Karl Wolf Biermann is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song "Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976.
Catharina "Nina" Hagen is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is known as "The Godmother of German Punk".
The culture of East Germany varied throughout the years due to the political and historical events that took place in the 20th century, especially as a result of Nazism and Communism. A reflection on the history of arts and culture in East Germany reveals complex relationships between artists and the state, between oppositional and conformist art. In four decades, East Germany developed a distinct culture and produced works of literature, film, visual arts, music, and theatre of international acclaim. Popular culture specialities included among others a high popularity of nudism in Eastern Germany.
Pankow are a German rock band, founded in East Berlin in 1981. Their name came from the Berlin district of Pankow, which was once home to most of the officials of the East German government. The band's original lineup consisted of Jürgen Ehle, André Herzberg, Rainer Kirchmann, Jäcki Reznicek and Frank Hille. Other members were Stefan Dohanetz, Ingo York and Jens Jensen.
The Großer Zapfenstreich is a military ceremony performed in Germany and Austria. It is similar to the military tattoo ceremony performed in English-speaking countries, and is the most important ceremonial act executed by the German federal armed forces, the Bundeswehr, and by the Austrian federal armed forces Bundesheer. The Zapfenstreich is performed only during national celebrations and solemn public commemorations, to honour distinguished persons present at such special events. Examples are the farewell ceremony for a German federal president, or at the conclusion of large military exercises. It takes place in the evening hours and consists of a military formation of at least one military band, two platoons of armed infantrymen, and two lines of soldiers carrying torches, in total about 400 men.
Johanna Klier is a former East German hurdler and Olympic gold medallist.
Evelin Kaufer is a retired East German sprinter who competed in the 100 metres.
German punk includes a body of music and a subculture that have evolved since punk rock became popular in Germany in the 1970s. Within the subculture of punk in Germany, a style of music called Deutschpunk was developed; this style of music has developed distinctly from hardcore punk, and includes lyrics in German as well as a fast tempo. In the punk scene in Germany, some bands play music in the Deutschpunk style, while other German punk bands pursue various other styles of punk music.
Evelin Jahl is a German former discus thrower, who won two Olympic gold medals representing East Germany.
Anke Borchmann is a rower who competed for East Germany in the 1970s.
Ramona Balthasar-Franz is a German rower.
Hannelore Anke is a retired German swimmer who competed for East Germany in the 1970s.
Gabriele Wetzko is a former German swimmer. Born in Leipzig, East Germany, she competed for East Germany in the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics.
Gabriele "Gabi" Kühn is a German rower who competed for East Germany in the 1976 Summer Olympics and in the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Brigitte Irene Ahrenholz was a German rower who competed for East Germany in the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Anke Ohde is an East German canoe sprinter who competed in the mid-1970s. She won five gold medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with two in the K-1 500 m, one in the K-2 500 m (1974), and two in the K-4 500 m events. In 1976, she was displaced by fellow SC Neubrandenburg club member Carola Zirzow in the K-1. The Olympic nomination for the K-2 went to the world champions, Bärbel Köster and Zirzow. Ohde thus went to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal as a canoeing reserve and did not compete. Ohde finished her active career after the Montreal Olympics.
Manfred Merkel is a retired slalom canoeist who competed for East Germany.
Ralf "Bummi" Bursy was a German pop and rock singer and music producer, who was particularly successful and popular in the German Democratic Republic until 1989.
Ortrun Zöphel-Enderlein is a former East German (GDR) luger, and one of the most successful lugers in the 1960s. Enderlein started her working career at the SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal, and was first introduced to luge in her home village of Raschau in the Ore Mountains. In the 1964 Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck, she became the first female luger to win gold at the Olympics. and won the World Cup in 1965 in Davos and 1967 in Hammarstrand. The athletic achievements of the lugers Thomas Köhler and Enderlein were celebrated and politicised in the GDR during the Cold War when the GDR was not recognised by West Germany, and athletic events in either part of Germany with athletes from both countries were not permitted because of the Hallstein Doctrine.
Hans Oliva-Hagen was a journalist, writer, and screenwriter in the German Democratic Republic who wrote under the pseudonyms Hans Oliva and John Ryder. His most important works include his collaboration on the scripts for the DEFA film Carbide and Sorrel (1963) and the five-part GDR television film Conscience in Riot (1961). An anti-fascist militant and Holocaust survivor of Jewish heritage, Oliva-Hagen was active in the German resistance to Nazism.
