But the big processions of previous years were nowhere to be seen in our town. The young man wanted to know whether I was responsible for the posters that appeared all over town the previous night. They were small handmade notes protesting against environmental pollution and complaining about how it endangered health and they had thrown the security forces into a tizzy. The Little Green Province a name which captivated my imagination. The district around Lauchhammer, an industrial area 30 miles north of Dresden, is more commonly known as The Little Red Province .
People passing through recognize it from afar, by the clouds of coal dust darkening the air.
More than 30,000 people live off coal around here. But this industrial monoculture, producing secure and well-paid jobs as well as clouds of coal dust, is now on the verge of collapse. Around 250 years ago the meadows in the northern part of this area near the Black Elster river used to have a tinge of red due to ironstone in the soil. This gave the The Little Red Province its name. Metal castings were exported all over the world and an industrial proletariat developed very early.