Thorsten Philipp - short interview about the history of DDR punk :: His brief punk history in the GDR (15.3. 2026)

Short interview about punk scene in DDR/GDR with Thorsten.

In 1983, he moved to Berlin to study nursing at a technical college, while also working as a sound engineer for a church band under the auspices of the Evangelical Diakonie (a Protestant social welfare organization).

Hi Thorsten, 

I have a few questions about the East German punk scene.

1. The punk lifestyle in East Germany was characterized by state repression. What were the biggest problems? 

I dropped out of my vocational training and started an apprenticeship with the Protestant Church. Since this church invested heavily in the dilapidated East German healthcare system, employees weren't harassed. These apprenticeships were very rare and highly sought after. In my case, it was a vocational school program in nursing.

2. The system—schools and police—suppressed any signs of nonconformity. How did you manage to break through this "barbed wire fence"? 

See 1.

3. You was part of the Berlin scene. What opportunities were there to start a punk band? What were the rehearsal spaces and recording facilities like? You're currently working on remixes/remastering and restoring archival recordings and demo tapes. Which bands would you recommend? One of my most important sources of information on East German punk is the blog TAPE ATTACK. Are you involved there? I also remember the label Tape Utopia, which also promoted the former East German scene. Do you have any contact with them?

All the rehearsal spaces I know of were in vacant buildings. Bands were practically illegal unless they were under the auspices of the Free German Youth (FDJ). Bands were formed within one's circle of friends and acquaintances. Recordings in my area (until 1985) took place in rehearsal rooms using boomboxes and built-in microphones. Armin Bautz and I were among the very few who had converted a rehearsal room into a kind of recording studio. I don't work with Tape Attack. I'm not familiar with Tape Utopia. You can see my music biography here:

https://parocktikum.de/wiki/index.php?title=Thorsten_Philipp

4. Concerts also took place in church gardens and churches. Were some members of the punk scene religious, or was it simply due to the church's willingness to help those persecuted? 

More the latter.

5. How much pressure did the secret police exert on the punk movement? I know that, for example, some members of L'ATTENTAT gave in to the pressure and cooperated.

There are many stories about this. From banning the band to revoking their playing licenses to influencing employers to fire them, many things were possible. Musicians like Jana Schloßer were even imprisoned for 1.5 years just for their lyrics. There were many musicians who cooperated, worked as informants for the secret police, or toned down their lyrics.

6. Where did the band recordings, demo tapes, etc., come from? Did you have contact with the West beyond the Wall? Are you a collector of recordings? Which recording in your collection do you consider the most interesting?

https://parocktikum.de/wiki/index.php?title=Thorsten_Philipp

Happy Straps, Rosa Extra, Trötsch Tröger, Hard Pop, Der demokratische Konsum Yes, I collect recordings; I had no contacts in the West.

7. Please explain the term "Church from Below." Could you describe its activities? How did it come about that the church became so open to nonconformist punks? 

The Church from Below (KvU) was an oppositional, grassroots democratic movement, primarily within the Protestant Church in East Germany, which took on a clear shape from around 1986/87 and was active until 1989/90. Origin & Background: Many younger Christians, grassroots groups, peace circles, and nonconformist youths were frustrated by the official church leadership's perceived overly state-oriented and conformist stance ("Church in Socialism," diplomacy towards the SED and the state).

[The sentence about Church from Below is incomplete and appears to be a fragment from a different source.] They demanded a prophetic and critical church, one that emerged from below, instead of hierarchical conformity. The decisive impetus for its founding came in 1987:

Several grassroots groups announced their intention to hold an alternative "Church Congress from Below" (some even threatening occupation), because they had been excluded from or severely restricted by the official Protestant Church Congress.

The counter-convention of the Church Congress at the Pentecostal Church in Berlin-Friedrichshain was a great success (approximately 6,000 attendees). From this emerged the Church from Below, a loose association with regional groups (primarily in Berlin, but also elsewhere). Its content and demands (typical):

Criticism of the Church leadership's accommodation of the established order

"Jesus comes from below" – preferential option for the poor, marginalized, and oppressed.

Linking peace, justice, and the preservation of creation (specifically: antimilitarism, ecology, human rights, and democracy) 

Open youth work, punk and alternative scene, blues masses, and concerts 

More radical language and actions than the official Peace Decade Significance 1988–1989: The Church from Below was among the most visible and radical parts of the church's opposition base (alongside the International Movement for Peace, The Ark, the Solidarity Church, and others). 

Criticism of the Church from Below was a key element of the Church's opposition movement. She was an important part of that church-based counter-public sphere which, in 1989, supported the peace prayers, Monday demonstrations, and the change of system.

Painting by Yves Drube

Thanx. Mišo

CD_1 trade - KONTAJNER AD/KUD IDIJOTI/PADOT NA VIZANTIJA/SARACENI/RADNIČKA KONTROLLA/TOŽI BABE

CD from old trades, from Heiko Lange.

