The Free Republic of Wendland

An anti-nuclear peace village

The Anti-Nuclear Free Republic of Wendland

The orange pin shows the approximate location of the Free Republic of Wendland

  • Location: Outside the town of Gorleben in Lower Saxony, Germany
  • Established: May 3rd, 1980
  • Population: ~5000 people
  • Demographics: Environmental activists and local farmers
  • Political Ideology: Grassroots Democracy
  • Motto: "Day of action for the  Wends "
  • Dissolved: June 4th, 1980

Tourists visiting the village ( Hörspiel und Feature )


Background

"The then-governor of Lower Saxony, Ernst Albrecht, pointing out the location of Gorleben on the map. The state government chose Gorleben as a potential site for a long-term nuclear waste storage site in 1977." ( Spiegel International )

In 1977 local farmers began to protest a site in Gorleben where the  Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt  (The National Metrology Institute of the Federal Republic of Germany) was conducting drilling to see if local abandoned salt mines were capable of storing radioactive waste. After multiple failed protests by local activists, a new demonstration was called for on May 3rd, 1980 that brought together environmental activists from around the world. Several thousand protestors marched through the forest, occupied the deep drilling site, and proclaimed their own state, "The Free Republic of Wendland".

Although construction was paused following the Three Mile Island incident in the U.S., when workers began to start drilling again they were blocked by the activists.

Protests against the nuclear waste dump prior to May 3rd, 1980 ( NDR )


The Village

Free Republic of Wendland Passport ( Wikipedia )

The site was built on sandy soil and burned trees that were destroyed during the  Fire on the Lüneburg Heath  in 1975. Over the course of several days, protesters built ~100 huts made of wood and clay. While most of the materials came from the surrounding area, local farmers also brought the protesters food and materials.

Soon enough, the Republic began issuing passports (for 10  Deutsche Marks ), broadcasting radio shows, and printing newspapers.

Gorleben was one of the few places I felt at home in German public life. Unlike in normal everyday life, I did not feel like an outsider. No one approached me as a Turk nor reproached me for being an American. Indeed, national identities were temporarily suspended, since we were all citizens of the Free Republic of Wendland and owed allegiance to no government. We became human beings in some essential meaning of the term, sharing food and living outside the system of monetary exchange. An erotic dimension was created that simply could not be found in normal interaction. -Georgy Katsiaficas

Among the huts, protestors also built numerous community facilities such as: a 400-person-capacity Friendship House, multiple greenhouses, an infirmary, a meditation house, a church, a garbage dump, and a hairdressing salon. Additionally, they built saunas and bathing facilities that used wind-powered well water that was warmed by solar power. They even built a pony riding facility for tourists!


Community Living

An activist playing a song on his guitar ( Umbruch )

During the 33-day period of occupation, there were approximately 750 permeant residents. The activists organized their community around a model of a grassroots democracy. Residents were designated "affinity groups" and if any concerns came up they would send a delegate to the speakers' council. This helped assure that all residents knew what was going on. Most of the decisions that needed to be made regarded how the village would react to the anticipated eviction by the police. However, most of the people in the village were in favor of passive resistance.

On the weekends, up to 5,000 tourists came to visit the camp. You could almost always hear the sounds of singing and guitar-strumming throughout the village. Numerous events were held in the evenings including lectures, discussions, rock concerts, and puppet shows. Every night you could find crowds of people gathered around a campfire, sharing their life stories.

Various images of life in the Free Republic of Wendland (Cited in the bibliography)


Eviction

Protestors being removed from the village square ( NDR )

On the morning of June 4th, 1980, the Lower Saxony police, accompanied by the Federal Border Guard, entered the Free Republic of Wendland. Under the order of Chancellor  Helmut Schmidt , the protestors were to be evicted from the property for violating numerous laws, including forestry laws, building registration laws, and reporting laws, among others.

At 6 A.M. on June 4th, 7,000 officers surrounded the the site with tanks and bulldozers on the ground and helicopters circling in the sky, making this the largest police operation in post-war history. The 2,000 members of the republic gathered in the village square and sang peaceful songs.

"With everything that is going to happen now, remember: We are the lucky ones! We have built and planted here. The unfortunate ones are those who are now in white helmets and are now supposed to attack us with clubs"-Heinz Brandt

At 11 A.M. police officers began removing people from the village square with no resistance as bulldozers began to flatten the village. Over the loudspeaker, officers thanked the protestors for their nonviolent approach.

By 8 P.M. the Free Republic of Wendland no longer existed. It was merely an empty village square surrounded by barbed wire.

"You can destroy the tower and gate, but not our power that created it,"- Unknown

The Free Republic fo Wendland being built in May vs. it being torn down in June


1980- Republik Freies Wendland (NDR)


Memory

On the 30th anniversary of the eviction, a memorial and protest weekend was held near Gorleben. Nearly 800 people attended and the  Rural Emergency Association Lüchow-Dannenberg  erected a "hut sanctuary" in the forest in memory of the Free Republic of Wendland.

In September of 2010, the Playhouse Hannover and director Florian Fiedler began a theater project in memory of the republic. Around 50 students and 25 adults from various theater groups came together to erect a hut village similar to the Free Republic of Wendland in Hanover, Germany. Here, they put on various performances including puppet shows and discussions. After nine days, the huts were taken down and two were brought to Wendland to be used as anti-nuclear activist shelters.

"Preparations for the anti-nuclear project at Ballhof" ( Hannoversche Allgemeine )

Bibliography

"40 years ago: evacuation of the "Republic of Free Wendland,"" Bundeszentrale fur politische Bildung, published March 6, 2020, https://www.bpb.de/politik/hintergrund-aktuell/310887/republik-freies-wendland&prev=search&pto=aue

Carina Warner, "Free Republic of Wendland": Utopia lived by opponents of nuclear power," NDR, published on March 3, 2020, https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/chronologie/3-Mai-1980-Atomkraftgegner-errichten-Republik-Freies-Wendland,freierepublikwendland100.html&prev=search&pto=aue

"Free Republic of Wendland," Anarchy in Action, https://anarchyinaction.org/index.php?title=Free_Republic_of_Wendland

Hallo Niedersachsen, "Gorleben: Das Hüttendorf "Republik Freies Wendland,"" NDR, published May 16, 2010, https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/hallo_niedersachsen/Gorleben-1-Das-Huettendorf,ndsmag4910.html

"Preparations for the anti-nuclear project at Ballhof," Hannoversche Allgemeine, published August 19, 2010, https://www.haz.de/Hannover/Fotostrecken-Hannover/Vorbereitungen-fuer-Anti-Atom-Projekt-am-Ballhof&prev=search&pto=aue

"The Anti-Nuclear "Free Republic of Wendland,"" German History in Documents and Images, https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1117

Wikipedia, s.v. "Free Republic of Wendland," last modified March 2, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Republic_of_Wendland

Wikipedia, s.v. "Republik Freies Wendland," last modified January 2021, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republik_Freies_Wendland&prev=search&pto=aue

Lauren Bergeron ('22)

Albion College

Tourists visiting the village ( Hörspiel und Feature )

"The then-governor of Lower Saxony, Ernst Albrecht, pointing out the location of Gorleben on the map. The state government chose Gorleben as a potential site for a long-term nuclear waste storage site in 1977." ( Spiegel International )

Free Republic of Wendland Passport ( Wikipedia )

An activist playing a song on his guitar ( Umbruch )

Protestors being removed from the village square ( NDR )

The Free Republic fo Wendland being built in May vs. it being torn down in June