+++ Myanmar: military in power since the coup in February 2021 +++ Moldova: EU candidate since June 2022 +++ Cologne: 10,000 people at Black Lives Matter, June 2020 +++ Hambach Forest: 50,000 against the clearing +++ Thailand: snap election in February 2026 +++ Malaysia: 1MDB verdict in December 2025 +++

Issue Nº 01Cologne, 13 October 2026Text and photos: Kilian Amrehn

Refugees · Lead story · Moldova 2022 Europe’s poorest country opens its border What remains is a feeling. The feeling that we are not doing enough and they do not have enough. A day in the camps on the Ukrainian border, commissioned by Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft.

Mother with a baby in her arms and a child by her side in front of a house in a sunny courtyard, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn — Moldova, 2022. A mother with her baby in her arms and her child by her side. Photo: Kilian Amrehn

Schoolchildren in white shirts smiling and waving in a group in front of a temple complex, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Travel · Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia 2017 Through Their Eyes Burma and Thailand, December 2017. No shared language, only looks that stay with you.

Demonstrators carrying a banner quoting the last tree and money that cannot be eaten, black and white, Hambach Forest 2018, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Protest · Rhineland and Cologne 50,000 against the diggers

Nº 01 · RefugeesText and photos: Kilian Amrehn · commissioned by Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft

What remains is a feeling

Fact box: Place · Republic of Moldova, border with Ukraine; Date · May 2022; Client · Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft; Published in · Kindernothilfe, Tagesspiegel

WMoldova, 2022 · hat remains is a feeling. The feeling that we are not doing enough and they do not have enough. After a day in refugee camps, at the border with Ukraine, in conversations with refugees, in warehouses and other facilities, what I feel above all is admiration.

Admiration for the women who run most of the facilities and camps. For the energy. For the warmth and kindness in a time of need, while a war goes on a few kilometres away. Europe’s poorest country lets 450,000 refugees through. That is almost a fifth of its entire population. The Republic of Moldova left a deep impression on me.

“We are not doing enough,
and they do not have enough.”

Dining hall with wooden ceiling and colourful decorations, women and children at tables, kitchen helper with trolley, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Older man in a wheelchair handing a toy to a girl in a pink dress, common room, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Smiling older man on a chair with a girl in a white dress on his lap, green wooden door, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Two women standing in a warehouse among stacked donation boxes and bags, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Little girl in a butterfly sweater smiling through a wire mesh fence, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Rows of white and orange tents on a meadow, seen from a vehicle window, blue sky, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Woman hugging a laughing girl in a rainbow shirt under a parasol, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Boy standing in a garden with hedges in front of two flags on poles, deep blue sky, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Bright common room with wooden pillars and orange curtains, children playing on the rug, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Older man in a red and grey shirt with a girl on his lap looking at a tablet, green door, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Girl with braids in a pink dress showing a toy to a woman on a bed, shelf with soft toys, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Young helper in a green vest and a woman with curly hair handing out food at a table, tent with shelves, refugee shelter in Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Stop War poster with a blue and yellow heart by the roadside, cars and apartment towers in evening light, Moldova 2022, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Nº 01 · Travel · Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia 2017Text and photos: Kilian Amrehn

Through Their Eyes

My trip through Burma and Thailand stirred a lot in me. Since then I have regularly questioned my Eurocentric view. With these pictures I want to pass that feeling on. I travel as an outsider through a world that is foreign to me. I am not used to being looked at as a minority. Instead of rejection, I find openness and curiosity.

Burma is a young country. That is one reason I turned my lens on its young people. Fittingly, I travel on a bus called the “New Generation Express”. While the rest of the country feels slow and almost nostalgic, the modern coach tears along roads that are still being built. Anyone who cannot keep up is run over.

The children probably ask themselves the same questions I do: who are you, and what are you doing here? We have no words in common, so looking through the camera works all the better. I sense a lightness in their eyes that I find hard to grasp in this foreign world. Children do not see the heaviness. Children are here one moment and somewhere else entirely the next.

MyanmarBurma · December 2017

“Those looks straight into the camera are moments I will never forget.”

Monks in red robes walking past white stupas in front of a cliff with a golden pagoda, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Sign reading Ladies are not allowed to climb on a white wall in front of a red temple with golden spires, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Laughing woman in a dark red jacket holding a chick in her hands, warm light, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Laughing young women on a white scooter on a tree-lined country road, backlight, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Street with shops, power lines and trucks in soft morning light, sacks by the roadside, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Woman preparing small green parcels at a kiosk, a boy looking into the camera, lamp light, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn — **Exhibited 2021** · **Betel Boy.** A little boy pays more attention to me than to his mother, who sits beside him portioning out betel.

