Author Guide · Undercover Reportage
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For two years in the mid-1980s Günter Wallraff put on a black wig and dark contact lenses, called himself Ali and took the jobs Germany gave its Turkish workers: cleaning out the steelworks at Thyssen, working the grill at McDonald's, signing up as a test subject for drug trials. The book he wrote sold more than five million copies. Eight years earlier he had spent four months on the staff of the tabloid Bild as “Hans Esser”. This guide covers nine of his key books in order, with their English titles, and where to start.
By Lisanne Swart · 9 books · Undercover reportage · 1966–2009 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Günter Wallraff has published dozens of books since 1966, many of them collections and new editions of earlier reportage. This guide covers the nine key books, from Wir brauchen dich (1966) to Aus der schönen neuen Welt (2009), including the three books on Bild and Ganz unten (1985), published in English as Lowest of the Low. Only some of them have been translated, which shapes where English readers can start.
Where to Start with Günter Wallraff
If you want the famous one
→ Ganz unten (1985).
If you read German and want the scandal
→ Der Aufmacher (1977).
If you want the recent reportage
→ Aus der schönen neuen Welt (2009).
If you want to start where he started
→ Wir brauchen dich (1966).
All 9 Günter Wallraff Books, in Order
Wir brauchen dich
Wallraff worked on factory floors, including the Ford assembly line in Cologne, and wrote up what he saw for a metalworkers' union magazine; the reports were collected here and reissued in 1970 as Industriereportagen.
13 unerwünschte Reportagen
Thirteen reports in which Wallraff took on roles to get inside closed places: a homeless man in a shelter, a patient in a psychiatric institution, a worker in a chemical plant. Heinrich Böll praised the method for avoiding both jargon and false poetry.
Ihr da oben, wir da unten
Written with Bernt Engelmann: Engelmann wrote about the very rich at the top, and Wallraff went in at the bottom, taking low jobs inside large companies to show how they treated the people who worked for them.
Unser Faschismus nebenan
In 1974 Wallraff chained himself to a lamppost in Athens to protest against the Greek military junta, and was arrested, beaten and imprisoned until the regime collapsed a few months later. This book documents the protest and the dictatorship.
Der Aufmacher
Calling himself Hans Esser, Wallraff spent four months as a reporter in the Hannover office of Bild, Germany's biggest tabloid, and described how stories were invented and people's lives damaged for headlines. Axel Springer's company brought more than a dozen lawsuits; an uncensored edition appeared only in 2012. It is published in English as Lead Story.
Zeugen der Anklage
The second of his three books on Bild, gathering the accounts of people the paper had written about and the reaction to Der Aufmacher.
Das BILD-Handbuch bis zum Bildausfall
The third Bild book, completing what is often called his Bild trilogy.
Ganz unten
Disguised as a Turkish guest worker called Ali, Wallraff spent two years in the jobs left to migrants in West Germany: on subcontracted cleaning crews at the Thyssen steelworks, at McDonald's, as a human guinea pig in drug trials and on building sites. With more than five million copies sold and 38 translations, it is the most successful German nonfiction book since the war. It is published in English as Lowest of the Low, and was also filmed.
Aus der schönen neuen Welt
Wallraff went undercover again, in his sixties: in call centres, in a bakery making bread for the discount chain Lidl, where the workers' arms were covered in burns, as a homeless man through the winter of 2008–2009, and as a Black man, which became the film Schwarz auf Weiß. In English it is From the Brave New World.
How Many Books Did Günter Wallraff Write?
Dozens, counting the collections and new editions of earlier work. This guide covers the nine key books; the rest are listed below.
