Berlinshire at the GDR Disco

Berlinshire at the GDR Disco

In the German Democratic Republic, DJs weren’t called DJs. In order to distinguish themselves from their capitalist neighbours in the West, the East Germans invented their own vernacular for certain things. So, in the East, you didn’t eat hamburgers and hot dogs, you ate grilletta and ketwurst. And in East Germany you weren’t a DJ, you were a Schallplattenunterhalter (SPU)- a recorded disc entertainer, or later in the 1980s, a Diskomoderator - a disco presenter.
Like every other profession in East Germany, DJ-ing or ‘disco moderating’, had to be state-approved. In order to perform in public, you had to undergo official DJ ‘training’, pass a test, an exam, and then you’d get a DJ-ing permit, which was valid for two years.
In Berlinshire at the GDR Disco, I talked to Andreas Vendt-Schmidt, a former SPU from Cottbus in East Germany, about entertaining communist bureaucrats, East German Rick Astleys and music quotas behind the Iron Curtain.

Berlinshire is presented and produced by Maisie Hitchcock, and broadcast on Resonance FM in London

Berlinshire at the Palast

Berlinshire at the Palast

The Palast der Republik, East Berlin’s former peoples’ palace and parliament, is currently being demolished. Whilst many Berliners won’t be mourning its passing, not everyone is happy to see ‘Erich’s Lampenladen’ (Eric’s Lampshop) go. Despite also housing the government, the PDR had been a highly successful cultural centre and a popular meeting point. Many believed that the Palast’s role as a cultural focal point in central Berlin could be permanently revived. After years of standing empty, it had recently re-opened temporarily for exhibitions and concerts, meeting a great deal of success. But around the same time, the Berlin senate finally announced concrete (ahem) plans for the Palast’s demolition.

On a freezing afternoon in November 2005, I joined the protestors on one of the last ‘Pro-Palast’ demonstrations, and they told me about why they thought this ’steel and glass shell of a building’ was worth saving. Berlinshire at the Palast was broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM in London in March 2008.

(Voiceovers (Vielen, vielen Dank!): Barbara Scheuermann, Elijah, Claudia, Guenther Spiegel, Isabel Gahren, Manja Hellpap)

Berlinshire inside the Bunker

 

Berlinshire inside the Bunker

Resonance FM broadcast two bunker-tastic Berlinshire Micro Clearspots on 17th/18th December 2007.

In May 2007, I visited the Story of Berlin, a museum located just off shoppers’ paradise Ku’damm, and the site of a large nuclear bunker. This converted car park and JG Ballard-esque spook chamber is still fully functional, and was one of 11 bunkers built in West Berlin to accommodate a paltry percentage of the population in the event of a nuclear war.

In part one, guide Maritta Horwarth talks to me about living conditions, air supplies, and chances of survival inside the Atombunker. And in the second part of our tour, we chat about plumbing, airlocks, and handy ways of protecting yourself from a nuclear blast.

 

 

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