Michael Schmidt: Waffenruhe

'Michael Schmidt: Waffenruhe' is a landmark photobook first published in 1987 by the Berlin‑based Dirk Nishen Verlag. It quickly sold out and became a classic, often cited as one of the most influential photographic books of the 20th century. The book presents a profound, high‑contrast black‑and‑white portrait of a still‑divided West Berlin shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It combines atmospheric images of cityscapes, details in nature, and portraits to convey a generation’s dystopian and fragmented experience during this tense historical moment, evoking themes of rupture, absence, and existential fragility.