- Early reportage — Wir brauchen dich, 13 unerwünschte Reportagen and Ihr da oben, wir da unten. Read the entries →
- The Bild trilogy — Der Aufmacher (1977), Zeugen der Anklage (1979) and Das BILD-Handbuch (1981). Read the entries →
- The famous one — Ganz unten (1985), in English Lowest of the Low. Read the entries →
- Later work — Aus der schönen neuen Welt (2009) and the anthology he edited, Die Lastenträger (2014). See the full list →
In What Order to Read Günter Wallraff
His books are not a series. If you do not read German, start with Lowest of the Low, then Lead Story; most of the early reportage has never been fully translated into English.
A reading path
1. Ganz unten / Lowest of the Low (1985)
2. Der Aufmacher / Lead Story (1977)
3. Aus der schönen neuen Welt (2009)
4. 13 unerwünschte Reportagen (1969)
Everything Else Günter Wallraff Wrote: The Full List
Beyond the nine key books: a picture book on Bild and an anthology he edited. The books you can actually buy sit at the top of each form.
Open a form with the + to see every book in it.
More on Bild
1
1 book · 1985
- 1985Günter Wallraffs BILDerbucha picture-book companion to the Bild trilogy
As editor
1
1 book · 2014
Die Lastenträger: Arbeit im freien Fall (2014)
Reportage by Wallraff and his team on work at the bottom of the German economy, from parcel couriers to cleaners.
Amazon, Bookshop.org and more
Quick facts about Günter Wallraff
- Born
- October 1, 1942, Burscheid, near Cologne
- Lives
- Cologne
- Known for
- Undercover reportage under false identities
- Pseudonyms
- “Hans Esser” at Bild; “Ali” in Ganz unten
- Groups
- Member of Gruppe 61; co-founder of the Werkkreis Literatur der Arbeitswelt
- Best-seller
- Ganz unten: more than 5 million copies, 38 translations
- Awards
- Including the Literary Prize for Human Rights (France, 1985, shared with James Baldwin) and the Hermann Kesten Prize (2020)
- In Swedish
- His name became a verb: wallraffa, to investigate undercover
- Imprisoned
- In Greece in 1974, after protesting against the military junta
- Books
- 9 key books covered here, 1966–2009
How Günter Wallraff Works: Becoming Someone Else
Wallraff's method is disguise. Rather than interviewing workers, he becomes one, under a false name and often with a changed appearance, and stays long enough to be treated the way they are treated.
The method has always provoked legal battles. After Der Aufmacher, Axel Springer's company sued him repeatedly, and parts of the book stayed blacked out for decades even though Germany's highest courts ruled in his favour on the main points.
From Ganz unten onwards he worked with a team and with film: hidden cameras recorded much of what happened, and several of his projects became documentaries as well as books.
Frequently asked questions about Günter Wallraff's books
How many books has Günter Wallraff written?
Günter Wallraff has published dozens of books since 1966, many of them collections and new editions of earlier reportage. His key books include 13 unerwünschte Reportagen (1969), Der Aufmacher (1977), Ganz unten (1985) and Aus der schönen neuen Welt (2009).
What is Ganz unten about?
Ganz unten (1985) describes the two years Wallraff spent disguised as a Turkish guest worker called Ali, doing the dangerous and badly paid jobs left to migrants in West Germany. It sold more than five million copies and was translated into 38 languages.
Are Günter Wallraff's books available in English?
Some of them. Ganz unten was published in English as Lowest of the Low, Der Aufmacher as Lead Story, and Aus der schönen neuen Welt as From the Brave New World.
What did Günter Wallraff do at Bild?
In 1977 he joined the Hannover office of the tabloid Bild under the name Hans Esser and worked there for four months, then described in Der Aufmacher how the paper invented and distorted stories.
What does wallraffa mean?
In Swedish, wallraffa means to investigate undercover by taking on a false identity. The verb comes from Günter Wallraff's name.
Footnotes
- Günter Wallraff — Kiepenheuer & Witsch (rights)
- Günter Wallraff — Ulysseias, ILCML
- Günter Wallraff — Lernhelfer
- Lowest of the Low — guenter-wallraff.com
Bibliography last verified 1 October 2026.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
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