid tribute to Billhardt's "unmistakable way" of capturing war, suffering, but also people's hope.
"With the death of Thomas Billhardt, we have lost one of the most important reportage photographers in the history of German division," the gallery announced. His work, which he took in more than 50 countries, gave people a voice. "He became world-famous with his photographs of the Vietnam War in the 1960s."
Billhardt was born in Chemnitz in 1937. According to the gallery, he began training as a photographer at the age of 14 under the guidance of his mother. At the beginning of his career, he was a factory photographer in a brown coal opencast mine and a publishing photographer for the postcard publisher Bild und Heimat. For GDR citizens, his pictures were a view of the world - they are still remembered by many today, according to the professional association of freelance photographers.
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