The Free Republic of Wendland (from

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

''Republik Freies Wendland'') was a

protest camp Protest camps are physical camps that are set up by activists, to either provide a base for protest, or to delay, obstruct or prevent the focus of their protest by physically blocking it with the camp. Protest camps may also have a symbolic or repr ...

established in

Gorleben Gorleben is a small municipality ('' Gemeinde'') in the Gartow region of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in the far north-east of Lower Saxony, Germany, a region also known as the Wendland. Gorleben was first recorded as a town by the rulers of ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, on 3 May 1980 to protest against the establishment of a

nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons ...

dump there. On 4 June 1980, the police moved in and evicted the camp.

History

Background

The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt conducted drilling in Gorleben in 1979 to test the salt domes there for suitability in storing

radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...

. After small occupations by local activists at drill sites 1002 and 1003 failed, a plan was set in motion for a bigger occupation action that would include international anti-nuclear activists. A new demonstration was called for on 3 May 1980, under the motto "Day of action for the

Wends Wends ( ang, Winedas ; non, Vindar; german: Wenden , ; da, vendere; sv, vender; pl, Wendowie, cz, Wendové) is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people ...

" (''Kampftag der Wenden'').

Occupation

Around 5000 anti-nuclear activists moved to the planned area around drilling site 1004, between the villages of Gorleben and

Trebel Trebel is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russ ...

. There they occupied the area as part of a protest against further drilling to store nuclear waste. During the occupation, the so-called "Underground Office of Gorleben-Shall-Live" (''Untergrundamt Gorleben-Soll-leben'') declared the occupied area as an independent nation, naming it the Free Republic of Wendland (''Republik Freies Wendland''). The Lower-Saxon Minister of the Interior Egbert Möcklinghoff declared this proclamation to be

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

The site was created on sandy soil and burned trees that was destroyed during the Fire on the Lüneburg Heath in 1975. On this location, the protesters built over the course of several days a village of around 110 huts, made from wood and clay, which was a typical style of protest for anti-nuclear activists at the time. Among the buildings were numerous community facilities, such as the 100-person-capacity Friendship House, greenhouses, an infirmary, a hairdressing salon and an area for waste disposal. There was also a sauna and bathing facilities. Water was piped in by a wind-powered well and warmed with solar power. On the approach to the "republic", a

border checkpoint A border checkpoint is a location on an international border where travelers or goods are inspected and allowed (or denied) passage through. Authorization often is required to enter a country through its borders. Access-controlled borders ofte ...

with a

boom barrier A boom barrier, also known as a boom gate, is a bar, or pole pivoted to allow the boom to block vehicular or pedestrian access through a controlled point. Typically the tip of a boom gate rises in a vertical arc to a near vertical position. Boo ...

was built, over which the flags of the Wends and of the Anti-Nuclear-Sun were hoisted. In the nearby information center, a ''Wends Passport'' (''Wendenpass'') could be issued, along with an entry stamp, for 10

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

s. In the words of the occupiers, the passport was good "for the entire universe ..so long as its owner could still laugh."

Community life

The roughly 1000 permanent occupiers organized community life during the 33-day occupation around a model of

grassroots democracy Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes that shift as much decision-making authority as practical to the organization's lowest geographic or social level of organization. Grassroots organizations can have a va ...

. They established a spokespersons council and made decisions in regularly occurring mass meetings. Regarding their possible eviction by police, the widespread consensus was that of passive resistance, though a few militant occupiers spoke against this course. On the weekends, several thousand sympathizers and sightseers came to the occupied site, among them prominent people, such as the former head of the " Young Socialists",

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

. Other well-known visitors and residents included the resistance fighter Heinz Brandt, the musicians Walter Mossmann and

Wolf Biermann Karl Wolf Biermann (; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song "Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976. Early life Biermann was b ...

, the photographer Günter Zint and the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

politician Jo Leinen, as well as the writer Klaus Schlesinger. The group decision-making process took place both in the Friendship House as well as at other equally suitable platforms. These places also hosted lectures, discussions, readings, rock concerts, and puppet shows. Residents of the surrounding region supported the occupation with food and timber. On 18 May 1980 Radio Free Wendland began a pirate radio broadcast from a tower at the occupation site.

