Pankow (German band)

Pankow was a German rock band, founded in East Berlin in 1981, which broke up officially on December 31, 1998 Fact|date=February 2007. Their name came from the Berlin district of Pankow, which was once home to most of the officials of the East German government.

The band's original lineup consisted of Jürgen Ehle, Ingo Griese, André Herzberg, Rainer Kirchmann, and Stefan Dohanetz. Other members were Frank Hille und Hans-Jürgen (Jacky) Reznicek and Jens Jensen.

Pankow were a well-known bandFact|date=February 2007 during the 1980s in East Germany. As their lyrics often contained mild criticism of the East German regime, they frequently encountered problems releasing their music. In the song Langeweile (Boredom), the criticism was expressed in the words "Seen the same country too long, heard the same language too often, waited too long, hoped too much, bowed down to the old men too often" [http://rainer-kirchmann.de/eng/eng.html] . The song "Paule Panke" was banned by the state-run Amiga record labelFact|date=February 2007, while "Langeweile" was banned from radio airplayFact|date=February 2007; however, the band performed both at every concert.

Post-Pankow Jürgen Ehle has worked and recorded extensively with Scarlett O' - the 'former' Scarlett Seeboldt of the folk band Wacholder.