[4] Hinzpeter was eager to become a doctor during his school days, but joined the Hamburg branch of ARD, Germany's regional public-service broadcaster, as the TV station cameraman in 1963, changing his career path to journalism.

[7] He recorded a large number of public security incidents under the Park Chung Hee regime and did interviews with Kim Young-sam, who was under house arrest just before the 18 May Democratic Uprising.

[5][6][7] On 19 May 1980, when the Democratic Uprising was in progress, Paul Schneiss, Pastor of the East Asia Germany Mission, arranged for Hinzpeter to go to Gwangju from Japan.

[6][9] Hinzpeter's film was immediately shared with many countries through the ARD, and it was incorporated in and broadcast as a documentary titled Korea standing at a crossroads in September of that year.

Covering protests at Gwanghwamun intersection in November 1986, the end of the republic, Hinzpeter was beaten by plainclothes officers and received a neck spine injury.

[5] The video taken by Hinzpeter at Gwangju was released in an episode of KBS 1TV's Sunday Special in 2003 entitled "May 1980 - Blue Eyed Witnesses" (Korean: 80년 5월 - 푸른 눈의 목격자).