© 2024 | Jefferson Public Radio
Southern Oregon University
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, OR 97520
541.552.6301 | 800.782.6191
a service of Southern Oregon University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

How Punk Rock Helped The Wall Fall

Jurek Durczak, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2982346

Johnny Rotten had it easy in England. Try being an East German punk with the Stasi looking over your shoulder.

Tim Mohr, Berlin-based DJ, translator and music scholar, has written a history of the underground punk scene in East Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, called Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

Punk rock didn't come close to sinking capitalism in the West. But it played a major role in bringing down the East German regime, says Mohr. 

The oppression punk rockers felt from the East German government says a lot about why the Berlin Wall came down.  The author visits with the story.
 

Stay Connected
Geoffrey Riley is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has hosted the Jefferson Exchange on JPR since 2009. He's been a broadcaster in the Rogue Valley for more than 35 years, working in both television and radio.