Conne Island is a

music venue A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from a small coffeehouse for folk music shows, an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Ty ...

and self-managed social centre in the Connewitz district of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, Germany. Conne Island is a stronghold and well-known meeting point for the radical left. Outside, there is a large

skate park A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, qua ...

History

The building was built in the second half of the 19th-century. Initially, it was a restaurant called "Eiskeller" (ice pit). From 1937 onwards, it was used as a centre for the

Hitler Jugend The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

, and after 1945 in the GDR it was called "Klubhaus Erich Zeigner" and used as a FDJ youth club. Although the name "Eiskeller" is no longer officially used, this name is still in use by the local population as a nickname. Conne Island has become a stronghold and well-known meeting point for the radical left. The centre hosts

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

gigs, and also hip-hop,

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

and heavy metal. A performance by the band Mayhem, recorded in 1990 before the place became Conne Island, was published in 1993 under the name

Live in Leipzig ''Live in Leipzig'' is a live album by the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. It was recorded at the Eiskeller club in Leipzig, Germany on 26 November 1990 but not released until 1993. The songs performed during the concert were from the ''Pure ...

. In the 2010s, the centre became known as an Anti-German project.

Palestinian keffiyeh The Palestinian ''keffiyeh'' ( ar, كوفية, koofiyyeh) is a chequered black and white scarf that is usually worn around the neck or head. This ''keffiyeh'' has become a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, dating back to the 1936–1939 Arab ...

s would be confiscated and returned at the end of the night with a note. The project celebrated 20 years of existence in 2011. In 2016 there were controversies when a self-confessed "Islam hater" spoke at the centre and women spoke up about being sexually harassed at club nights.

References

External links

Official website of ''Conne Island''

History

References

External links

Further reading