Zempow

Today we went to Zempow to talk with the Laubenthals, a couple who spearheaded a peace movemnet in the 1990s. Zempow is located in the Northern part of Germany in the state of Brandenburg. This area was intended to become a bombodrome. The German military wanted to use this area as a testing site. Here we learned about the civilian resistance to the military plans. Beginning In the 1950s this area was used by the Russian Air Force for military purposes.  Located between Wittstock and Neuruppin it is 120 sq. kilometers in a former forest set up  between 14 villages. The area has fifty thousand inhabitants and thrives on tourism. The bombodrome area was set up during the Stalin era after several slash and burn events. In the 1990s after the Soviets left, they left behind a damaged landscape and lots of ammunition-- some of which is live. In 1992 the German  army presented a plan to continue using the area as an air to ground firing range.  They also wanted to use the area for nuclear training. The idea was to allow all NATO countries to use the area as a training ground.  Upon learning of the  military's plans in 1992, the citizens initiative FREIe HEIDe ( Free Heath) was formed. They had lot of local support and support from all of the affected communities. They lobbied against the plans in the government and filed court cases to keep the military from  going forward with their plans. There were more than 100 protest walks, some involving as many as 10,000 participants. There were also some acts of civil disobedience with citizens illegally going into the military area.  The court eventually ruled against the military in all 27 cases. Rather than appealing to a higher court the military gave up their efforts to use the area in 2009. The area now has national heritage recognition and can no longer be used as a possible test site. We then had a lovely lunch of organically grown food, before departing for Schlosshotel Boitzenburg.