In 1983, punk rock was strictly forbidden in East Berlin. However, that didn’t stop young music obsessive Mark Reeder, from Manchester in the UK, smuggling cassettes, and then a punk band across the Berlin Wall.

Mark shares how he arranged for the West German band, Die Toten Hosen, to perform illegally at a secret concert in a church.

This episode was produced by Paul Hanford and Rosalie Delaney. A Munck Studios production for the BBC World Service.

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(Photo: Members of the band Die Toten Hosen and friends in East Berlin in 1983. Credit: Mark Reeder)

The man who smuggled punk rock across the Berlin Wall

Witness History