Freiland

Summary

Niels Deboos is fed up: Stuttgart 21, bio-metric data surveillance, nuclear power plants, corruption, untamed capitalism – all this misery has Niels revolting. He decides to turn his back on the Federal Republic of Germany, yet without actually leaving the country. Along with Christian Darré and some like-minded folks, he establishes a new state just outside of Berlin, with its own ministers and worldview: "We want a state in which every individual assumes responsibility for the community again."

The self-governed commune doesn't go undetected for long: Pressure from the outside is matched by growing unrest among the inhabitants who realize that some are more equal than others. Niels soon forgets his ideals of democracy and pacifism and instead installs an authoritarian regime characterized by distrust, anger and delusions of grandeur.