Oktoberklub

In the early years the club met with a remarkably broad response, especially among young people loyal to the GDR, although others regarded it as a “propaganda tool of the SED”, the country's leading political party.

In addition to normal recitals with a mixed repertoire, they also performed revue-like programs from 1971 onwards (1971 FDJ-Nachtschicht, 1972 cantata Manne Klein and Liebesnachtschicht, 1975 Prenzlauer Berg).

The club was the principle organizer of a series of events such as the OKK (from 1970 the first permanent discotheque in the GDR, from 1977 the Kellerklub in the House of Young Talents), the Festival of Political Songs (1970-1990) and Ein Kessel Rotes (from 1979).

Important writers in the early years were Reinhold Andert, Kurt Demmler and Hartmut König, later Gerd Kern rose to prominence as lyricist and Fred Krüger as composer.

From 1987 on, Michael Letz and Jens Quandt wrote many of the compositions, some of the lyrics for other songs being supplied in 1988/89 by Gerhard Gundermann, who was frequently accompanied at this time by Oktoberklub musicians.

Some club members also pursued artistic solo careers (Reinhold Andert, Barbara Thalheim, Jürgen Walter, Gina Pietsch, Tamara Danz among others), while others later worked in cultural institutions or industries such as radio, television, recording or served in the general administration of the Committee for Entertainment Arts.

Hartmut König was Secretary of the Central Council of the Free German Youth movement for twelve years and Deputy Minister of Culture for a short time in 1989.

In the 1990s, two television documentaries were made about the history of the club: Das Ende vom Lied (VPRO, Netherlands, 1992) and Sag mir, wo du stehst (Axel Grote and Christian Steinke, MDR 1993).