One year

Torrential rainfall in the Ahr Valley on July 14 and 15, 2021, led to the worst natural disaster in Germany since the storm surge of 1962. Whole swaths of land were devastated. 134 people lost their lives. Two people are still considered missing a year later.

Amidst the devastated landscape, people are beginning to return to their lives. Apart from the material damage, the survivors' main task is to deal with the human losses. Family members, relatives, friends and neighbors have lost their lives in the floods. Numerous signs of mourning and remembrance along the Ahr bear witness to the way people deal with their profoundly incisive experiences.

The photographs were taken one year after the catastrophe, from June to August 2022, and express a personal and emotional approach to the traumatized landscape. The narrative follows the course of the Ahr River. The photographs come from Blankenheim, Schuld, Insul, Altenahr, Mayschoss, Rech, Dernau, Ahrweiler, Bad Neuenahr, Heppingen, Lohrsdorf and Sinzig.