Dense swarm of flying animals above a river with a bridge against a violet evening sky, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Two wooden boats with people on a wide lake in front of hills and haze, black and white, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Young woman with a stack of colourful plastic bowls in front of a house with a tin roof, palm trees, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Worker resting in the shade beside a road roller on a gravel road between trees, black and white, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Grey cat on a tiled floor in front of a man in a striped shirt, shoes left on a wall, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Young people playing with a ball over a net on a muddy pitch, seen from a moving train, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn — **Exhibited 2021** · **When I grow up, I’ll be a footballer.** Barefoot on muddy ground, they play out the dream of making it.

Group of men in white shirts sitting beside railway tracks in front of a wall, black and white, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Boy holding on to the outside of a moving train, curving track and a high-rise, black and white, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Laughing driver in the cab of an old turquoise truck, trees in evening light, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Older man in a white shirt and checked sarong with folded arms in front of a red brick ruin, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

People on the back of a small white truck in the shade of trees, monk statues along the edge, Myanmar 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Context · as of October 2026 A country between two dictatorships

When I was in Myanmar in December 2017, the country felt as if it was opening up. The military had ruled for almost fifty years. Now, for the first time in decades, there was a freely elected government, and it was led by a woman, Aung San Suu Kyi. She had fought the generals, spent fifteen years under house arrest and received the Nobel Peace Prize for it.

I noticed that many older people spoke good English, while the young barely spoke any. The older ones had gone to school before military rule. The younger ones grew up in the dictatorship, where English barely mattered at school.

In exactly those months, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled from the west of the country to Bangladesh. The Rohingya are a Muslim minority that Myanmar does not recognise as citizens. The military had burned down their villages. In the places I visited, I saw almost none of it. To this day it reminds me what a luxury it is to travel through a country as a tourist.

In February 2021 the military staged another coup and locked up Aung San Suu Kyi. Young people above all took to the streets, and the military shot at them. It became a civil war, with the army on one side and resistance groups and the armed groups of ethnic minorities on the other. Today the army controls only 30 to 40 per cent of the country. More than 90,000 people have died since the coup, and around 3.5 million have been displaced inside the country.

At the end of 2025 the military held elections. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party was not allowed to run, and in many regions there was no vote at all because of the fighting. The military’s party won. In April 2026 Min Aung Hlaing, the general who led the coup, was elected president. Aung San Suu Kyi is now said to be under house arrest. No one can verify this.

The children in these pictures are young adults today. They spent their youth in this war.

Sources: SWP-Aktuell 2026/A 05 (February 2026), AP and Anadolu (April 2026), NPR (April 2026)

ThailandDecember 2017

Thailand was the most touristy place on my trip. That made it feel safe, but the tourists shape the cities so much that hardly any adventure is left. So I looked all the harder for the moments that are not made for us.

Young man sitting on steps in a hall of corrugated iron and building debris, strip of light, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn — **Exhibited 2021** · **Boy on the building site.** He earns little and has never heard of protective gear, but he still wears a Nike shirt.

Man in a cap sitting at the edge of a moving river boat, high-rise and evening sun, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Night market with blue umbrellas, a woman and a man cooking at lit food stalls, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Red and white city bus beneath dense power lines, high-rises in the background, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Street kitchen at night with steam and colourful lights, cook wearing a horned helmet in flag colours, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Old corner building with curved window fronts under a tangle of power cables, street signs, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Multi-lane road with car lights at night between high-rises and an elevated railway, view from above, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Crowded ferry with monks in orange robes docking at a pier beneath a bridge, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Small boy looking over a board behind a folding metal gate, sandals in front, black and white, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

River with boats at dusk in front of a skyline and temple roof, pink sky, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Family sitting on the wooden deck of a stilt house by a canal, reflection in the water, black and white, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Woman and child on a scooter beside a helmeted motorcyclist, street at dusk, Thailand 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn — **Exhibited 2021** · **Reckless on two wheels.** What lies behind us sometimes deserves more attention than what is still to come.

Context · as of October 2026 Voting is not enough

When I was in Thailand in December 2017, the military was in power. It had staged a coup in 2014. A few weeks before my trip, King Bhumibol, who had been on the throne for seventy years, had been cremated. The whole country had been in mourning for a year.

Since then a pattern keeps repeating: people vote for change, and the courts or the military stop it. In 2020 tens of thousands of young people took to the streets and even criticised the king. In Thailand that can mean up to fifteen years in prison. In 2023 a young reform party won the election, was not allowed to govern and was later banned by the constitutional court.

The same court then removed two heads of government. The latest, in 2025, was Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of a former prime minister. In the middle of a border dispute with Cambodia, she had spoken on the phone with its long-time strongman, and the call was made public. Shortly afterwards the two countries exchanged fire at the border. In February 2026 the conservative Anutin Charnvirakul won the snap election comfortably.

