Untitled Will Do

East German ‘80s goths in Karl-Marx-Platz (Augustusplatz) and The Moritzbastei (the part of the ancient town fortifications of Leipzig that was run as a venue), Leipzig, as documented by Mahmoud Dabdoub during the days of the GDR, the communist East Germany.

Being part of the goth subculture in East Germany during that era was an extremely rebellious and dangerous decision, since goths (”grufties” as they were called, from the german word “gruft”, which can be translated as ”tomb”, “crypt” or “grave”, anyway I think you get the connection) were thought of as subversive elements by the state and in fact, in the late ‘80s, the Ministry of State Security had files on about 600 of them in various East German cities and had even assigned a ‘mole’ to each clique (keep in mind that in East Germany, home to the infamous secret police, known as the Stazi, nearly everybody was spying on everybody at that time), so, as a result, goths had to deal with harassment, getting ‘special rehabilitating therapies’, brainwashing, fines or jailtime (see a relevant post on how East Germany treated punks during the same era, here).

Pet Plaza, St. Louis, Missouri, 1966-69

30 years later this description of American complacency in the midst of a torn Europe and world headed for self-destruction now perfectly describes the British population’s sickeningly self-satisfied mindset.