Marita Weiland (Germany, GDR, 1966): Traveling between two worlds with Pension Volkmann “Vollpension” 1988

In the GDR attending concerts often kept us going.
An unforgettable concert for me was Pension Volkmann on November 9, 1989.
After the concert we were confused by statements like “…your restricted area is gone!” or “…the wall in Berlin is open!”. But we hadn’t heard anything about it! Nothing at all! When we took the last bus home, our IDs were checked as always… So what should have happened…?
We soon found out the next day. A colleague had just returned from the west. My friends and I managed to get visa in our ID’s, so we could visit the other side.
We really had mixed feelings that evening. We were traveling in a Trabi (East German Trabant car) across the border. Lots of euphoric people were welcoming us on the side of the road, but we experienced a deep fear: we were very afraid they wouldn’t let us go home anymore!
We were traveling between two worlds. And that’s exactly how I felt. My support was the company of my friends and this little cassette from Pension Volkmann.
Pension Volkmann sounded the same in the West as it did in the East. Music was my anchor in this crazy journey between the worlds. The familiar one and a new world that would change our lives forever.
Cassettes don’t last forever, so later I bought the LP. A perfect reminder of this crazy time.

Vinyl Portraits and records in the GDR

During the communist era in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) western music or records were not allowed. There was only one record company: the Amiga record label. They brought East German music and licensed harmless western records.
In the western part of the GDR and around Berlin people were able to see
West German television or hear West German radio. Therefore cassette- and tape recorders became important media to record the latest hits and trends.

Also a lot of young people went on trips to Budapest to buy the western records they liked and smuggled them into the GDR.

German artists publishing at the Amiga label would hide subtle messages against the regime in their records. Those were not detected by censors. Artists would also put “rosa red elephants” in their texts. These were very clear critical texts that censors would pick out, thus overseeing the hidden subtle ones.
The situation in the GDR resulted in strong underground movements like the peace movement and the blueserszene with concerts of bands like Engerling, Freygang, First Arsch and Feeling B. They were inspired by folk, blues, country and rock music.
Bluesers would hitch hike to concerts all over the country in their specific clothes like jeans, parka’s (second hand army coats), sandals etc. The blueserszene can be compared with hippie culture in the west. Of course bluesers and concerts were closely observed by the Ministry of State Security, better known as Stasi.
Some members of the now famous German band “Rammstein” were members of the blueserszene and played in bands like Feeling B.

In 2022 I traveled to the former GDR and with the help of Thomas Hesse and friends I could portray 13 people with their unique stories about the concerts they attended, their Amiga records, and the ones they smuggled over the border.