communism

"But as it turned out, I was witnessing the beginning of the end of the long conflict - when King Guyenendra seized absolute power in February 2005, he inadvertantly enabled the Maoist insurgents to ally themselves with the disenfranchised democratic forces of the country. The result was the people's uprising in April 2006, where hundreds of thousands took to the streets to oust the Hindu monarchy."

In 2005, I went to Nepal to photograph Nepal's Maoists rebels. Lodged in their mountain safe areas, they had already fought a decade long insurgency against the Kathmandu-based establishment.

Two years after Berlin had been divided by a wall into an eastern and a western part, Kristall magazine sent Hoepker to document how the citizens of West Berlin, especially the children, had adjusted to living in the shadow of the wall. In an effort to improve relations between East and West Germany, Willy Brandt later arranged an exchange of journalists. Hoepker's wife was among those allowed into East Germany and he was able to go with her. Touring the region for the first time since it had come under the control of a dictatorial regime, Hoepker was stunned by what he saw.