Peter Bock-Schroeder was a German photographer and photojournalist. In 1933, he graduated from the Photo-Atelier Binder in Berlin with a degree in photojournalism. Peter Bock-Schroeder was the first West-German photographer to be granted permission to work in the USSR during World War II. The assignment was from West German film production. The task was to travel with an international film crew to produce the documentary: ‘Russia today, We saw with our Eyes.’ Soviet authorities approved the film. From the oriental south to the far north, from western Russia to Siberia, his journey took him through the vast space of the former Soviet republics. Bock-Schroeder sewed most of his exposed rolls of film into his trench coat just before leaving for West Berlin and transported his work into the country.
A German news service hired him to work for Sefton Delmer in 1946. He traveled extensively with contracts from leading German news magazines Stern, Quick, and Revue during the 1950s. After the peace treaty between Russia and Germany was signed in 1956, Peter Bock-Schroeder became the first West-German photographer to work in the USSR.
Peter Bock-Schroeder died on February 19, 2001, in Munich, age 87. Among his family members were his wife, his four children, and three grandchildren. The Peter Bock-Schroeder Foundation in Paris, France, administers and represents the Photographic Archive of Peter Bock-Schroeder.