Eviction

On the morning of 4 June 1980 the occupation site was cleared by the Lower Saxony police and the Federal Border Guard on the order of Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming Ch ...

. Around 3500 officers took part in the operation, according to the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior and of Sports. Legal grounds for the eviction of the occupiers were based on violations of various laws, including forestry laws, building regulations, the Field and Forest Planning Act, and the Registration Act. By the time of the eviction, around 2000 occupiers had gather in the village's central square for a sit-in style protest. The eviction, during which many of the squatters were carried away by police officers, went largely peacefully. The pirate radio broadcast ''Radio Free Wendland'' reported on the eviction from its tower throughout the day. Once finished, the police thanked the demonstrators over a loudspeaker for their nonviolent approach.

Reception

Long after the occupation by anti-nuclear activists of the Wendland was concluded, the concept of the Free Republic of Wendland continues to be evoked. Thus in 2006, a five-page advertisement by the ''Free Republic of Wendland against the Nuclear Industry and Police Brutality'' was published in a local newspaper. Between June 4 and 6, 2010, on the 30th anniversary of the eviction, a memorial and protest weekend was held near Gorleben in which about 800 people participated. During this action, members of the '' Rural Emergency Association Lüchow-Dannenberg'' erected a "hut sanctuary" in the forest in memory of the hut village of the Free Republic of Wendland. After the 30th anniversary of the eviction, the director Florian Fiedler, along with the Playhouse Hannover, initiated the theatre project ''Free Republic of Wendland -- Reactivated'' from 17 until 26 September 2010. About 50 students, especially from the

Gesamtschule A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

IGS Roderbruch, and 25 adults from the Ballhof Theatre in Hannover erected a hut village in Ballhof Square along the same lines of the original protest village. Several performances, including puppet acts by the

Bread and Puppet Theater The Bread and Puppet Theater (often known simply as Bread & Puppet) is a Political radicalism, politically radical puppet theater, active since the 1960s, based in Glover, Vermont . The theater was co-founded by Elka and Peter Schumann. Peter is ...

, as well as concerts, lectures and discussions on nuclear power took place. The festivities were kicked off with a performance by Ton Steine Scherben and concluded with a discussion led by Oskar Negt. A lot of media attention was focused on the project after someone threw a pie at

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

member Trittin during a panel discussion. After nine days the hut village was dismantled. Two of the wooden huts were brought to the Wendland in order to provide an anti-nuclear activist shelter. As before, the flag with the coat of arms of Wendland is a symbol of the anti-nuclear movement. It can be purchased in many places, and occasionally Wends Passports with stamps are offered at some protest camps.

Publications

*"Resistance Report Wendland: Part 1, January 1983 - June 1985", 1985

References

Works cited

* * * ''101 UKW: Radio Freies Wendland'', hrsg. Network Medien-Cooperative, Frankfurt/Main, 1983 (Tondokumentation der Räumung des Hüttendorfes am 4. Juni 1980)

External links

*
Photo gallery for the Free Republic of Wendland, village 1004
by Günter Zint

Videostream, 7:54 min, Hallo Niedersachsen, NDR, 16 May 2010
The ''Germany Historical Museum'' for the anti-nuclear movement

(Exhibit at the House of History in Bonn)

* ttp://www.oya-online.de/article/read/166.html Resistance works! Past and future of the Free Republic of Wendlandby Dieter and Dieter Halbach Schaarschmidt, Oya April 2010
Comparative report on the occupied area in 1980 and 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free Republic Of Wendland Anti-nuclear movement in Germany

Wendland The Wendland is a region in Germany on the borders of the present states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Its heart is the Hanoverian Wendland in the county of Lüchow-Dannenberg in Lower Saxony. In ...

Wendland Political organisations based in Germany 1980 protests Micronations in Germany Squats in Germany Evicted squats