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Heuersdorf
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In
the village of Heuersdorf, an American flag was flown for years upside down, referring to the signal of dire distress in
instances of extreme danger to property according to the flag code of the United States of America,
the homeland of the owners of the MIBRAG mining corporation until 2009: NRG Energy, Inc. and URS Corporation.
MIBRAG
has evicted the villagers in order to extract some 52 million tons of lignite from the
United Schleenhain Mine for a power plant at
Lippendorf, near Leipzig
(about 200 kilometers south of Berlin). The earthmoving task inherent to mining is equivalent to excavating the original Suez Canal (74 million cubic meters 1859 - 69) more than twenty times. Fundamental questions on the ecological impact of the project have yet to be resolved.
The
Emmaus Church dates back to the 12th Century and is thought to be the oldest fortified church in Saxony. The
Tabor Church was built after 1866 on the site of an earlier church that probably dated to the 14th Century. After part of the neighboring village of Ramsdorf had been burned down during the Hussite Wars, a stately farm house belonging to a local knight was transported to Heuersdorf. It was erected in the southern part of the community known at that time as Hermsdorff maior. Heuersdorf and Großhermsdorf, the subsequent name of the southern settlement, were pillaged during the Thirty Years War in 1632.
The farm houses, some over 300 years old, document changing patterns of agricultural practice. Before its destruction, Heuersdorf contained a number of traditional three-sided farmyards with housing, barn, and stables. Most prominent has been the building ensemble ascribed to nobility of the late Middle Ages. The stately manor house that now serves as the town hall was erected the 19th Century by the village's largest landowner. The most recent structures had been built after World War II in the course of farm collectivization. Heuersdorf was thus a unique architectural monument spanning eight centuries of German history. Yet many unoccupied homes were already suffering from disuse before the evacuation of the community.
The endangered status of Heuersdorf is treated in the article “Historic Heuersdorf”, appearing in the compendium Heritage At Risk 2004/2005 of the
International Council on Monuments and Sites. Despite stringent German laws on the protection of historic monuments and sites, all buildings in Heuersdorf have been victimized by mining excavation. While the venerable Emmaus Church has been moved to the city of Borna, all other buildings were torn down.
The villagers were forced to accept
financial assistance offered by MIBRAG to move from Heuersdorf, since they did not have the monetary resources for resisting the evacuation by legal means. For many years, younger adults refused such enticements to leave
their homeland. They were raising families and wanted to preserve the village and its community values. However, any further refusal to give up their homes would now lead to forced eviction and unendurable financial losses. Contrary to the declared intention of the state government of Saxony to keep the village community intact, people from Heuersdorf have been resettled at more than a dozen different locations. The singular interest of MIBRAG over the years was directed at coercing individual families out of the village, eroding human bonds and heightening the insecurity of those inhabitants remaining.
Since June 2009, Heuersdorf has been completely depopulated. Yet its struggle to resist this fate was unparalleled in German history.
Heuersdorf succeeded in overturning a parliamentary act intended to destroy the village on July 14, 2000. The Heuersdorf Law (Heuersdorf-Gesetz), which had been passed by the Parliament of Saxony in 1998 to achieve compulsory resettlement in accordance with the Federal Mining Law (Berggesetz) , was declared invalid by the Supreme Constitutional Court of Saxony. Many mining regulations were instituted in the 1930's to enable the appropriation of private property as a wartime expedient. Similar laws continued to be employed in both parts of the divided Germany after 1945, imposing involuntary eviction on thousands of households in the path of lignite mining. Although theselegal provisions are still in force, the Federal Constitution prescribes a specific parliamentary act (such as the Heuersdorf Law) for dissolving any community refusing resettlement.
On November 12, 2003, the Supreme Administrative Court of Saxony likewise declared the Lignite Plan for the United Schleenhain Mine to be invalid on formal grounds. Heuersdorf had thus won a second legal victory against government and mining interests.
Arguing that the regional economy was critically dependent on the lignite beneath Heuersdorf, the State Assembly of Saxony (Landtag) passed a second Heuersdorf Law on April 22, 2004 for eliminating the village. The lignite reserves in question actually constitute only about three percent of the total tonnage already licensed for mining in the region. A lawsuit filed by the Heuersdorf Town Council to contest the law was rejected by the Constitutional Court on November 25, 2005. The community was irrevocably deprived of its administrative authority and incorporated into the neighboring city of Regis-Breitingen.
You can find out more about the situation in the village by downloading the Brief Facts document, reading the information below, and talking with our international supporters.
To
travel to the former site of Heuersdorf, see the route
planner page, which also contains maps
of the village and the region.
We also invite you to browse through the German pages of our website. A translation assistant is provided by www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en.
