Feature ecosphere

From the late 1970s onwards activists of the East German environmental movement were among the most spied on state enemies. The story that Lothar Rochau, at the time a youth deacon in Halle, and others describe in the documentary is a dangerous combination of critical thinking about ecology and reflections on the foundations of the state and its economy. The Stasi in Halle presumably had the most detailed information on the environmental sins of East German chemical operations. Instead of working to reduce pollution, the information was used by the Stasi to criminalise the sources – that is, to deny the obvious truth and invest all their energy in keeping the pollution a secret.

With excerpts from the film Bitteres aus Bitterfeld [Bitter News from Bitterfeld] by the East German underground network “Arche”.