Bischoff record texts in the exhibition

Record Texts Introductions:

 

Ground floor, 1st room right (panels 01-05) – Theme: Peter Bischoff

In this room you will see Peter Bischoff's memories of major cover reports with prominent artists such as Rudi Carrell and Johannes Heesters and reports on two exciting experiences with my long-time friend Günter Pfitzmann (died on May 30, 2003) and his wife Lilo, which I have not forgotten to this day.

Together with Günter Pfitzmann and his wife Lilo, I had booked a special Concorde flight from New York to a Caribbean cruise on the MS Deutschland for November 24, 2000, with the Deilmann shipping company, as none of us had ever flown on a supersonic aircraft. When Pfitzmann, who was due to give two readings on the cruise, canceled the trip 14 days in advance because of a heart attack, we were initially very disappointed, but on November 25, the Pfitzmann family and I learned from the newspaper that the Concorde had crashed shortly after takeoff in Paris and that no one on board, including the 100 German cruisers, had survived the terrible accident. Since then, I have celebrated my 2nd birthday every year on July 25 (see the BILD newspaper article with the sad Concorde headline).

A year earlier, in November 1999, I and the Pfitzmann family had been caught in a hurricane on an Atlantic cruise on the new MS Europa from Hapag Lloyd from Gran Canaria to Barbados. We and many on board feared that the luxury liner, in whose luxury cabins the beds and televisions were flying around, could sink due to the threatening list. All doctors on board were called to the injured. Only by radically deviating from the planned course, contrary to the shipping company's orders, was Captain Wolters able to prevent this, so that the Pfitzmann family was relieved to be reunited with their sons Robert and Andreas in New York three days later (see the original article in BILD am Sonntag, front page headline and photos of the Pfitzmann family from the MS Europa cruise in the exhibition).

Plate 1: BILD and Bild am Sonntag headlines about the Concorde disaster and the hurricane cruise on MS Europa with the Pfitzmann family.

Plate 2: Photos of Günter and Lilo Pfitzmann from their near-disaster cruise with MS Europa and after their happy arrival with their sons Robert and Andreas in New York.

Plates 3, 4 + 5: Information about the "Traumschiff" book by Peter Bischoff and associated press articles plus published reports with prominent artists around the world as well as cover images.

Ground floor, left wall (panels 06-14) – Topics: Peter Bischoff, Germany, Björn Bischoff

 

Records 06 + 07 – Topics: Peter Bischoff

 

Information about Peter Bischoff: Born in 1941 and after a two-year traineeship, he trained as a political editor at the Weser-Kurier. He then became the first head of the North Germany office of the Hamburger Morgenpost. He has lived in Worpswede as a freelance photographer and journalist since 1983 and has written a piece of journalistic history with his photo reports around the world, in 133 countries on all 5 continents, with almost all the stars of German show business and many international show greats, whom he has accompanied with his camera since 1968!

He has flown around the globe nearly 100 times and taken 150 celebrity cruises on 30 ships to capture over three million celebrity photographs, many of which have become cover stories.

 

Plates 08 + 09 – Theme: Germany

I don't know if the exhibition visitors can imagine how difficult it was to remember the highlights from almost 60 years of reporting and then to select the most beautiful and important ones from 800,000 digital files.

Here are some of the stars I photographed in Germany. Photos from the rest of Europe, the USA, South America such as Brazil with Rio de Janeiro and Central America with Mexico, including all the Caribbean islands, Africa including South Africa and Namibia, Asia with Thailand and Japan and from the South Seas can be found in the other rooms.

Plates 10-14 – Theme: Björn Bischoff

 

Here you can see photos by Björn Bischoff (born 1966), who, like his father, also landed many photographic hits, including his worldwide printed exclusive photo of Heino with Siegfried & Roy during the visit of "Rolling Stones" singer Mick Jagger in Cologne, when Heino's wife Hannelore smuggled Björn into the backstage area that was closed off to the press!

The press agency, which is now run by Björn Bischoff, which he took over from his father in 2014 and continues to run successfully, has a photo inventory of 800,000 motifs from over 60 (freelance) photographers. After a year at photography school in Hamburg and five years of studying in Bremen, which he successfully completed with a degree in economics, Björn himself found a liking for the job of reporter. Like his father, he jetted around the world with his wife Karin until his wedding in 1998 and the subsequent births of his children, Antonia (now 21, a prospective teacher) and Vincent (17, a 12th grader with the dream of a professional football career), who currently plays for VFL Osnabrück in the U19 DFB junior league.

Here are some of many photos of Björn Bischoff with and of prominent stars.

