Nina from Berlin

Close to 15,000 Union Berlin fans assembled in the Olympiastadion for the 2001 Pokalfinale. For years, a cup final against top-flight opposition had been a distant dream. But it had been a season of success for the Unioners, whose beloved Eisernen had finally made it out of the third division and waded through a tricky path to the finale. Their opponents, Schalke 04, had suffered a devastating disappointment on the final day of the Bundesliga season, yielding the title to Bayern Munich. Clearly, Union Berlin were the underdogs—but what else is new?  

Berlin’s Olympiastadion had only completed construction on one section of its new roof. Outside of the shade, Schalke blue painted most of the stadium. Tucked into one corner, a uniform red mass demanded attention. Union staff had organised the sale of red wigs ahead of the final, and nearly 4,000 shaggy heads bobbed up and down. Full-back Ronny Nikol took it one step further, inking a fresh stripe of red dye into his bleached-blonde hair. As the Schalke team filed onto the pitch, a red banner unfurled across the Union section: EISERN UNION, “Iron Union,” a cry dating back to the days when the club was known as FC Olympia Oberschöneweide, an ironworking district in the capital. 

That was Nina Hagen’s cue. Arguably the most singular musical act to emerge from East Berlin, the Godmother of German Punk was taking a brief hiatus from being a cosmic rock goddess. In front of the sea of red, she was Union.

Nina emerged with an EISERN UNION scarf draped over her shoulder. For a performer whose costuming typically spoke to an absurdist expressionism, Hagen’s chosen wardrobe at the Pokalfinale was relatively muted. The only splashes of colour in an all-black ensemble proclaimed her loyalties: a red sash around her waist, a red jade pendant around her neck, and red eyeshadow peeking out from behind metallic sunglasses.

The stadium loudspeaker announced the purpose of her visit. For just the second time, Nina Hagen would perform ‘Eisern Union’ in front of Union fans. The song, recorded as a single by Hagen three years prior, had been adopted as the club anthem. It’s a rousing number, opening with a swaying idealism and building to a trademark visceral call and response:  

It’s not a vintage start to the performance from Nina, who visibly struggled with her microphone playback through the first verse and missed more than one cue. That barely matters—’Eisern Union’, a cult standard of Union Berlin, rang around the Olympiastadion. By the final chorus, Nina was back in sync, stomping around the track in her bare feet. Each question is answered in one voice. After the final “Eisern Union,” the stadium buzzed like feedback from an old amp.