Download: https://www.uschovna.cz/zasilka/UUP4VR5B49BNHKZB-M55/

Czeck also: https://muzika-komunika.blogspot.com/2026/03/cd-badmingtonsblitzkrieggrupa.html

Nova Generacia - Отвъд Смъртта (1992 DS Music)

 

New Generation - bulharský post punk/cold-wave.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kBG1kMlMvZovVwBnPn3ZX6uPH5o_N_0vQ&si=xeWnwiknRb8vaZAV

Tequilajazzz - Maximinor (1993)

TEQUILAJAZZ - post-core/punk-jazz/crorssover z Petrohradu.

CD trade - BADMINGTONS/BLITZKRIEG/GRUPA 92/HOGARI/KBO!

Výmeny/trades.

Objavil som v krabici staré CD s nahrávkami z rôznych výmen, ktoré som roky zvykol robievať.

Dnes prvé CD, punková muzika z Balkánu, Macedónsko, Chorvátsko, Slovinsko, Srbsko.

Heiko Lange (Nemecko), vďaka.

---------------------------

I found an old CD in a box with recordings from exchanges I used to do years ago.

Today, the first CD. 

Heiko Lange, thank you.

DOWNLOAD:

https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/c5586e90-c554-4f1b-8987-a023d74bbad1

КИНО - Сессия в МДТ и Акустика (Live 1982-1983)/KINO - Session at MDT and Acoustic Live 1982-1983

КИНО - Сессия в МДТ и Акустика (Live 1982-1983)/KINO - Session at MDT and Acoustic Live 1982-1983

Nėrius Pečiūra - interview about the history of Lithuanian punk (2026)

Nėrius Pečiūra - interview about the history of Lithuanian punk 

Nėrius Pečiūra (born January 8, 1967 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian journalist, editor, television director and screenwriter, composer, and radio presenter.

Nėrius Pečiūra at the concert/festival Rock March, Vilnius, 1988.

Biography

He studied at Secondary School No. 23 in Vilnius. Since 1984, he has been studying at the Faculty of History at Vilnius University. From 1993 to 1995, he edited the newspaper Ne vien rock ir pop. From 1995 to 1997, he was the editor of the weekly newspaper and, since 1996, the magazine Muzikos lietus. He works as the director of the public institution Kultūros kryptys.

Musical activities

Nėrius Pečiūra in the second Rock March. Vilnius, 1988. Under the pseudonym Atsuktuvas, he was one of the ideologists and inspirers of the Lithuanian punk movement. From 1986 to 1987, he played with Varveklis (Vikintas Darius Šimanskas) in the punk band WC. From 1988 to 1989, he led the punk band "Už Tėvynė". In 1988, he participated in the "Rock March through Lithuania".

MK - questions

NP - answers

1. When can the birth of punk subculture in Lithuania be dated?

The punk movement, punk fashion in Lithuania appeared in the early 80s. Schoolchildren and students began to wear tight pants, shave their sideburns like Gary Numan and wear cheap leather Soviet pensioners' sandals - this was the beginning of Lithuanian punk. And on the twenty-sixth of November 1983, the first Lithuanian punk rock band "Sa-Sa." held its first concert at the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University. Therefore, 1983 can be considered the year of birth of Lithuanian punk culture. The first concert of "Sa-Sa." is a clear and indisputable historical fact.

2. Who were the pioneers of this genre? Which bands? 

"Sa-Sa." existed from 1983 to 1989. In 1994, the "Zona records" division released their only album. In this way, "Sa-Sa." remained in history and became a legend. In 1986, Varveklis-Icicle (Vikintas Darius Šimanskas) created the band "WC". I was the guitarist of "WC". "WC" existed from 1986 to 1997. Later, in 1988, about 10-20 new punk rock groups appeared.

https://zonarecords.bandcamp.com/album/pankrokas

3. When did you get involved in the scene? What were your influences? 

I was born in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, in 1967. I started punking in the early 80s. In 1986-1987 I played guitar in the band "WC". We were influenced not only by rock music, but by the desire to protest against the Soviet system. It seems to me that we became punks primarily because Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. It was a prison-type state and destroying it was our most important goal. So, that's what made Lithuanian punks in the 80s different from Western punks. We were patriots who dreamed of destroying the system. We dreamed of a free market, freedom of movement, freedom of speech and freedom of our country. And our dreams were 100 percent realized. We managed to change the world. The world we lived in. It is difficult for citizens of Western countries to understand the state when you do not have the right to freely create songs, when you are followed, controlled and persecuted by government structures. The Soviets banned everything. People were their slaves.

4. Did you have any contacts with other countries behind the Iron Curtain? I assume with Poland. And what about Czechoslovakia? 

There was no contact with Poland or beyond. However, the "Iron Curtain" was not a metaphor. It was a real thing, a reality.

Nėrius Pečiūra: Lithuania's Persecuted Punk-Rockers

5. Your band WC played in the 1980s. Can you write a brief history and list your released recordings? What bands have you played in? 

