Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival
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The Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival (German Woodstock)[1] was a series of political rock concerts which took place in Germany during the 1980s.[2] Its purpose was to support protests against the planned nuclear reprocessing plant Wackersdorf (German: Wiederaufbereitungsanlage Wackersdorf, abbreviated WAA Wackersdorf) in Wackersdorf.[3] In 1986, the fifth festival marked the peak of the protest movement against the plant. With over 100,000 people attending on 26 and 27 July, it was the largest rock concert in the history of Germany.[4] The line-up included some of Germany's most popular music acts of the time such as BAP, Die Toten Hosen, Udo Lindenberg, Rio Reiser, Herbert Grönemeyer.[5][6] The festival remained completely peaceful, contrary to government expectations.[citation needed] As a result of the overwhelming protests, the festivals resulted in unexpected media coverage for the anti-nuclear movement in Germany.[citation needed]
Beginnings
The first Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival took place in 1982 at the Lanzenanger venue in Burglengenfeld. Primary responsibility for the event was held by the local autonomous youth centre, where many such festivals had taken place before. Between 2,000 and 4,000 people visit the concerts each year. Since many members of the youth centre had actively been participating in the resistance against the recycling plant, the management decided to change the original festival into the Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival. The main purpose of the events was to attract public attention to the problems related to the WAA and the protests.
From their engagement in culture-related work, the youth centre very quickly managed to come into contact with many
Originally, the organizers intended the Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival to take place in the immediate vicinity of the planned FRP. After excessive protests at
Although the Anti-WAAhnsinns-Festival had been officially authorised by the town, the
The motorcycle club Kuhle Wampe took charge of security and entrance. Excrement had to be removed almost every hour. Fields within a radius of several kilometers were rented by the festival's management for parking. In part, the fields had to be harvested directly before the beginning of the festival although the grain was not ripe yet. The number of visitors exceeded expectations and more fields had to be marked as parking spaces on short notice. At one of those rented fields, in particular on the stubble field in the vicinity of Greinhof, a hot catalyzer set off a large-scale fire. A local farmer used a plough to create a firebreak, preventing major damages.
The festival
Burglengenfeld, a city with about 10,000 inhabitants, was not prepared for the stampede of visitors. Already on the eve of the festival, the supermarkets sold out of all staple food and alcoholic drinks. Several shops closed their doors and did not open them on the following Sunday either. Not having any mobile phones yet, written notes were pinned on all church doors, informing when to meet whom and where. The visitors sought places to sleep in bare brickwork.[clarification needed] The inhabitants feared theft, property damage, or even riots, however, these did not transpire.
Accounts about the number of participating visitors at the festival vary. The number is supposed to be over 100,000, which, considering the area, is not entirely unlikely. Musically the Open Air can be revisited on double LP as well as on film.
Impact of the festival
Although the 5th Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival (26–27 July 1986), a protest against the nuclear reprocessing plant, proceeded peacefully and without any violence, the state continued fighting it with undiminished rigidity. The opposition to the WAA ended abruptly with the sudden death of Bavaria's minister-president Franz Josef Strauss on 3 October 1988. The operating company DWK (Deutsche Gesellschaft für die Wiederaufarbeitung von Kernbrennstoffen = German Corporation for Nuclear Reprocessing) and the politicians in the CSU then had diminishing hopes that the WAA project could be realised successfully. On 30 April 1989, Dr. Rudolf von Bennigsen-Foerder, former chairman of the board of VEBA, announced that German energy companies would retreat from reprocessing technology. This came completely unexpected and filled the CSU with bitterness. On 31 May 1989, the DWK specifically froze the construction of the reprocessing plant and had the iron main gate closed symbolically. After the sudden ending for the WAA, the population's resistance diminished as well. Only a few might remember the matchlessness of the Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival. It was matchless not only because of the 100,000 visitors and all-time greatest spectrum of top musicians, who performed coherently for one special purpose – the building freeze of the WAA. The festival also showed that there is an opportunity for a counter-public. There's a chance to correct and, if necessary, to prevent the decisions of local and federal administrations in a constitutional state. At the same time, the festival suggested the possibility of peaceful protest. Nowadays there is a memorial stone on the former festival site “Lanzenanger” in Burglengenfeld that is to commemorate the spectacular Anti-Atom-Festival.
Literature
- Allnutt, Mike / Herl, Michael (Publisher): WAAhnsinn – Der Wackersdorf-Film. Die Filmbilder, Lieder, Texte, Reden, Interviews, Dokumente, Nördlingen 1986.
- Hoffarth, Florian: "Ihr habt die Festung, wir haben das Fest" – Das ‚Anti-WAAhnsinns-Festival' 1986 als Höhepunkt der Bürgerproteste gegen die Wiederaufbereitungsanlage in Wackersdorf, in: Jahresband zur Kultur und Geschichte im Landkreis Schwandorf, Bd. 16/17 (2005/06), published by Landkreis Schwandorf, pages 102–123.
References
- ^ Anti-WAAhnsinns-Festival in Burglengenfeld beginnt. Es sollte als das deutsche Woodstock in die Geschichte eingehen. - (Bayerischer Rundfunk vom 26. July 1986)
- ISSN 1615-5335.
- ^ "Nuclear power in Germany: a chronology | DW | 10.09.2009". DW.COM. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ "Anti-WAAhnsinns-Festival - MusicBrainz". musicbrainz.org. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ "Anti-WAAhnsinns-Festival 1986 Setlists". setlist.fm. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ "Ein Rückblick auf das Anti-WAAhnsinns-Festival in Burglengenfeld 1986". Wochenblatt.de (in German). Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ "Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival". GIF image animation. Retrieved 20 July 2022.