Anders Petersen photographed from 1967 to 1970 the life of a cafe in the city of Hamburg in Germany, this series entitled Cafe Lehmitz will make him known worldwide. Cafe Lehmitz, a beer joint at the Reeperbahn, was a meeting point for many who worked in Hamburg's red-light district: prostitutes, transvestites, workers, and petty criminals. Anders Petersen was 18 years old when he first visited Hamburg in 1962, chanced upon Cafe Lehmitz, and established friends that made an impact on his life. In 1968 he returned to Lehmitz, found new regulars, renewed contact and began to take pictures. His photographs, which were published in book form for the first time in 1978, have become classics of their genre. Their candidness and authenticity continue to move the viewer. The solidarity evident in them prevents voyeurism or false pity arising vis-a-vis milieu generally referred to as asocial. The other world of Cafe Lehmitz, which no longer exists in this form, becomes visible as a lively community with its own self-image and dignity.
