Further on there’s no way forward

The Upper Palatinate? Yes, the Upper Palatinate. As photographer and native of the Upper Palatinate, Olaf Unverzart writes in the foreword to his book: In the past, most people just wanted to leave the area. A border zone. Stagnation. Having grown up just a few kilometres from the Czech border – depending on your point of view, either in front of or behind the Iron Curtain – he believes that even today, Regensburg, Munich and Rimini are closer for many people than ‘the East’.

Unverzart describes vividly and unsparingly in his pictures how climate, geography and, above all, the course of recent history have left their mark on the culture and the people (who are not visible in the book, or only indirectly) in what is probably Bavaria’s least known administrative district. Home can hurt. Especially when you feel connected to it.

One should not assume that Unverzart’s primary intention with this book is to encourage courage. And yet, in view of some of the landscape and architectural monstrosities, one cannot help but wonder what could possibly be appealing about moving to the Upper Palatinate.

It is precisely in the vast, seemingly remote landscapes that hope springs eternal. There is so much potential there!

In quite a few of the black-and-white photographs taken between 2020 and 2024, you feel transported back to the (good) old days (of your own childhood). Until you come across irritating details in the pictures – which happens frequently. What on earth is going on there, you ask yourself.

The images seem timeless, frozen in a time capsule. The motifs focus on village and small-town structures and quiet expanses, but these do not evoke nostalgia. And yet, as much as one trusts Unverzart’s trained eye, one instinctively searches for a glimmer of hope. Can a photo book, or a region, be both off-putting and appealing at the same time?

Not only the contents of the book, but also the map provided by HOLIDAYARCHITECTURE seems to say: a tourist blind spot. Too bizarre? Too backward? Too banal? Not romantic enough and not forward-looking? Unless you’ve been there yourself, it’s all speculation. When in doubt, give the defendant the benefit of the doubt.

Because, despite all the uncertainties, I am certain that courageous guests with their hearts in the right place will not go under in the Upper Palatinate. Or better still: the people of the Upper Palatinate will not let them go under.

There is certainly plenty to discover that is new and undoubtedly brutal and improvised, with quirky originality and endearing modesty – as Unverzart describes it himself. However, it takes courage and a dash of adventurous spirit!

Or, in the words of German documentary filmmaker and author Dieter Wieland, who was one of the first television journalists to campaign for the preservation of historical monuments and cultural landscapes in the 1970s: ‘This book is amazing. It hurts. It burns your eyes. It leaves you speechless. I can’t bear looking at it for long. That home can be so terribly real. Hopeless. So well-intentioned. And so wrong.’

So, what now?

I’m going there, everything else is and remains pure theory! Anyone coming with me?

PS: Of course, we have a few partner establishments in the Upper Palatinate – the Engelwirt in Berching, the Petersberg Apartments in Waldkirchen, including the Zink Gallery, and the Mittermurnthal holiday apartments in Neunburg vorm Wald. These houses are proof that the Upper Palatinate is alive and vibrant: in color, with an almost Mediterranean atmosphere, lots of art, enjoyment and dazzling nature.

Those interested in design and architecture often visit the Glass Cathedral in Amberg, an industrial building designed by Walter Gropius. Not far from there is the Asphalt Chapel, the world’s only building made entirely of asphalt. A European temple, the Glyptothek Etsdorf, is currently being built in the same town. Anyone who makes it to the Luftmuseum in Amberg before 18 May 2025 can see the exhibition on Olaf Unverzart’s new book.

Author: Ulrich Stefan Knoll

Image credits: © Olaf Unverzart (all except portrait photo © Marcus Rebmann)

Olaf Unverzart is a photographer and artist who works in documentary film-making. For his series ‘Dahinten gehts nicht weiter’(Further on there’s no way forward), he photographed architecture, village structures and landscapes in the Upper Palatinate border region, which, even decades after the opening, still bear witness to the former Iron Curtain.

Unverzart often works on long-term projects that focus on landscapes occupied or shaped by humans. For this series, he photographed with an analogue large-format camera and a standard lens on black-and-white film. This slow and focused approach creates images of the present that appear timeless and are also relevant to the current tense political situation around the world.

Olaf Unverzart has published numerous books, worked for magazines and taught at various institutions. He lives in Munich and Waldmünchen.

You can read the extensive UA interview we conducted with Olaf Unverzart in April 2022 here.

Dahinten gehts nicht weiter

1st edition 2025

Büro Wilhelm Verlag, ISBN: 978-3-948137-90-8

Hardcover, sewn binding, format 24 x 29 cm, 160 pages b/w duplex print