The north German seaport Hamburg was the city the Beatles played the most in years 1960-1962. The band played over 250 shows over there that later helped them rise to fame in the UK and in the world. 

Next month, the unseen letters, photos and other documents from that time, will go to auction. Some of the letters were sent to Astrid Kirchherr, a friend and photographer who took monochrome portraits of the band members before they were famous. She had been engaged to one of the band’s original group members Stuart Sutcliffe, who died in 1962. The letters were sent by the Band when they were back in the UK inviting Astrid to London. George Harrison asked her in writing  “to make him tea and give him cornflakes”.

As per Astrid’s close friend, Stefanie Hempel “all the Beatles were in love with her – partly, a sort of mother or elder sister love, and partly sexual”. She added “Astrid was so beautiful. But she also took care of them, looked after them in a spiritual and intellectual kind of way, as well as giving them a new awareness of themselves. It was much, much more than giving them their mop haircuts. In fact, she hated being known as the Beatles’ hairdresser”. Kirchherr died last year at the age of 82. 

The sale will happen on 5th May at Bonhams in London. Among the unseen letters that have been owned for many years by unidentified German, there will be a letter from McCartney about the release of their debut LP ‘Please Please Me’, drawings and poems that Astrid received from Lennon. The auction will also have Lennon’s German work permits and unseen pictures taken by a fan from 1962. Katherine Schofield from Bonhams said: “The Beatles’ time in Hamburg was absolutely crucial to them. It’s fair to say that they came to Germany as boys and left as men”.

The Beatles were founded in 1960 in Liverpool. Four members of the band: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star split in 1970 but are recognised as the most influential musicians of all times. They also hold the record of the most Number 1 albums in Official Chart history. Over the years the Beatles gained sixteen No.1 albums and seventeen No.1 singles in the UK alone. 

The full story of the Beatles in Hamburg can be watched in a movie from 1994: ‘Backbeat‘.