The Free Republic of Wendland () was a self-declared

micronation A micronation is a polity, political entity whose representatives claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by any sovereign state. Micronations are classified separately from list o ...

and

protest camp A protest camp or protest encampment (or just encampment) is a physical camp that is 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. ...

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 was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, 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. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...

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

History

Background

The

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the national metrology institute of the Federal Republic of Germany, with scientific and technical service tasks. It is a higher federal authority and a public-law institution directly under fed ...

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. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...

. 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 is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying ...

" (''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. 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 Egbert is a name that derives from old Germanic words meaning "bright edge", such as that of a blade. Anglo-Saxon variant spellings include Ecgberht () and Ecgbert. German variant spellings include Eckbert and Ekbert. People with the first name Mi ...

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 d ...

The site was created on sandy soil and burned trees that was destroyed during the

fire on the Lüneburg Heath The fire on the Lüneburg Heath was a major forest fire in 1975 on the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in north Germany, with various points of origin near Gifhorn, Eschede and Meinersen. To this day, it is the largest known forest fire in th ...

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 of ...

with a

boom barrier A bar, post, pole, beam, or boom gate, also known as a boom or a boom barrier, is a beam or bar on a pivot used as a gate. The boom is lowered to block vehicular or pedestrian access through a controlled point or raised to permit such traffic. ...

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

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 A grassroots movement i ...

. They established a spokespersons council and made decisions in regularly occurring

mass meeting In parliamentary law, a mass meeting is a type of deliberative assembly or popular assembly, which in a publicized or selectively distributed notice known as the call of the meeting - has been announced: (RONR) *as called to take appropriate act ...

s. 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 arrived at the occupied site, among them prominent people, such as the former head of the " Young Socialists",

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

. Other well-known visitors and residents included the

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...

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 ...

, the photographer Günter Zint and the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

politician

Jo Leinen Joseph Leinen (born 6 April 1948) is a German politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 until 2019. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Party of European Socialists. He is well known for h ...

, 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. He was the longest ...

. 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 A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

style protest. The eviction, during which many of the squatters were carried away by police officers, proceeded 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 4 and 6 June 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 is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 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 restricted on the basis ...

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 politically radical puppet theater, active since the 1960s, based in Glover, Vermont. The theater was co-founded by Elka and Peter Schumann. Schumann is the artistic direc ...

, as well as concerts, lectures and discussions on nuclear power took place. The festivities were commenced with a performance by

Ton Steine Scherben Ton Steine Scherben () was one of the first and most influential German language Rock and roll, rock bands of the 1970s and early 1980s. Well known for the highly political and emotional lyrics of vocalist Rio Reiser, they became a musical ...

and concluded with a discussion led by

Oskar Negt Oskar Reinhard Negt (; 1 August 1934 – 2 February 2024) was a German philosopher and critical social theorist. He was a professor of sociology in Hanover from 1972 to 2002, regarded as one of Germany's most prominent social scientists. A mem ...

. Media attention was mostly 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 environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

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. ...

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