NEGATIVE-DECADENT - PUNK IN THE GDR - BOOK (BY ANNE HAHN AND FRANK WILLMANN)

negativ-dekadent

Punk in the GDR

Paperback, illustrated, 272 pages

When punk arrived in the GDR around 1980, it not only unsettled the so-called state organs, but also caused outrage among the conformists and philistines. Visually intended and understood as a provocation, a whole counter-culture emerged in some centres, complete with lifestyle and music, which was concerned with freedom and open spaces.

And just as punk in the GDR was a very different scene from city to city, from village to village, each with its own protagonists and peculiarities, this anthology is characterised by a variety of voices, stories next to anecdotes, factual analyses next to very personal reflections. "negativ-dekadent" sees itself as a historical bracket that aims to convey as much as possible of what provided at least some colour and a lot of confusion for ten years in this dictatorially ruled part of Germany.

With texts by Cornelia Schleime, Franziska Hauser, Jan Müller, Anne Hahn, Tim Mohr, Alexander Pehlemann, Jan Off, Ronald Galenza, Jochen Schmidt, Peter Wawerzinek, Heinz Havemeister, Iron Henning and many others. Some of the texts collected here have already appeared in out-of-print publications, some were written especially for this book. What they all have in common is that they reflect as much as possible of the reality of life made in GDR that went down in history.