Halbstark Baby-Baby Halbstark Promo Video

Halbstark Baby-Baby Halbstark!
Teenage street gangs in Switzerland 1962-1972,
Through the eyes of Dieter "Igel" Ehrlich
Kicks Books ISBN 978-1-940157-19-1
Street Date March 19, 2024
•Previously unseen, unpublished b&w and color photographs
•Lost scrapbook of Swiss street gang member Igel Ehrlich
•First listing of teenage gangs 1950's/1960's
•Cultural look at an underground phenomenon of lost youth in Switzerland
•Historical look at subculture through photographs
•248 pages Smythe binding, casebound hardcover printed on glossy stock
•First 100 copies will include tote bag and poster
•Promo items include Vampir Perfume and Black Devil Perfume
•Postcard and promo poster
•Photographic prints and enlargements available on special order
•Spring gallery show for book launch
The story begins at the close of the 1950's in Basel, Switzerland, a city in the midst of a postwar boom. The predictability of life for the young is interrupted by rock n' roll and American movies invading the boredom. Rebellion was the only real response and in Switzerland, that push against the dull adult world, erupted in Basel, where teenagers took to separating themselves from the herd with bold fashion statements, wearing their code with gang jackets, greasy pompadours for the boys and exaggerated bouffants for the girls. They congregated at coffee bars and in the streets, and it was not long before criminal activity became the norm.
Dieter "Igel" Ehrlich was part of the earliest gangs, and provides in the book a walk through each of his Ganga and others across Switzerland. It was Igel who first met photographer Karlheinz Weinberger and took him into the gang to meet his friends. Weinberger's iconic images of unnamed gang kids are finally identified by name. Igel's years in the gang close with the burning of his gang jacket - a moment crystallized in this book - with images of Weinberger trying to stop Igel from destroying his allegiance to the gang, trying to purchase it from Igel.
This photographic journal scrapbook of a gang boy in Switzerland brings the Halbstarke phenomenon to the world.
Order now at kicksbooks.com