Positions

Further on there’s no way forward

There are places that have fallen into a deep sleep or have never been on the tourist radar. Photographer Olaf Unverzart presents one such place in his new photo book: the Upper Palatinate. An unflinching portrait of his homeland.

by Ulrich Stefan Knoll in May 2025

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