Clif Yeah, I've read it. I feel the same way about it as you do. I've grabbed everything available in English. I can speak German at a very basic level, still a couple years off from academic-level fluency. So, I'm limited.
The East German state-run film studio was called DEFA. As things started falling apart in the late 1980s, new opportunities emerged. DEFA made a few docs that focused around punk or underground music. The Free Orchestra, whisper & SHOUT!, It'll be Okay, Sperrmuell (Bulky Trash), etc. I can only speak for myself -- I've never actually met anyone interested in DEFA films and I know people teaching in German studies departments -- but I don't think these films are watched outside of academic circles, and even then not often. That's a shame. DEFA produced some great directors. Helke Misselwitz is outstanding.
The first book I came across that really dialed in the Super 8 film scene was Sara Blaylock's Parallel Public. Unless you were employed by DEFA, you couldn't get your hands on 35mm or even 16mm film cameras. So, in the '80s the underground relied on Super 8 cameras from the Soviet Union.
The situation with punk changed as the country fell apart. The Stasi used punks -- often bribing them with cassette tapes -- as informants, especially against the churches that operated in a grey zone inside the GDR. The most notorious informant was Sascha Anderson who helped put together the DDR von Unten comp. Zwitscher Maschine steals the show on that LP. Cornelia Schleime who went onto a successful career in West Germany/Germany was a member of the band. She left East Berlin in 1984 due to pressure and being blocked from exhibiting her work.