"WC" was formed in 1986. Because of which I was interrogated by the KGB, they asked me such nonsense as "who writes the lyrics for your band". In 1987 we made records that were released only in 1995 (Zona records or some of their labels) on the audio cassette "Pankrokas". Only in 2025 was a vinyl with "WC" songs released. While the Soviet Union existed and Lithuania was occupied, releasing punk rock records on cassette or vinyl was economically impossible. Because the economy was fully controlled by the state. Publishing your own newspaper, audio cassette or vinyl was a criminal and political crime from the Soviet point of view. And, for example, publishers of underground press were imprisoned in prisons in Siberia.

Since 1988 I have been playing in the classic punk rock band "Už Tėvynę". And my later musical experiments were under the name "UTV".

6. Was Lithuania persecuted by the USSR? What impact did this have on punks and their opportunities to play concerts? 

In Soviet-occupied Lithuania, we lived like in a prison. People had no freedom of speech, no free economy, no private property. The police would arrest us on every corner for wearing punk clothes. The KGB persecuted us. In April 1988, the KGB officer who interrogated me threatened to put us in prison on some fabricated criminal charge. That's what he said: we won't put you in prison for politics, but we'll incriminate you, we'll invent, we'll fake some criminal offense.

The debut concert of "WC" in 1986 was illegal, it was not publicly announced.

SA-SA live 1988

7. The independent label ZONA records. How did it come about? Did you collaborate with them? 

"Zona records" as a publisher of Lithuanian underground music appeared later, I think, in the early 90s. I didn't collaborate with them, only in 1995 they released "WC" records.

8. Is there a website or institution dedicated to the history of independent punk music in Lithuania? Are there any books published in Lithuania on this topic? 

There is a website of the third generation of LT punks Ore.lt. It has existed since about 2000. It can contain a wide variety of materials on this topic.

Two books and two full-length documentaries have been published about the 80s LT punk generation, the band "WC", about the leader of "WC" Varveklis. His photographs are in Lithuanian school literature and history textbooks. He is a prominent historical figure of punk rock and youth resistance to the Soviets.

WC are playing at the concert. 

Cover of album released on ZONA rec.

9. I visited Kryžių kalnas, a powerful place. What was life like in socialist Lithuania? Was there strong Russification? How did you maintain your identity and your own culture? 

Quotes from the book "Varveklis, Strausas ir Drakonas":

..."The Soviet Union is a strict military totalitarian state that primarily terrorized its own citizens. Residents of occupied countries such as Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia were considered extremely unreliable bourgeois nationalists. It is a disgusting thing that people were strictly restricted - free thinking, freedom of creativity, the development of faith, intellect - the search for absolute truth were prohibited. Free economic activity was also strictly prohibited. This strongly bound and fettered people. The life of both people and the state was inferior and complex.

Therefore, the Soviet Union can be considered a prison-type state. And the KGB was a zealous executor of such a policy. Now the vocabulary of the KGB seems idiotic, but the methods of the State Security Committee were really vile and hypocritical. In treachery and cynicism, this organization surpassed all other organizations of this type known to history."...

..." The thinking of the generation of teenagers and young people of the eighties was partly shaped by The fact of the occupation of Lithuania. Which was always glossed over by official propaganda. Hidden and falsified in history textbooks full of nonsense. But in everyday life, in informal communication between people, the truth kept coming out like an awl from a bag. Varveklis's father listened to Western radio stations and read Shapoka's "History" to his children. The father of Varveklis's comrade Atsuktuvas was a lecturer in atheism at Vilnius University. That's why he wasn't afraid to visit churches, and often took his son with him. He would tell about the architecture, the paintings of saints, and sculptures. When he entered a Catholic church, he would smile and start the tour with his classic phrase:

- This is the only place where the language of scientific communism has not been introduced.

At breakfast, he would spread butter on black bread and mock Brezhnev's speeches.

- The economy must be economical. Translated into normal language, this means that butter must be buttered, - he would look closely at the sandwich lying on the plate.

The hatred of informal youth movements for the communists erupted in Kaunas in 1972. Then Romas Kalanta publicly burned himself. He was nineteen years old, he protested against the system. When the authorities tried to hide his funeral, demonstrations broke out, something like an anti-Soviet youth uprising. The most active participant in those events, a twenty-five-year-old young man, Vytautas Kaladė, was put in prison, became a political prisoner. Songs were composed about this. "O Romai, Romai, Kalanta, kada bus lasva Lithuania?" And that folklore was sung by children and teenagers with wooden guitars in the thick forests near the lakes - during tourist hikes around 1980."...

Vikintas Darius Simanskas, Nėrius Pečiūra and friends, 1986

10. What are you doing now? Are you still making music? Where do you play? Like solo interpret or with the band?

Now I am a professional underground artist, a performer of underground music. Every year I release my CDs and vinyls. Last year I had 50 concerts in Lithuania. These are small events, with about 50 people. The concerts take place in bars, courtyards of Vilnius Old Town, museums, ruins and other preferably strange places. I play mostly alone, I am too experienced to admire the organizational idea of ​​a rock band.

Nėrius Pečiūra

MK: Thank you