Hansi Krauss

He was born Hansjoerg Krauss on 29 April 1963, nicknamed Hansi, he was the second son of a local physician and grew up in the small Black Forest town of Trossingen in south-west Germany. His irrepressible energy and enthusiasm were evident from an early age. During his days at high school he played the drums and enjoyed the dangerous sports of ski-jumping and rock-climbing, funding these hobbies with a newspaper round. Despite these flamboyant interests, Hansi was always a careful and sensitive person. The demolition of the Trossingen skl-jump platform brought Hansi into photography. He staked out the rotting construction for days until he was finally chased away by the contractor. During this time, he photographed every nut and bolt, creating a photographic essay which told the story of its demise. After graduating from Trossingen High School in 1983, and briefly flirting with a career in medicine, Hansi's thirst for adventure and challenge led him to the trails and mountains of Norway, and in 1985 onto the peaks of the Yosemite National Park and on a canoeing expedition down the Yukon River. Having returned to Germany, Hansi was badly injured in a car accident and was forced to suspend his travelling ambitions for a year while recuperating. He joined the Associated Press in 1989 when Berlin became the focus of the world's attention. He was always fearless and his determination is remembered by his close friends in the business. He was easily found in a crowd of thousands usually impossibly perched on a ledge or in a tree, frying to get the best pictures. Berlin was his first major story and Hansi was driven by the satisfaction of seeing his pictures on the front pages. He readily accepted the risks which accompany working in such chaotic and unpredictable situations. More than once he was beaten up covering riots when Berlin's right and left-wing extremists took to the streets. Hansi complained more about his broken camera gear than about his bruised and swollen face. He had become a classic street photographer, who excelled in turbulent conditions. His devotion towards his job and his desire to be at the centre of the action led Hansi to volunteer to travel to Sarajevo in September 1992 and again in January 1993. He is remembered there as a man who never lost his sense of humour and who never allowed danger to compromise his story. Hansi Krauss photos of the Sarajevo Siege are important part of the capital's history. When the United States, followed by the United Nations, intervened in the troubles of Somalia, Hansi was eager to cover the first-ever deployment of German UN troops. In June 1993, he was given permission to go and departed with his characteristic enthusiasm. Tragically, Hansi died on 12 July 1993, at the hands of an angry Somali mob in Mogadishu, the day after he had transmitted a joyful photograph of young Somali orphans, a picture of hope from one of the world's most desperate places.