The artists Edmund Bechtle, Falko Behrendt, Uwe Bullmann, Christian Heinze and Günther Rechn were appointed as delegates to represent the GDR in 1979 at the founding of the Palestinian Artists’ Association – a then-new branch of the cultural department of the PLO (the Palestinian Liberation Organisation) in Beirut, under the patronage of the painter Ismail Shammout. This encounter was based on the recently signed cultural agreement between the GDR and the PLO. The GDR supported the PLO politically and militarily in its conflict with Israel and hoped, amongst other things, that this would lead to recognition by Arab states. The cultural exchange was intended to strengthen close ties with the PLO, but was also an expression of the widespread solidarity with Palestinian refugees felt amongst the population of the GDR.
In connection with the founding of the association, the artists’ trip was intended to focus thematically on the concerns and living conditions of Palestinians in Lebanon and to explore these issues artistically upon their return home. To this end, the five artists travelled to various locations across the country, often accompanied by Mahmoud Dabdoub as an interpreter. At the time, Dabdoub was an intern at the PLO’s Cultural Office and, shortly afterwards, went on to study photography at the Leipziger Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst.
During their travels, the group of artists from the GDR produced sketches and photographs of fleeting encounters on the street or portraits of people who had invited them into their homes. As Heinze describes in the interview, the journey was shaped both by their experiences in the Palestinian refugee camps and by the five artists’ experience of undertaking a ‘journey to the West’. The trip also included visits to studios and contact with artists in Beirut.
Back in the GDR, the artists transformed their impressions and sketches into prints and paintings. A striking example is Günther Rechn’s portrait of the Palestinian graphic artist Mustafa Al Hallaj set against a landscape, which he produced following a personal meeting between the artists. In addition to the creation of individual works, a portfolio of prints by all the participating artists was produced. Copies of this found their way into the collections of several institutions in the GDR. Six versions were also donated to the PLO’s art collection during a further trip in 1981. The prints were intended to be used as a travelling exhibition in refugee camps.
The reason for the second trip was an exhibition by the five artists at the then newly established ‘Dar Al Karamah’ gallery, which was affiliated with the PLO’s Cultural Office. ‘Palestine Fights’ was the first exhibition of foreign artists at the Beirut gallery and remained the last. In the same year, buildings were destroyed by Israeli fighter aircraft amid the turmoil of the conflicts that culminated in the 1982 Lebanon War. The collection was also affected. To accompany the exhibition, the art historian Siegfried Wege joined the party for the second trip. The travel report, now held in the Federal Archives and written by Heinze and Wege, states that ‘Palestine Fights’ comprised seventeen paintings and around 80 prints and was curated by the GDR’s Centre for Art Exhibitions. The works exhibited from the first trip, it is said, were well received by the diverse audience in Beirut, as entries in the guest book are also said to have reported.
Back in the GDR, the works toured various cities as an exhibition entitled ‘Engagement Palestine’. Works from the trip were also frequently shown in subsequent solo exhibitions by the five artists. Articles in GDR newspapers about Bechtle, Behrendt, Bullmann, Heinze and Rechn state that the trips had long-term effects on their own artistic output.
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