‘HIRTENBUBEN’ (Shepherd boys)- Photo exhibition by Klaus Zinser

From 26 January 2025, the Black Forest House of the Senses will be showing a new special exhibition on the subject of shepherd children. Large-format portraits and picture panels tell of the life and everyday work of the children of the past.

The presentation is a travelling exhibition by Naturpark Südschwarzwald e.V., which was created in collaboration with the Southern Black Forest Nature Conservation Centre and photojournalist Klaus Zinser. Zinser has been taking portraits of former shepherd children in the southern Black Forest since 2018, with a local focus on the upper Münstertal and Stohren valleys. The large-format portraits show the elderly protagonists in their former places of work. The pictures are complemented by written conversations, photos from days gone by and agricultural exhibits.

Green pastures, gentle herds of cows and unspoilt nature - what we imagine today under the term "shepherd boys" (note: there were also girls!) may sound romantic, but has little in common with the reality of those days. Stable work, herding, school and other tasks usually left no room for the smallest helpers on the farms to play in between, in other words, to simply be a child for once. What is unimaginable for children today was still commonplace up until the 1960s. The exhibition by photojournalist Klaus Zinser from Freiburg allows the children of that time, who are now grandparents themselves, to speak.

"With this exhibition, I want to honour these people who had to work so hard at a young age," says Zinser, explaining his motivation for the research. The large-format portraits show the elderly protagonists in their original places of work - on pastures and farms, in stables and in the great outdoors. Panels with excerpts from their life stories and photos from days gone by complement the black and white images.

"I personally visited the former shepherd children, including a shepherd girl, and recorded their life stories. You can read excerpts of these on the text panels. Fortunately, we were also able to photograph each person at a place where they used to work," says the photojournalist. Sabine Dietzig-Schicht, Head of Education and Culture at the Southern Black Forest Nature Park, comments: "The shepherd exhibition reflects both natural and cultural aspects. On the one hand, it is about how children used to live and work in the southern Black Forest, and on the other, it is dedicated to pastoral farming - an important feature of our region."