Forty years after Barbara Klemm captured everyday life at Goethe University, two former students and hobby historians revisit her iconic photographs displayed at Frankfurt’s Bockenheimer Warte subway station – uncovering forgotten faces, political tensions, and personal stories now available online.
“The trains here now run so frequently that you barely have time to take in the photos,” Michael Köhler says with a smile. For the lifelong Bockenheim resident, the Bockenheimer Warte subway station has been familiar ground for decades. He knows the large-format images along the tracks inside and out, not least since they represent a chapter of university history that he himself helped shape in a way – something one of the 15 photos testifies to (more on that later). Köhler studied education at Goethe University Frankfurt in the early 1980s, and the legendary AfE Tower with its unreliable elevators is etched deeply in his memory. “Nobody really liked Bockenheim Campus, but it definitely left its mark on us, the descendants of the ‘68 generation,” Köhler emphasizes. A few years ago, he and his former classmate Ernst Szebedits started brainstorming an idea: What if they could research and make public the stories of the people captured in Barbara Klemm’s photos – mostly students, instructors, and visitors to the university? “Of course, we knew it wouldn’t be possible to track down everyone in the photos – we are talking about an estimated 500 people after all. But we already knew some of them personally, and wanted to build on that,” Köhler explains.
One photo, in which two out of three individuals have already been identified, is titled “Alfred Schmidt speaks about Nietzsche.” The late philosopher Alfred Schmidt, who passed away in 2012, is shown lecturing at a podium, flanked by a young man and a young woman. While the woman has yet to be located – “We know she was a student at the time and had a room in a dormitory in Ginnheim,” Köhler notes – the young man has been identified as Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, a professor of philosophy at Goethe University. A key part of the photo project’s concept involved conducting interviews with the individuals pictured, including the now-retired philosopher. “Looking back, it’s interesting to note that while the late ‘70s and early ‘80s were still very much influenced by the spirit of a casual, anti-hierarchical university culture, Alfred Schmidt’s seminar was more like a lecture, with little student participation. Schmidt lectured ex cathedra and would occasionally address his young colleague Lutz-Bachmann with the phrase: ‘You agree with me, don’t you?’”
Collective Memory at Work
From 2023 to 2024, Köhler and Szebedits conducted research as part of their project, which was included in the Polytechnic Foundation of Frankfurt am Main’s Neighborhood Historians program. The foundation aims to encourage amateur historians to explore specific aspects of Frankfurt’s history, providing them with professional support and even a (modest) expense allowance. A major help for the two hobby historians was the Polytechnic Foundation’s extensive network, which was tapped to contact many individuals from the university community and beyond in an effort to gather information about the people in the black-and-white photographs. As part of a large exhibition featuring Barbara Klemm’s photos at the Historical Museum Frankfurt, they had the opportunity one evening to ask visitors if anyone knew more about the images. “We also activated our personal networks. It is clear that much of this wouldn’t have been possible without the possibilities offered by the internet,” Köhler says. Most people were happy when approached about a photo. Some had completely forgotten that they had been photographed back then, while others were surprised to learn that Barbara Klemm’s iconic images were still displayed in Bockenheim. One individual was recently identified thanks to a tip – a discovery Köhler is visibly proud of: the young student in one of the photos from the series “Moments from University Life,” casually sitting on two chairs next to a gas cylinder in a chemistry lab on Riedberg Campus, is Frank Löhr. At the time the photo was taken, he was completing his internship in physical chemistry. Today, he holds a PhD in biophysics and is a research associate at Goethe University.
Köhler and Szebedits brought a wealth of insider knowledge to their work as hobby historians, drawing on their experiences as eyewitnesses and representatives of the university’s leftist scene at the time. What’s more – they also appear in one of the photos: the one titled “Applause for Alfred Dregger” (see image). Michael Köhler recalls: “In the early 1980s, the political dynamics at the university began to shift. After many years of dominance by leftist student groups, conservative groups started to sense an opportunity. In 1982, to mark its 30th anniversary, the Frankfurt chapter of the Ring of Christian-Democratic Students (RCDS) decided to invite Alfred Dregger, a politician known for his staunch conservatism. Naturally, as student activists, we caught wind of this. We called on people to attend the lecture in large numbers and greeted Dregger with an unusual form of protest: he was met with deafeningly ironic applause, which eventually led him to abandon his lecture.” The incident garnered significant attention, even in national media. Forty years later, after an article in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung introduced Köhler and Szebedits’ project, one of the former RCDS members felt compelled to write a critical letter to the editor. This, in turn, prompted the two neighborhood historians to meet with the letter’s author, Thomas Pfeiffer, and his former RCDS colleague, Ralf Heimbach, for a late-stage debate (also documented on the project’s website). Michael Köhler reflects: “Overall, it was a pleasant conversation. While our political differences remained, we quickly found common ground on a personal level. However, both sides remembered certain details of Dregger’s appearance differently. For instance, the RCDS representatives claimed that the then-AStA chair, Rupert Ahrens, had used a megaphone to rally the student activists. According to our recollection, that wasn’t the case at all. The audience didn’t need a leader with a bullhorn to get into the spirit of the protest.”
A Photograph with Two Histories
Another image by Barbara Klemm has a much more dramatic backstory: “In Front of the Note Wall” shows a young man standing in front of a classic bulletin board at the Social Center on Bockenheim Campus. What few people know is that the student originally photographed is not the one in the image. A photo of a different person, taken later, had to be pasted over the original in the subway. This was necessary because the student Klemm had photographed, who was from Iran, requested not to be shown in such a prominent location out of fear of personal repercussions. The overlay was done so meticulously that the later alteration is barely noticeable.
The Bockenheim photo project is still ongoing, with Köhler and Szebedits continuing to curate data and materials. Michael Köhler still has one hope: to answer an intriguing question about the photo “Teaching at the Bedside: A Scene from the University Clinic.” The image shows pediatrician and neonatologist Volker von Loewenich treating an infant while teaching his students essential aspects of pediatrics during a seminar. So far, the two local historians have been unable to uncover the identity of the newborn due to privacy and patient protection concerns. “The infant from back then would be about 40 years old today. If we ever manage to find them, they would certainly be able to share fascinating insights about their own life story,” Köhler says with a smile.
The renowned photographer in the seminar room
How did the unusual photography project in Bockenheim come about? Starting in 1983, Goethe University was involved in discussions to advance the artistic design of the Bockenheimer Warte subway station. In 1984, a call for a photography competition was published in UniReport, and the winning photos were announced in October of that year. Since the organizers were not satisfied with the quality of the submissions, renowned photographer Barbara Klemm was commissioned by Cultural Affairs Councilor Hilmar Hoffmann to capture scenes from everyday university life. Beginning in the fall of 1984, Klemm photographed various subjects in and around Goethe University. From these newly created images, along with older photographs from the photographer’s archive, 15 pictures were ultimately selected to contribute to the design of Bockenheimer Warte.
