This is from Douglas posted in the DI6 yahoo group...
This was the reply sent several months ago in response to a variety of
accusations from certain parties that eventually resulted in the Death
In
June album 'Rose Clouds Of Holocaust' being placed at the end of 2005
(10
years after its release) on Germany's 'Index' of forbidden fruit that
must
not be consumed by impressionable Deutsche Jugend!
Perhaps some of you will find it of interest? I think my response is
quite
reasonable but obviously those who know better did not!
Heilige,....
Douglas P.
"I have been told by my music distributer Tesco Organisation, Germany
that I
must provide a statement clarifying my work with my group Death In June
to a
German government agency responsible for censorship in Germany.
In the 24 years of Death In Junes existence I have never explained my
work.
I feel that would make my art ordinary and stillborn and panders to
elements
within society that seek to control freedom of expression and thought,
abstract or otherwise. All art, whether it be in the form of music,
literature, painting etc. worth a grain of salt should be open to
interpretation. In turn, this also makes it open to misinterpretation;
sometimes good, sometimes bad. It is in the nature of art that
challenges
or confronts the consumer, or potential consumer, to be
misunderstood.
But here are some facts:
Death In June was named after I thought I heard a colleague say those
words
during our first recording session in 1981. It was an accident of
mishearing. I have said this in countless interviews over the years
since.
It is merely post-rationalization to assume it refers to any one
particular
event, historic or otherwise. A common interpretation was that it
referred
to the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in June 1914.
It didnt, and doesnt refer to anything else than Death In June!
Before becoming a musician I was a student of 20th century history, as
is
clearly stated in the whole interview with Zillo magazine in 1992.
Apparently a small quote is taken out of context from this interview
referring to my interest in Ernst Roehm. I cannot see how one cannot be
interested in events and personalities that led directly, or
indirectly, to
the biggest tragedy of the 20th century World War II.
The fact that I am homosexual as was Ernst Roehm was another point of
interest that led to a song Brown Book written in 1986, before German
unification, which uses the Horst Wessel Lied to create the atmosphere
to a
narration juxtaposing the homophobia of a Nazi stormtrooper to the
suicidal
fatalism of his sexual partner; a Jewish grandmother. The song evokes
Germany, 1936. The title comes from the name of the book the Communist
authorities of former East Germany kept listing ex-members of the
N.S.D.A.P.
and S.S. etc. and their positions held in government and other work
places
in West Germany. A thought provoking song with many contradictory
themes
which is typical of Death In June.
This leads to the song Rose Clouds Of Holocaust issued in 1995. This
work
was inspired by Mid-Winter and Mid-Summer visits to Iceland where the
days
during these times of year can be either almost totally dark or either
almost totally light. Never completely one thing, nor the other. I
experienced a spiritual epiphany during these visits in 1989/1990. The
word
holocaust is Greek for burnt offerings (normally of a religious
kind)
and Iceland is full of extinct volcanoes as well as active ones. Its
volcanic landscape is the holocaust in question symbolizing death and
rebirth. It has nothing to do with the persecution and extermination of
Jews, Homosexuals, Gypsies etc. by Germany during the years of the
IIIrd
Reich.
I am a musician and I do not involve myself in politics and I refuse to
be
forced into becoming involved in politics. When the German Goth group
Das
Ich suddenly attempted to politicize a Christmas Festival in Hamburg,
Germany in 1992, Death In June, along with another English group and
Projekt
Pitchfork from Germany, decided to drop out and not to become involved
in
what was after all local politics. We wrote, signed and distributed a
joint
statement explaining our decision, abhorring all forms of violence
directed
at anyone regardless of race, religion or sexuality (apparently there
had
been some trouble in Hamburg?) and relocated our performances to a club
in
Bochum. This became a 3 night residency where anyone with tickets to
the
Festival who still wanted to celebrate Christmas could do so with Death
In
June etc. All 3 nights were sold out. The Dark Xmas Festival was not
and
fell to bits with the highest political arguments between the remaining
Goth
groups being as to who should headline! It has been a source of
resentment
from the Goth rock stars of Das Ich ever since. The music business is
filled with jealousy and envy and I attempt to keep my distance from
it.
Death In June has always been fascinated by symbols and their effects.
There
is even an album entitled But, What Ends When The Symbols Shatter?
The
Totenkopf 6 is a simple one conveying Death In June (the 6th month!)
but
since 1984 a fist holding a whip and 6 has also been extensively used
to
symbolize Death In June. In English we have an expression to hold the
whiphand which means to take control. In 1997 Death In June issued an
album
called Take Care And Control. Everything is connected, everything is
symbolic and everything that on a surface level is mutually
contradictory is
important in the world of Death In June.
The 2 words Rose clouds are beautifully juxtaposed to each other and
with
of holocaust added the contradictory imagery is complete. The joy of
sadness recognized and a life filled with lies abandoned. In
Lifebooks
The swirling sound of swastikas like rotor blades of thought
brings this conversation piece between 2 close friends to an end. The
Sanskrit word for sun-wheel brings perfect closure to a night filled
with
bad dreams. Dawn has arrived. And, surely if the word swastika in
itself
is justification for a German government investigation into any work of
art
then I hope the more famous Iggy Pop and David Bowies China Girl
(visions of swastikas in my head) and Primal Screams Swastikas
Eyes
plus many others deserve equal investigation.
In June, 2004 I was invited to perform in Tel Aviv, the capital of
Israel.
Death In June did so to an enthusiastic audience of over 500 and there
are
even pictures of me on stage waving a Totenkopf 6 flag alongside an
Israeli one. I did numerous interviews with both Israeli magazines and
radio stations. Death In June LPs/CDs are freely available in Israel.
T-shirts are even licensed for manufacture there.
I find it ironic that I am so welcomed in Israel yet I am suspiciously
viewed by the German authorities for censorship. But, I suppose that
fits
well with the contradictory nature of Death In June.
I am also unsettled by the fact that in Germany, a modern Western
democracy
and civilization government censorship of the arts should even be
entertained. That, along with the organizations or individuals that
have
brought me to your attention, smell more of Germanys past than any of
Death
In Junes recordings. My father was a career officer in the British
Royal
Air Force, fought as a pilot against Hitlers Luftwaffe during World
War II
and was shot down twice but survived. His first wife was not so lucky
and
was killed in the London blitz. I have a step-sister as a result of
that
death. His 3 brothers, my uncles, were all front-line soldiers and the
youngest was one of the first troops in the British Royal Artillery to
enter Bergen-Belsen KZ and drove bulldozers shoveling the dead inmates
into
mass graves. All of them thought the only good German was a dead
German.
Coming from such an anti-German family background I have always
considered
myself part of a generation that was responsible for the
reconciliation
between our 2 countries. I feel that reconciliation has been achieved.
We
live in 2005 not 1945.
I trust that any review of my work is based upon official releases all
obtainable from but, not necessarily distributed by Tesco Organisation,
Germany. I cannot be held responsible for unofficial releases which
have
nothing to do with Death In June but falsely claim to be.
Douglas P. (Death In June)"
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