Andrew Demshuk's latest book traces the trajectory of the village of Mölbis—in the coal-mining region south of Leipzig—focusing on the East German period through the 1990s. In the late 1980s, Mölbis received significant attention in western media for being the “filthiest village in Europe,” from which Demshuk drew the book's name. Over the course of thirteen chapters, he details the village and the surrounding region's growing ecological disaster in the GDR that stemmed from the open-pit mining of lignite (brown coal) and related industries as well as its post-unification transformation. Demshuk uses Mölbis as a case study of an exceptional—and exceptionally polluted—example to highlight the power of local actors to push for change. Demshuk frequently contrasts the actions of those in and around Mölbis with the SED leadership, which lived comfortably in the secure settlement of Wandlitz outside Berlin. Importantly, Demshuk does not end the book in 1989 or 1990, as many works on East Germany do, but rather crosses into the post-unification period and examines the continuing changes and legacies in the Berlin Republic.
Many aspects of Mölbis's story are relatively well-known: the overworked and antiquated lignite processing plant in nearby Espenhain, the resulting environmental degradation, and the church-based activism to improve local conditions. Still, the evocative writing captures the extent of the disaster and despair over the conditions in Mölbis. The air was so thick that drivers needed headlights in the middle of the day; newly planted trees died before they could take root; children suffered from respiratory illnesses; anything left outside was quickly covered in ash and soot. Given the unlivable conditions (and yes, many people moved away or refused to take jobs at Espenhain at all), it is unsurprising that popular frustration spurred activities, such as environmental church services and the “Mark for Espenhain” campaign. In this work, Demshuk demonstrates that a range of actors, from party members to Christians to everyday citizens, took part in protesting pollution. Their efforts to improve conditions—and their increasing frustration at the lack of investment in change from Wandlitz—illuminate how the environment contributed to the GDR's increasing legitimacy deficit in the late 1980s. The state even refused to accept donations that the “Mark for Espenhain” campaign raised explicitly for the purpose of updating the lignite processing plant.
Despite familiarity with Mölbis's plight, Demshuk's meticulous research incorporates new material that underscores the intimacy of a small community. First, he devotes attention to turning points in Mölbis's history, including the construction of the Espenhain facility during the Third Reich as well as problems in the early East German period. This perspective places the momentous events of the late 1980s and early 1990s into a longer trajectory. Second, Demshuk details the personal stories of local characters, their struggles, and evolving attitudes toward the pollution and the East German state. In examining the attitudes and actions of local officials, workers at the Espenhain plant, members and leaders of church-based groups, the Stasi, and more, Demshuk illuminates the complicated (im)balance between ecology and economy, between employment and poor living conditions, between hope and hopelessness. The personalities, their interactions with one another, and their common plight are clearly illuminated. For example, Pastor Siegfried Rüffert chose to speak openly to the Stasi about the conditions in Mölbis as well as to anyone else who would listen. Throughout the book, Demshuk makes clear that everyone knew how bad the conditions were. It was only the higher-ups living in bucolic Wandlitz who were able to ignore the devastation.
The Filthiest Village in Europe's greatest intervention comes in the last three chapters, in which Demshuk explores the impact of the Wende on Mölbis and its surrounds. He traces how locals debated (and voted) on whether to stay and what cooperation looked like as the GDR's structures fell away. The introduction of new characters and streams of funding—along with the reduction in force and ultimate closure of the Espenhain plant—transformed the region. Demshuk contends that the collaboration between West German outsiders (Westler) and locals is what helped Mölbis to see the success that it did, to shed its reputation as the filthiest village in Europe, and to become part of a blooming landscape. While much scholarship on East Germany ends in 1989 or 1990, Demshuk provides a longer view that crosses the common caesura to provide a clearer picture of Mölbis's trajectory. It challenges narratives about assertive, know-it-all West Germans and passive, ignorant East Germans, at least in this local instance.
At points throughout the book, the relationship between different modes and scales of analysis could be further developed. The introduction lays out an approach that is not particularly new. Discussions of an “alternative public sphere” in the church or complex dynamics within East German society that move beyond totalitarian models have been well established in the literature for some time. Relatedly, the book's near-myopic focus on Mölbis means that helpful context and overarching arguments about the larger functioning of the state, society, and international players, especially after 1989/1990, fall away. This disconnect between the local and larger contexts sometimes makes it difficult to find the significance of Mölbis's story. Though the introduction and epilogue make nods to broader takeaways and contemporary lessons about ecological crisis and recovery, including for “Planet Earth” (246), they are not consistently developed throughout the text. As the epilogue suggests, Mölbis's economic and social legacy is more complex than a straightforward tale of environmental renewal.
This critique aside, The Filthiest Village in Europe provides a deeply researched and unique case study of one village's struggle for survival. In the middle of a highly industrialized but decrepit energy-producing region, Mölbis faced health complications, social despair, and ultimately, abandonment. Demshuk reveals how local actors with different political and religious attitudes fought to overcome those seemingly insurmountable obstacles—across regimes—to make their village livable again.
