We could not find any other sources that mention any relation between the shutdown and the chemical site, or even the general groundwater pollution in the area. Interestingly, the only source mentioning any relation between the waterworks and Buna is an old report of...Read more
“Contaminator and cash cow” (C, interview, 21.06.2021)
The quotation above sums up the (official and unofficial) image of the Buna Werke during the GDR era. According to our interlocutors there existed an ambiguous image , primarily as a contaminator spewing...Read more
In order to understand which toxic consequences former workers are still facing one should first take a look at the working conditions in the GDR and their relations to forced labour.
At the end of the 1980s, production facilities...Read more
“It is present in the city’s community that there are contaminated areas” (B, interview, 21.06.2021)
When asked about how, in their view, the GDR history and the toxic legacy are reflected and remembered today (in German: Aufarbeitung), our interviewees...Read more
To gain more insight into the subsurface situation in the Buna area, we spoke to a geologist working and teaching at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. Specialized in hydrogeology and groundwater modeling, he has worked on the environmental remediation of sites...Read more
