“The problem in the DDR wasn't No Future, the rallying cry of British Punk. As Planlos guitarist Kobs liked to say, the problem in East Germany was Too Much Future.” PunkEast GermanyDdrNo Future Book:Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall Source: Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
“Kids in tje East had also grown up with a genuine sense of fear that the world might actually come to an end during their lifetime. That it probably would in fact. For some this fueled nihilistic feelings - one reason Toster from Die Anderen, for instance, never got deeply political was because he stopped giving a shit.” PunkCold WarBerlinBerlin WallEast GermanyDdrGdrEast Berlin Book:Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall Source: Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
“And as the Stasi began to pay more and more attention to the new network, they made the same mistake they had when trying to break up the punk scene a few years before: they sought to identify leaders and focus on undermining them. The Stasi assumed every organisation had a top-down structure like the Stasi, like the Party, like the dictatorship.” PunkBerlinEast GermanyDdrGdrEast BerlinStasi Book:Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall Source: Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
“In hindsight, it's seen as inevitable that the two Germany's would reunite. But none of the people who had laid the groundwork for the fall-those who had started the tremors and endured the security forces' brutality-envisioned a unified Germany. Those people had sacrificed their places in society for the chance to form a new one, something different and distinct, an independent East Germany built form scratch. The hadn't looked to the West for inspiration before, and none of them looked to the West for salvation now that the border was open.” PunkBerlinBerlin WallCounter CultureDdrGdrEast Berlin Book:Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall Source: Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
“The ethos of East Berlin punk infused the city with a radical egalitarianism and a DIY approach to maintaining independence-to conjuring up the world you want to live in regardless of the situation or surroundings.” PunkBerlinBerlin WallDiyDdrGdrEast Berlin Book:Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall Source: Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
“She just wanted to be herself, and doing, saying, reading and writing the things that would have made her feel like herself were all verboten.” PunkBerlinBerlin WallDdrGdrEast BerlinNo Future Book:Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall Source: Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall