Aljosha Rompe

Who was Aljosha Rompe?

Aljoscha Rompe was the lead singer of the East German band Feeling B. The band began in 1983 as part of the second wave of underground punk acts operating outside the state-sanctioned music scene. By the time East Germany imploded in 1989, Feeling B had become one of the country's most popular bands. Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Rompe co-founded the political party Wydoks, which wanted to reclaim public property on former GDR soil and fight against the takeover of the country by "money people," i.e. West Germans. He and like-minded members of the punk scene squatted several buildings in the East Berlin districts of Mitte and Prenzlauerberg. Rompe made films, ran pirate radio stations, and squatted for long periods of his life. He also spent long periods of time camping on Hiddensee island, in the Baltic Sea, with his bandmates, playing gigs, selling drinks and organizing underground festivals. He was of Swiss origin and died in Berlin in the year 2000, following a severe asthma attack.