I'VE NEVER SEEN A SWAN ON THE TOILET. MEMORIES FROM 30 YEARS OF CONNE ISLAND - BOOK

Conne Island in Leipzig has been around for 30 years. "I've never seen a swan in the toilet" presents the history of the left-wing cultural center from biographical perspectives. It tells of the early days in the 90s, when Nazis were sometimes "given a good beating," of what it was like to be a punk in East Germany, or how it feels to be the only Black person at a hardcore concert. A skater tells how he found his favorite hobby, a DJ how she would never have thought of spinning records without Conne Island, or an activist why she turned her back on the place. Of course, a reflection on the weekly Monday plenum and the culture of debate in such a book cannot be missing.

The book looks at left-wing socialization in East and West Germany and reconstructs debates and discussions of recent years from a personal perspective. The memories not only provide a glimpse into youth and subcultures of the last 30 years, but also tell the story of East Germany from a left-wing perspective.