Ground floor, right wall (panels 15-20) – Theme: Weddings

Here is a selection of photos from dozens of celebrity weddings that I was allowed to photograph, some of them exclusively. Many, like Nicole's or Horst and Hella Janson's, have lasted to this day. Others fell apart after a short or long time, or death separated the couple.

Ground floor, 2nd room right (panels 21-26) – Themes: “Dream Ship”, “Happy Journey” and cruises

 

Plates 21 + 22 – Theme: “Dream Ship”

On these two records you can see the memories of the ZDF “Traumschiff”, one of the most popular German television series, which Peter Bischoff accompanied from 1981 to 2009 in over 50 episodes on 4 ships (MS Vistafjord, MS Astor, MS Berlin and MS Deutschland) in 80 countries for 4 months every year.

(You can purchase the “Dream Ship” book from the gallery owner upon request).

Plates 23 + 24 – Theme: “Happy Journey”

 

Accompanying 29 episodes of the Pro7 series "Glückliche Reise" in 29 countries with 290,000 kilometers of flight as a photographer and press officer from 1991-1993 was, in addition to the "Traumschiff" filming, another highlight in Peter Bischoff's life as a reporter.

The former "Dream Ship" production manager Horst Schäfer had hired the successful photographer globetrotter exclusively for his first own project with his newly founded "Scorpio Productions" for the "flying dream ship" and christened it "Happy Journey". A man like Peter Bischoff was just the right person for the most travel-loving German TV production of all time. The mammoth project was produced for the private broadcaster Pro 7, during which 290,000 kilometers of air travel were completed in 30 months with stops in 29 countries. Together with the sadly deceased Thomas Fritsch and Conny Glogger as "tour guide", Alexa Wiegandt as "head purser" and Juraj Kukura and Volker Brandt as "pilots" and over 150 prominent guest stars such as Harald Juhnke and Günter Pfitzmann, Peter Bischoff once again flew to all five continents and still talks enthusiastically about what was probably the most exotic filming of a German TV production.
The "Happy Journey" team was sometimes plagued by bad luck: in Cape Town, "tour guide" Conny Glogger broke an ankle while riding, and "co-pilot" Volker Brandt, who was riding a horse for the first time in 25 years, slipped 20 meters down a steep slope in Arizona. In Greenland, "chief pilot" Juraj Kukura and Monika Peitsch were able to use a helicopter to save themselves from the ice breaking apart as the snow melted. And in Sun City, South Africa, Volker Brandt accidentally gave his colleague Juraj Kukura a black eye during an action scene. But that was not all: in Thailand, "tour guide" Amadeus August, who died on July 6, 1992, was arrested for "temple sacrilege," and on the way to the Fiji Islands, producer Horst Schäfer suffered the same fate for alleged currency smuggling.

But it was precisely these adventures that brought the team together. After filming for over three years, the team felt like one big family. The highlight: the first "Happy Journey" baby. In Greenland, where it didn't get dark for 24 hours, "there was not only a lot of work, but also passionate love," as Peter Bischoff said with a smile. The pretty "chief purser" Alexa Wiegandt (then 30) spent such stimulating hours with the assistant director Alexander Wiedl in the "eternal ice" that her baby was born in March 1994. Volker Brandt must also have had a particularly erotic pleasure in Ibiza when he was allowed to play a whirlpool scene with the naked Tina Plate. When she got into the foamy water, however, no one was allowed to watch and Brandt had to keep his hands above water during filming.

Plates 25 + 26 – Theme: Cruises

 

Here is a mini overview with photos of 150 cruises with prominent stars on 30 ships around the world, most of which, thanks to Hapag Lloyd, took place on three different MS Europas.

Ground floor, reception room (plates 27-31) – Theme: Worpswede

 

In this exhibition, which shows Peter and Björn's personal photos from all over the world, their new home of Worpswede (since 1983) should not be neglected! The house at Schluh 71 has witnessed many stories during Peter Bischoff's "home games" and celebrities have not only been guests here as business partners, but often also as friends, such as Udo Jürgens with his entire family to marry his daughter Jenny here at the Barkenhoff and to travel with her from here to the church wedding and to their honeymoon in Norway on the MS Europa (see photos in the exhibition).

Also photographed during the Worpswede visit: Wolfgang Stumph ("Stubbe"), Gunther Emmerlich, Günter Pfitzmann, Ross Antony with husband Paul Reeves (at their wedding and privately), "Tatort" detective Axel Prahl as a singer in the "Music Hall" and on a private stroll, Karl Dall at one of his last appearances as a singer in the "Music Hall", Albert Hammond in the Osterholz-Scharmbeck town hall, etc., etc.

This exhibition documents the life's work of Peter and Björn Bischoff, which could not have been realized without the family business of the agency with Peter's wife Jutta and its dedicated employees over the years.

Ground floor, stairs to the basement (panels 32-34) – Themes: Asia, Australia + South Seas

 

Here are further highlights from almost 60 years as a reporter with stars that I photographed in Asia (Japan, Thailand etc.), Australia and the South Pacific. Photos from Europe, the USA, South America such as Brazil with Rio de Janeiro and Central America, e.g. Mexico, including all Caribbean islands, Africa including South Africa and Namibia, can be found in the other rooms.

Basement, 1st room right (panels 35-38) – Theme: Europe

 

Here are further highlights from 60 years as a reporter with stars that I photographed in almost every country and capital city in Europe. Photos from the USA (New York, Los Angeles etc.), South America such as Brazil with Rio de Janeiro and Central America, e.g. Mexico, including all Caribbean islands, Africa including South Africa and Namibia, can be found in the other rooms.

 

Basement, left wall (plates 39-41) – Themes: South America, Central America and the Caribbean

 

Here are further highlights from almost 60 years as a reporter with stars that I photographed in South America, including Brazil with Rio de Janeiro and in Central America, eg Mexico, including all the Caribbean islands. Photos from the USA with a focus on New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas, Africa including South Africa and Namibia, Asia (Japan, Thailand, India) and Australia, the South Pacific and of course Europe, including Germany, can be found in the other rooms.

 

Cellar, niche at the end of the left wall (panels 42-43) – Themes: Africa including South Africa

 

Here are further highlights from almost 60 years as a reporter with stars that I photographed in Africa, including Ethiopia, South Africa and Namibia. Photos from the USA with a focus on New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas, South America with Brazil including Rio de Janeiro and Central America, e.g. Mexico, including all the Caribbean islands, Asia (Japan, Thailand, India) and Australia, the South Seas and of course Europe, including Germany, can be found in the other rooms.

 

Basement, right wall (plates 44-46) – Theme: USA

 

Here are further highlights from almost 60 years as a reporter with stars that I photographed in almost every state in the USA, with a focus on New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas. Photos from South America such as Brazil with Rio de Janeiro and Central America, e.g. Mexico, including all the Caribbean islands, Africa including South Africa and Namibia, Asia (Japan, Thailand, India) and Australia, the South Pacific and of course Europe including Germany can be found in the other rooms.

Ground floor, stairs up (panels 47-48) – Theme: Babies

I can hardly count the number of babies of famous stars that I have presented to the world with my camera for many cover stories at home and abroad. Here is a small selection.

 

Upper floor, 1st room (panels 49-51) 2nd room (panel 52) – Theme: Udo Jürgens

I had a close lifelong friendship with Udo Jürgens, who died far too early (December 21, 2014). I first met Udo on a trip to Japan in 1972, when I was allowed to accompany him to Sapporo at my own expense (flight costs with BOAC: 8,000 DM). A DPA colleague was with me, but on my return I managed to get the photos on 6 pages in Bunte, which were personally selected by Senator Franz Burda, the powerful head of the publishing house. Unfortunately, he forgot to include a PR photo of Udo in front of the plane, but this was subsequently corrected by the head of photography before printing, so that after the report was published, the airline refunded me the price of the entire ticket as promised... plus a great fee from Bunte and many compliments, as well as a promise from Udo's manager Hans R. Beierlein for many more publications. And Udo also found the collaboration so harmonious that "afterwards he was reluctant to travel if I wasn't there." We travelled all over the world together over the many years and I was often a guest at Udo's house (first in Kitzbühel - later in Zurich), so that Udo's children Jenny and Johnny also became my friends. You can find some of the most beautiful moments here.

 

Upper floor, 2nd room (panels 53-56) – Topics: Heino and Roy Black

 

Confidentiality as the basis for close contact with the stars. This special way of working resulted in personal and trusting contacts with the celebrities - motto: "Not everything you know and photograph has to be published. When you constantly see the top stars of show business on their private travels, you get to know things that they don't necessarily want to read in the newspaper the next day. But only those who don't photograph and write everything they know will get everything in the future."

Many friendships arose from mutual sympathy. For example, with Roy Black, who has been dead since October 19, 1990 and still has a large fan base. Peter Bischoff did his first major report with him in 1969 during a Mediterranean cruise in Tunisia and was later a welcome private guest in Roy's fishing hut. The highlight: Peter Bischoff was the only photographer allowed to photograph Roy's wedding to Silke Vagts and then accompany him on their honeymoon to Greece. Not to forget folk music emperor Heino, whom Peter Bischoff met in 1970 and with whom he has a great friendship, not only because of their shared passion for skat, which reached a climax in 2018 with the photo book "Heino - Traveling around the whole world - The most beautiful photos by Peter Bischoff from 50 years". (If you are interested: The book can be purchased from the gallery owner upon request).