Hatred and violence

Saturday evening, a small club right next to the famous Frankfurter Konstablerwache, a square in the city center. OHL, one of the oldest and strangest German-speaking punk bands, played in the “Nachtleben” that evening. The audience was also old; Furthermore, it consisted almost entirely of men. The ticket cost 27 euros at the box office, four euros for a small Jever.

OHL may be known to some people primarily because of their song “Deutschland” (“Life in Germany is shit on the wall / Oh Germany, how I hate you”). The band is considered very questionable here and there because of its militaristic aesthetic and its name (Supreme Heeresleitung), but it's not that simple. The second most fists raised that evening were during the song "Belsen was a concentration camp" and the line "No chance for the Fourth Reich / Beat the Nazis," but most of them during "Red Terror", which was directed against the GDR regime in 1983 and which the singer Deutscher W. (short for "German Resistance") strangely referred to the Berlin Left Party when making his announcement.

The whole event was pretty bizarre, the audience was on average in their late 50s, it smelled of old men and their sweat. As simple as the songs and, above all, the announcements may have been, the behavior on stage and in front of it was anachronistic and ridiculously masculine: what you were offered that evening was a magical glimpse into a past in which white men at punk concerts were still among themselves, raising their fists (well, that has obviously become quite tiring now, but you're doing your best), shouting, indulging in violent fantasies (W. wished Russian President Vladimir Putin in an announcement a slow, painful death), felt resistant and were allowed to differentiate themselves to the left and right.

The singer's gaze was always crazy - as was his view of the world; his lyrics were as simple as his political statements, but always full of fervor. He made it clear he really hates Nazis, as well as what he considers communists, Islamists and anyone else who oppresses other people. There are probably only two answers to the injustice in the world: hate and violence. The crowd of old men hollered and tried to get themselves to join in, but a mosh pit didn't materialize. During the final song “Deutschland” everyone pulled themselves together in front of the stage one last time and shouted: “Shit Germany! Fuck Germany!”

Despite the discomfort of being in such hordes of men, the evening had a certain charm. OHL are pure ambivalence: politically rather simple, but musically not particularly catchy, so not for the masses; intellectually tough, over-ambitious and yet more politically understandable than most post-colonial trained Free Palestine cranks; militaristic, masculine, blunt in appearance, but somehow aware of the contradiction of this pose to the now mainstream positions. Because OHL definitely don't want to belong to any majority. OHL want outsiders, outlaws, want to be punk. The singer is active in the Volt party and is committed to aiding Ukraine - and the concert visit ended in a frenzy.