What is this, a football stadium? Or rather: a madhouse? 20,000 people stretch their scarves in the air, a wall in red and white. A male voice rises from the loudspeakers as if from a tomb. She talks about "apparently hopeless battles" that happened a long time ago, about the "perseverance of the locksmith boys from Oberschöneweide", about the "myth" that lives on forever. Heavy heavy metal riffs shatter the sentimental devotion. It gets loud in the "Alte Försterei", so loud that your ears fly off. And then, on tape: Nina Hagen, the icon of Eastern punk, with the club anthem, the crucial words:

Who lets ball and opponent run? Iron union! Iron union!

Access to all STERN PLUS content and articles from the print magazine

ad-free

Already registered?