Photography exhibition: ‘Ethiopia ’84/85’: Berlin-Gatow

History in the making

Forty years ago, during the Cold War, soldiers from East and West Germany met on the African continent. In Ethiopia, instead of facing each other as enemies, the Bundeswehr and the National People’s Army took part in an international relief operation during one of the biggest humanitarian disasters of the 20th century. Their joint mission was to save people from starvation.

This photography exhibition shows the relief mission through the eyes of the soldiers involved, featuring images that are being presented to the public for the first time. The exhibition accompanies our major exhibition ‘Ethiopia ’84/85: Famine, aid, Cold War’, which ran from July to November 2025.

A life-size cardboard cut-out of a soldier from a German Air Force transport unit marks the entrance to the exhibition.

View of the exhibition space with photographs on the dark walls and a display case in the foreground.

A black wall displaying colour photographs of the arrival of West German transport aircraft in Ethiopia.

View of a display case containing a box of slides, a calendar, a camera and a camera bag.

A black wall featuring two photographs and an information panel, with two orange media stations in front of it.

Soldiers with a camera

Although private photography was subject to strict rules within the military, both sides in Ethiopia extensively documented their deployment. The photographic material, critically examined, offers a variety of perspectives: on the one hand, the demanding daily routine of air transport; on the other, almost holiday-like snapshots from the few hours of free time they had.

These photographs – precious historical documents – reveal how individual participants perceived people’s suffering and how they understood their own mission.

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