| 1941 |
Born in Berlin on 29 August as Sibylle Emma Luise Pohl. |
| 1958 |
Starts training for a clerical profession, then works for eight years as a secretary in various offices and factories; from 1965, works for the monthly Das Magazin. |
| from 1966 |
Though not enrolled, Bergemann occasionally attends photography classes given by Arno Fischer at the School of Fine and Applied Arts in Weissensee (now weissensee kunsthochschule berlin). |
| from 1967 |
Bergemann's first commissions for 'Sonntag',
a weekly newspaper with a focus on art and literature, launch her freelance career as a photographer. |
| 1967–1975
|
Together with Arno Fischer, she runs the 'Club Junger Meister' under the aegis of the Berlin County Photography Commission. |
| 1968 |
Exhibition in Berlin City Library with Arno Fischer, Elisabeth Meinke, Brigitte Voigt and Michael Weidt; Bergemann shows photographs from her series 'Fenster' ('Windows'). |
| 1969 |
Sibylle Bergemann, Arno Fischer, Elisabeth Meinke, Roger Melis, Brigitte Voigt and Michael Weidt form a loose alliance called 'Gruppe Direkt', so that they can take part in the international photography exhibition Interklub 69 at the Kulturhaus in Potsdam. |
| 1970–1995 |
Works as a fashion and portrait photographer for 'Sibylle', the 'magazine for fashion and culture'. |
| 1972 |
Joins the German League of Culture as a picture journalist. |
| 1973 |
In addition to their flat on Hannoversche Strasse, Bergemann and Arno Fischer rent three rooms in Schloss Hoppenrade, a manor house in Brandenburg (until 1979). |
| 1975–1986 |
Bergemann is commissioned by the East German Ministry of Culture to 'document the genesis of the Marx-Engels Monument', recording the process with her camera over a period of eleven years; the series Das Denkmal ('The Monument') will be one of her most important works. |
| 1976-2004 |
Together with Arno Fischer and daughter Frieda, she moves into a spacious pre-war apartment at Schiffbauerdamm 12 in the borough of Mitte; like Hannoversche Strasse and Schloss Hoppenrade, 'Schiff’damm' becomes a base for a vibrant national and international community of photographers and for a school of photography. |
| 1978 |
On 27 September she is admitted to the Association of Fine Artists (VBK) of the GDR as a photographer in the Applied Graphics section. |
| 1987 |
Publication of her first monographic catalogue, Immer derselbe Himmel, to accompany her exhibition at the Johannes R. Becher Club in Berlin. |
| 1987-1990 |
Bergemann observes with her camera as Heiner Müller directs Der Lohndrücker (1988), Hamlet (1990) and Die Hamletmaschine (1990) at the Deutsches Theater. |
| 1990 |
Together with Harald Hauswald, Ute Mahler, Werner Mahler, Jens Rötzsch, Thomas Sandberg and Harf Zimmermann, she establishes 'Ostkreuz – Agentur der Fotografen'. |
| from 1990 |
Bergemann receives commissions from newspapers and magazines such as 'Geo', 'Die Zeit', 'Spiegel', 'Stern' and 'The New York Times Magazine'. |
| from 1994 |
Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin. |
| from 1995 |
Bergemann receives various grants and awards, including a bursary from the Körber-Stiftung, Hamburg, in 1995, and from the Senate Department for Higher Education, Research and Culture, Berlin, in 1997. |
| 1997-2009 |
With her camera, Bergemann observes productions by Theater RambaZamba, including Woyzeck(en) – nach dem Fragment von Büchner (1997), Medea – der tödliche Wettbewerb (1997) and Mongopolis – Fisch oder Ente (2003). |
| 1997-2009 |
Beginning of a long-lasting partnership with Geo, resulting by 2009 in twenty photographic suites (Geo Special, Geo Wissen). |
| 2005-2010 |
Bergemann teaches first at the Fotografie am Schiffbauerdamm school, later at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie. |
| 2010 |
Sibylle Bergemann dies at the age of sixty-nine on November 1st in Margaretenhof. |
