"Thick air: between soot and revolt"
Reading with Michael Beleites at the Environmental Centre on 26 September
Michael Beleites, author and trained farmer, will be reading from his book "Dicke Luft: Zwischen Ruß und Revolte" (Thick Air: Between Soot and Revolt) about the independent environmental movement in the GDR on 26 September 2016 at 7 pm at the Environmental Centre.
Beleites was an important player in the environmental movement in the GDR. From December 2000 to December 2010, he served as the Saxon State Commissioner for the Stasi Records.
Interested parties are cordially invited to attend. The event is sponsored by the Saxon State Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR.
Background:
Thick air in Bitterfeld, foam on the Elbe, open-cast mine craters in Lusatia, radioactive Wismut dumps. Large parts of Saxony were once an ecological crisis area in the GDR. Young people therefore began to discuss questions about the future in public and to plant trees. That was at the end of the seventies. An alternative scene emerged that devised spectacular actions, printed underground pamphlets and organised the first demonstrations. Those in power always regarded these activities as an attack and a threat. Many of their fellow campaigners were therefore persecuted by the Stasi and politicised as a result. The independent environmental movement developed into an important part of the opposition and a pillar of the democracy movement in the autumn of 1989 and in the subsequent renewal processes.
For further information please contact:
Manfred Hastedt, Head of the Chemnitz Environmental Centre, Tel. 0371 495 2603
manfred.hastedt(at)stadt-chemnitz.de