► stern Photo Archive

The outstanding importance of the stern Photo Archive for the visual memory of the Federal Republic of Germany becomes obvious already on the start page. The user arrives directly at the heart of the picture portal, containing already over 1,000 photo stories produced between 1972 and 2001. They show events in the world of the time, such as the Middle-East conflict, the war in the Balkans or the famine in Ethiopia. Other photo stories portray famous personalities from politics, culture and sports, such as Willy Brandt, Günter Grass or the legendary goalkeeper Toni Schumacher.

The available photo stories are from 15 renowned photographers regularly employed by the stern, from whom the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has already acquired the rights of use, among them such well-known names as Harald Schmitt, Jay Ullal and Jürgen Gebhardt. In the portal every stern photographer is presented in the form of a brief portrait, with direct links being provided to the individual photo stories.

The contact sheets of the individual photo stories, on which handwritten markings can be seen frequently, allow taking a look at the work of the stern picture editorial office behind the scenes. By means of a "best of" filter ("Best of: Vorauswahl stern") it is possible to view only those pictures which were marked by the stern picture editorial office or by the stern photographer. The contact sheets additionally provide the creation context for each photo. The more detailed text information on the back sides of the contact sheets is searchable.

There are various search and filter options, such as search terms based on the Integrated Authority File (GND) or various time or location filters, which will guide users to the desired search result. Moreover, all photo stories are geographically localised with the aid of a world map and can be retrieved from there comfortably.

Users can place their licensing requests directly out of the portal by using a shopping cart function. The licensed pictures are provided via download link. User requests from scholarship, the general public or for commercial purposes can thus be processed efficiently and quickly.

Currently, more than half a million negatives of the analogue archive have been digitized. Out of this amount, 250,000 individual pictures and 17,000 associated contact sheets are searchable presently via the stern Photo Archive. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek had taken over the analogue photo archive of the stern comprising around 15 million negatives, prints and slides in 2019. Up to the end of 2025, the first three million negatives, belonging to pictures taken as of approximately 1971, and the associated contact sheets will be digitized in a first digitization project and made accessible via the stern Photo Archive.

Dr. Klaus Ceynowa, Director General of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek:

The Photo Archive of the stern is considered to be the visual memory not only of the Federal Republic of Germany, but generally of contemporary history. The stern Photo Archive of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is a unique contemporary-historical source of national and international importance for scholars and the general public.

Press release for download  (PDF, 133 KB)

Contact

Dr. Cornelia Jahn
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Department of Maps and Images
Ludwigstrasse 16, 80539 Munich
Phone  +49 89 28638-2287
cornelia.jahn@bsb-muenchen.de

Peter Schnitzlein
Press and Public Relations
Phone  +49 89 28638-2429
presse@bsb-muenchen.de