In the past, water was dammed for mills at the Neumühlenwehr. In 1990, a protest was held there to draw attention to the devastating situation of the Chemnitz River. “The Chemnitz River should live again” was written by activists on a banner that they stretched along the dam. At the same time, they fished in the biologically dead river with gas masks on their heads. As part of the art exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES Gegenwarten II, Begehungen e. V. has recreated this action 34 years later and thus questions the current and past state of climate activism.

The environmental groups in the GDR, often organized around churches, published self-organized texts and campaigned for endangered species such as hedgehogs, dying forests such as in the Ore Mountains, unprotected open garbage dumps or air polluted by industry such as in Karl-Marx-Stadt. They were observed and repressed by the state security services. In the 1990s and noughties, environmental and nature conservation groups such as Greenpeace, NABU and BUND became part of the social consensus. A new generation such as the Fridays for Future movement was initially met with a similarly open response. As action against the climate crisis became more urgent and the protests consequently more pressing, the mood changed and groups such as the Last Generation were attacked as “Klimakleber”. With the so-called farmers’ protests, another ecologically extremely relevant group, farmers, spoke out. However, their protests were quickly appropriated by the radical right.

On the occasion of the artwork “Der Chemnitzfluss soll wieder leben – 1990 re-enacted” by Begehungen e. V., we would like to talk about the transformation of environmental protests and climate activism in (East) Germany and ask what it took then and now to make change possible. To this end, representatives of different groups and generations will come together.

With Manfred Hastedt, Doro Sterz, representatives of the Last Generation Chemnitz and Lars Neuenfeld

Manfred Hastedt was active in the GDR in the context of the church environmental and peace movement and was particularly concerned with species extinction, air pollution and forest dieback. From 1990-2021, he ran the Chemnitz Environmental Center, the only one of its kind in Saxony, in the former headquarters of the State Security in Henriettestrasse. He currently organizes and documents the role of the environmental movement in the GDR and is active in Local Agenda 21

Dorothee Sterz, 27, a trained farmer, works in dairy farming on a mixed farm in central Saxony. She is involved in the Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (Working Group for Rural Agriculture) and is committed to pasture farming and a structurally rich landscape.

Hans Hiersemann is active in the Last Generation Chemnitz.

Matthias Döhler is a freelance architect in Chemnitz and chairman of the Begehungen e.V. association. The art festival of the same name takes place annually in special and neglected locations in Chemnitz.

The event takes place on the terrace of Restaurant Malula at Georgstraße 21. In case of bad weather, we move it to the Hot Super project space at Brühl 71
The Language is German