Sources: Al Jazeera (August 2025), Khaosod English (February 2026)

MalaysiaKuala Lumpur · December 2017

Women in headscarves on scooters in front of tall apartment blocks with balconies, overcast sky, Malaysia 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Night market stall with skewers under bright lamps, man grilling, orange awning, Malaysia 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Street corner with a man holding a Justice for All Go Vegan sign beside a police officer and a bicycle, high-rises, Malaysia 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Man holding incense sticks in front of golden vessels in a red temple, smoke in the air, Malaysia 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Wide empty street in front of a colonial building with copper domes and clock tower, high-rises behind, Malaysia 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Monkey balancing on an iron railing next to green wheelie bins, tiled pavement, Malaysia 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Glass facade reflecting two twin towers, palms and branches against a blue sky, low angle, Malaysia 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Elevated train with glowing headlights heading toward the skyline at dusk, turquoise sky, Malaysia 2017, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Context · as of October 2026 The scandal that brought down a government

When I was in Malaysia, Najib Razak was in power. He was caught up in one of the biggest corruption scandals in the world. Billions had vanished from the state fund 1MDB, and some of the money even paid for the Hollywood film “The Wolf of Wall Street”.

In May 2018 he was voted out. It was the first change of government since independence in 1957. The new prime minister was the then 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, who had already led the country for 22 years. Najib went to prison. In December 2025 he was sentenced to a further fifteen years in the main 1MDB trial.

Anwar Ibrahim has been in power since 2022. He spent years in prison himself, after trials that many saw as politically motivated.

Sources: New Straits Times (December 2025)

Protest · Rhineland lignite district

50,000 against the diggers

Two protests, one mining district. In October 2018, 50,000 people gather at Hambach Forest. A year later, Fridays for Future marches to the Garzweiler open-pit mine. Both times the fight is over forests and entire villages set to disappear for lignite.

Hambach Forest · October 2018

People on the mine edge, a huge bucket-wheel excavator in the pit, panorama, black and white, Hambach Forest 2018, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Person with a backpack holding an I like trees sign in front of a field and bucket-wheel excavator, blue sky, Hambach Forest 2018, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Crowd standing close to the edge of the open-pit mine, looking into the pit, black and white, Hambach Forest 2018, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Demonstrators with green flags on a sandy ridge above the open-pit mine, blue sky, Hambach Forest 2018, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Steel boom of an excavator above the mine pit with parked cars below, black and white, Hambach Forest 2018, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Bucket-wheel excavator on red-brown sand in the open-pit mine under a blue sky with clouds, Hambach Forest 2018, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Garzweiler · 2019

Wooden crosses for Immerath and Borschemich. Both villages were demolished to make way for the mine.

Man with curly hair and sunglasses holding a Don't Fuck With Mother Nature sign in a seated crowd, Fridays for Future Garzweiler 2019, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Demonstrators with green Fridays for Future flags walking along a grain field, summer light, Garzweiler 2019, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Line of police walking along a field path, onlookers' heads in the foreground, black and white, Fridays for Future Garzweiler 2019, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Place-name signs of villages lost to mining, with crosses and a wreath behind a wire fence, cemetery of destroyed villages, Garzweiler 2019, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

People at the edge looking into the open-pit mine with bucket-wheel excavator and terraces, Fridays for Future Garzweiler 2019, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Context · as of October 2026 What has remained

The day before the big demonstration in October 2018, a court in Münster had provisionally halted the clearing of Hambach Forest. Since 2020 the coal phase-out law has stated that the forest should be preserved.

In 2022 the federal government, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the energy company RWE agreed to stop mining lignite in the Rhineland by 2030 instead of 2038. As a result, five villages at the Garzweiler mine remain standing: Keyenberg, Kuckum, Ober- and Unterwestrich and Berverath. Lützerath, however, was cleared and dug away in January 2023.

Since 2025 the plan has been to bring the five saved villages back to life. Of the roughly 500 people who once lived there, only a few have stayed.

Sources: RWE and the town of Erkelenz (2025)

Cologne · 6 June 2020

Black Lives Matter

A stand against institutional racism. 10,000 people on the banks of the Rhine in Cologne.

Police officers in face masks among demonstrators and protest signs, black and white, Black Lives Matter Cologne 2020, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Thousands sitting on the Rhine meadow in front of the Severin Bridge and Kranhaus buildings, protest signs, Black Lives Matter Cologne 2020, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Demonstrator with a sign standing on a basketball hoop above the crowd, Kranhaus buildings behind, black and white, Black Lives Matter Cologne 2020, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Demonstrators with masks and signs, blurred foreground with a Peace sign, black and white, Black Lives Matter Cologne 2020, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Dense crowd along the Rhine bank in front of the Severin Bridge, wide view, black and white, Black Lives Matter Cologne 2020, reportage by Kilian Amrehn

Egypt · 2023

Under the stars

One of my biggest dreams was to see the pyramids. They are the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing. So we went. And then further into the desert, where we slept under the stars.