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A review by fierkej
Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall by Tim Mohr
5.0
I wouldn’t say that this book is particularly well-written— the narrative is choppy and awkward for most of the book, but the material is fascinating and you can tell that the author is passionate about his subject, which makes it an engaging page-turner.
This book speaks to my soul as a German-American whose family was separated by the DDR. I grew up with stories of the brutality of the Stasi and the powerlessness and paranoia many East German residents felt. I was not aware that there was such a diverse and openly subversive community rallying for change in the DDR before reading this book, and I am retroactively grateful to the punks for helping to bring about the circumstances that reunited my family at great cost to their safety.
Even though the punk vision of the end of the DDR has been largely erased by development and the larger narrative of a “finally unified” Germany, I realized after reading Burning down the Haus that the remnants of this eastern punk are what I love about Berlin and other cities in the former DDR. I went to school down the street from Tacheles in its last few years and though I was too shy to make an appearance there, I loved walking by on nights when the Kino was showing a movie and observing the communal spirit. Even Frankfurt Oder, the small city where Antitrott got its start, retains a punk spirit through its public art and church-based political groups. I can only hope that the popularity of Burning Down the Haus promotes wider discussion of East German counter culture and the nuances of reunification, 30 years later.
This book speaks to my soul as a German-American whose family was separated by the DDR. I grew up with stories of the brutality of the Stasi and the powerlessness and paranoia many East German residents felt. I was not aware that there was such a diverse and openly subversive community rallying for change in the DDR before reading this book, and I am retroactively grateful to the punks for helping to bring about the circumstances that reunited my family at great cost to their safety.
Even though the punk vision of the end of the DDR has been largely erased by development and the larger narrative of a “finally unified” Germany, I realized after reading Burning down the Haus that the remnants of this eastern punk are what I love about Berlin and other cities in the former DDR. I went to school down the street from Tacheles in its last few years and though I was too shy to make an appearance there, I loved walking by on nights when the Kino was showing a movie and observing the communal spirit. Even Frankfurt Oder, the small city where Antitrott got its start, retains a punk spirit through its public art and church-based political groups. I can only hope that the popularity of Burning Down the Haus promotes wider discussion of East German counter culture and the nuances of reunification, 30 years later.