Book contents
- Saving Nature Under Socialism
- New Studies in European History
- Saving Nature Under Socialism
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Balancing Economy and Ecology: Building toward Environmental Protection, 1945–1970
- Chapter 2 “Socialist Environmentalism”: Between Ideal and Practice, 1971–1982
- Chapter 3 Church, Faith, and Nature: An Alternative Environmentalism, 1972–1983
- Chapter 4 Intertwining Environmentalisms: Transboundary Pollution and Protest in Central Europe
- Chapter 5 Coming Out From Behind the Cloud: Environmentalism after Chernobyl
- Chapter 6 Growing Together? The Environment in the Collapse of Communism
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 5 - Coming Out From Behind the Cloud: Environmentalism after Chernobyl
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 August 2021
- Saving Nature Under Socialism
- New Studies in European History
- Saving Nature Under Socialism
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Balancing Economy and Ecology: Building toward Environmental Protection, 1945–1970
- Chapter 2 “Socialist Environmentalism”: Between Ideal and Practice, 1971–1982
- Chapter 3 Church, Faith, and Nature: An Alternative Environmentalism, 1972–1983
- Chapter 4 Intertwining Environmentalisms: Transboundary Pollution and Protest in Central Europe
- Chapter 5 Coming Out From Behind the Cloud: Environmentalism after Chernobyl
- Chapter 6 Growing Together? The Environment in the Collapse of Communism
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter five analyses the expansion of environmental protest after Chernobyl in 1986. The environmental movement became more public in eastern Europe in general, and the GDR in particular. Bolstered by western support, unrest grew swiftly in an uncertain political context. The chapter explores East German reactions to Chernobyl and new challenges for the movement. The Stasi’s efforts to sow discord among uneasily allied environmentalists succeeded in curbing their potential impact. Yet the relative openness in Poland permitted outrage over Chernobyl and further fueled discussion of other environmental problems, making it an ideal location for exchange across borders within the region. Finally, the chapter turns to deepened West German interactions with eastern European pollution and protest, teasing out moments of cooperation and misunderstanding. Responses to Chernobyl reshaped environmental movements, anti-communist rhetoric, and connections. Nevertheless, the nuclear disaster and its fallout undermined a system that was already on shaky ground.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Saving Nature Under SocialismTransnational Environmentalism in East Germany, 1968 – 1990, pp. 165 - 196Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021