Renewable Energy - Made in Germany|
Mining and Power Production |
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MIBRAG the mining company that has destroyed Heuersdorf |
CEZ Prague, Czech Republic |
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J&T Group Prague, Czech Republic |
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Vattenfall Europe AG the operator and 50 percent owner of the Lippendorf power station near Heuersdorf |
EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG Karlsruhe, 50 percent owner of Lippendorf |
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Vattenfall AB the Swedish parent corporation of Vattenfall Europe AG |
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“Status and Impacts of the German Lignite Industry” study from the Swedish NGO Secretariat on Acid Rain |
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“Digging to Development” Economic Effects of Mining |
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Lignite (Brown Coal) in Germany by Friends of the Earth (BUND) | |
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Lignite Mining in the Rhineland by BUND Northrhine-Westfalia | |
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The Garzweiler Lignite Mine by Meena Menon for planets-voice.org | |
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IfE Leipzig Energy Institute |
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IEA International Energy Agency |
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Lignite Vision 21 application of clean-coal technologies in the USA |
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Lignite Energy Council lignite use on the Canadian border |
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Clean Power From Lignite lignite research in Australia |
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Minelinks mining search engine |
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Ecominer an open forum towards ecological mining |
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PowerMarketers worldwide energy news |
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Oil Crisis scientific analyses of world energy supplies |
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Energy Shortage depletion of energy resources |
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Planet for Life the coming world energy crisis |
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Energy Vision fossil fuel depletion |
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Mining Activities and Human Rights |
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Mining activities worldwide links to industry and activists |
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Infomine mining activists and publications |
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Earthwins human rights violations in mining |
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Indigenous peoples of Siberia threatened by gas and oil industries |
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Coal River Mountain Watch coal mining in West Virginia USA |
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Coal Trail effects of coal use in the Asia-Pacific region |
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UCSUSA Union of Concerned Scientists USA |
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Earthrights International defending human rights and the environment |
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International Right to Know Campaign attitude of U.S. corporations toward the environment and people worldwide |
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Intercontinental Sustainable Energy Strategies |
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TREC Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation |
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“Least-Cost European/Transeuropean Electricity Supply Entirely with Renewable Energies” a transcontinental renewable energy strategy by Gregor Czisch |
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Climate Protection |
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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change UNEP coordination office |
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Climate Action Network Europe coordinating office for European organisations working on climate change issues |
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Carbon Trade Watch effects of greenhouse gas trading on human rights |
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Karlsruhe Research Center Global Change and Climate Change Links |
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European Commission air pollution in Europe |
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European Environmental Bureau federation of environmental citizens organisations |
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Climate Change Campaign of WWF |
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Germanwatch climate protection in a north-south context |
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Emission 55 business for climate |
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Climate Network Europe international climate protection network |
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Swedish NGO Secretariat on Acid Rain air pollution in Europe |
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ClimateArk Search Engine for Climate Change and Renewable Energy |
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ProClim Swiss Forum for Climate and Global Change |
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Impacts Climate Change in Alpine Regions |
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WGMS World Glacier Monitoring Service |
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US Global Change Research Program climate science in the USA |
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“An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security” Pentagon Study on Climate Change |
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Climate Change Observations and Predictions |
Met Office Hadley Centre, United Kingdom |
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Pew Center on Global Climate Change cooperative approaches to climate protection |
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CREST Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology |
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Greenhouse Network network of experts on global warming |
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Cool Companies energy efficiency with information technologies |
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EMA Emissions Marketing Association |
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CO2e.com carbon emissions trading |
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The Carbon Trader information on the carbon credit market |
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American Forests personal CO2 calculator |
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Religious Witness for the Earth interfaith network against climate change and environmental devastation |
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Fossil of the Day distinguishing the opponents of climate protection |
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General Environmental Topics |
100 Top Environment most frequently visited environmental websites |
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German Environmental Ministry federal environmental policy |
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The German Council of Environmental Advisors (SRU) assessments of German environmental policy |
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Umweltbundesamt federal environmental agency |
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BUND the German section of Friends of the Earth |
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Ökolöwe Agenda 21 activities in the region of Leipzig |
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CADDET Centre for the Analysis and Dissemination of Demonstrated Energy Technologies |
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ISES International Solar Energy Society |
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PVPS product and project data bank for solar technology of the International Energy Agency |
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Solarbuzz current news on solar energy |
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Solarbundesliga rating list of solar installations in German communities |
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Solar Explorer for the American Southwest |
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Öko-Institut e. V. center for applied ecology |
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ICLEI indicators for communal development |
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DEWI German Wind Energy Institute |
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Offshore-Wind wind power generation at sea |
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EWEA European Wind Energy Association |
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NWCC National Wind Coordinating Committee |
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CleanEnergy with numerous links to renewable energy sites |
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DOE Sustainable Development Center of Excellence |
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DOE Fossil Energy with news and international links |
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HyWeb Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Information System |
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The Brewer Group Light to Energy Research |
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IPSEP International Project for Sustainable Energy |
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Wuppertal Institut research on sustainable development |
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Global Ideas Bank with inputs on multiple topics |
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New Civilization Network linking people who change the world |
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Vereinigung für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung e. V. environmentally sound management |
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Kirchliches Forschungsheim Wittenberg environmental activities of the Lutheran Church |
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The Thoreau Society source material on ecology and peace |
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Environmental Defense with discussions on various environmental topics |
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Earthday Network international network for Earth Day |
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Grist magazine for Earth Day |
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New American Dream finding ecologically favorable consumption patterns |
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GAIA Global Ecovillage Network with communal sustainability checklists |
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Envirolink with daily news per e-mail |
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People and Planet internet gateway on population, poverty, health, consumption and the environment |
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Planet Ark Reuters world environmental news |
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Environmental News Service international daily newswire |
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Environmental News Network current environmental topics |
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Turn on the News media transparency in environmental issues |
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Environmental Ethics worldwide clearing house |
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Webdirectory environmental search engine |
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