Oases of Freedom - Anarchist Ramblings

The most spray-painted symbol on thousands and thousands of house walls worldwide is a big A breaking out of a circle. It first appeared in France in the mid-1960s and represents the beginning and endlessness of a ruleless idea - "Anarchy is order." But what does anarchism want? How timeless are anarchist ways of life? Why does anarchism often stand for chaos and arbitrariness? For the documentary film "Oases of Freedom", author, philosopher and publisher Ilija Trojanow goes on a journey and explores the region of the Thuringian Forest. Trojanow is in search of a long-lost complex of buildings called "Bakunin," named after the father of anarchism Mikhail Bakunin. Originally built as a shelter, it soon attracted not only working-class families from the surrounding area but also anarcho-syndicalists and free spirits from all over Germany. During the Nazi period, the hut was a training ground for the SS, and later a restricted area. For more than two decades, volunteers have been taking care of the maintenance of this "anarchist monument". The name Bakunin is symbolic of the beginnings of the anarchist movement. This particular hut is emblematic of a building, an ideological construct that is constantly being built, destroyed and improved.