Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival

The Anti-WAAhnsinns Festivals were political rock concerts, which took place in Germany in the 1980s. Their purpose was to support protests against a planned nuclear reprocessing plant Wackersdorf in Wackersdorf. In 1986, the fifth festival marked the peak of the protest movement against the plant. With over 100,000 people attending on July 26 and 27, Burglengenfeld became the venue of the until then-largest rock concert in the history of Germany. The line-up included some of Germany's most popular music acts of the time such as BAP, Die Toten Hosen, Udo Lindenberg, Rio Reiser, Herbert Grönemeyer. The festivals resulted in an unexpected amount of media coverage for the anti-nuclear movement in Germany. Contrary to expectations of government agencies, however, the festival remained completely peaceful. As a result of the overwhelming protests the planned nuclear reprocessing plant was never built.

The first Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival took place in 1982 at the Lanzenanger venue in Burglengenfeld. Primary responsibility for the event was held by the local autonomous youth centre, where many such festivals had taken place before. Between 2,000 and 4,000 people visited the concerts each year. Because many members of the youth centre had actively been participating in the resistance against the recycling plant, the management decided to change the original festival into the Anti-WAAhnsinns Festival. The main purpose of the events was to attract public attention to the problems related to the WAA and the protests.

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