My seventh Sunday in prison. Like yesterday, there is no smell of Bakelite. Instead, Buna and Leuna are on my mind.
At school, we were slowly but surely groomed for careers in one of the two chemical plants.
From fourth to seventh grade, I was one of the ambitious students.
That only changed with the constant increase in "Rotlichtbestrahlung" (red light radiation, local slang for political indoctrination), which I found quite exciting at first.
In 1979, I even received a certificate for “outstanding achievements” in Buna.
To understand Buna, you have to know Leuna.
In the middle of World War I, an ammonia plant was built in the municipality of Leuna near Merseburg.
Ammonia was a key component in the manufacture of explosives.
Later, synthetic fuels derived from fossil coal were added.
Shortly before World War II, another chemical plant was built in the municipality of Schkopau.
There, artificial rubber was produced, which was important for the war effort as a material for vehicle tires.
This requires Butadien-Natrium (sodium butadiene), abbreviated to Buna.
The Leuna factory site covers many square kilometers. Over 28,000 people work here.
In addition, there are the Buna factories with over 18,000 employees.
More than 46,000 people from the region work shift after shift in both factories.
Thousands more are employed in the surrounding area to keep the necessary infrastructure running.
For a long time, a skilled job at Buna or Leuna was considered a safe bet with decent earning potential.
That changed in the mid-1970s, when both chemical wastelands began to rot in their own filth.
The risk of a catastrophic accident is only a matter of time.
They gained sad notoriety for extreme environmental destruction that can be smelled, seen, and felt for miles around.
In the dirtiest corners, forced laborers, prisoners, and construction soldiers are enslaved.
Thanks for the certificate! How does Udo Lindenberg sing so beautifully?
“Der Malocher aus'm Ruhrgebiet (The worker from the Ruhr region) /
Tat nun etwas, was sonst nur selten geschieht (Did something that rarely happens) /
Schmiss seiner Frau das Mobiliar vor die Füße (Threw his wife's furniture at her feet) /
Und sagt: Jetzt ist aber Schluss meine Süße (And said: That's it, my sweetheart) ...”.