New in the cinema: Who does my village belong to? | helloherne

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Amateur recordings prove a carefree childhood in his two favorite places, the forest area north slope and the south beach. The forest has meanwhile been cleared in order to give the forest hotel built on the property of a convalescence home of the Free German Trade Union Federation of the GDR, which was quickly demolished after the fall of the Wall, a clear view of the promenade with the new pier. And the south beach should now be on the collar: this is where the Resort Santa Royale is being built, a wellness hotel funded with 2.5 million euros by the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Ministry of Economics.

“Herr Horst is buying a village” was the title of a “Zeit” dossier on April 14, 2016, Christoph Eder’s 96-minute film continues the research of the Hamburg journalists up to the present day. The now 71-year-old multimillionaire Wilfried Horst, son of a miner and a cigar maker from Bad Oeynhausen, came to Göhren, which was then very sleepy and covered in a gray veil, on his first excursion to the new federal states and immediately smelled the big business. The charismatic human fisherman knew how to acquire houses, hotels, shops and restaurants with the help of the local council.

“The four off the peg” is popularly known as the quartet that has held up the peg in parliamentary bodies. When Mr. Horst took advantage of the community in building a passenger elevator to the forest hotel and building a parking garage, several television companies reported about the farmer-savvy capitalist from the west, who still pays his taxes in North Rhine-Westphalia. After the resignation of Wolfgang Pester, who was first promoted and then opposed by Wilfried Horst, as honorary mayor, Gesche Krohne from the voter group “Together for Göhren” remained a lonely caller in the municipal council against the investment projects and their political supporters, above all the businessmen Markus Pigard (sports bar and Booths on the beach promenade) and Klaus Möller (“Zum Lotsen” disco).

Nadine Förster and her father Bernd Elgeti are at the forefront of a citizens’ initiative to save the last untouched coast and the unique, picturesque nature reserve that once also inspired Caspar David Friedrich. And in which now agricultural land is to be converted into building area. For the local elections on May 26, 2019, the party “Citizens for Göhren” competes and wins four mandates straight away. The 72-year-old Bernd Elgeti (CDU) will also be elected for the first time, so that the new mayor Torsten Döring (SPD) can rely on a majority in the fight against gentrification and turbo-tourism, the Göhren season lasts three summer months. One of the first decisions: a ban on the conversion of rental apartments into condominiums. The common good has not yet triumphed against capitalism: building projects that have long been approved, such as the Akzent Wellness-Spa-Resort next to the Waldhotel, cannot be stopped and Mr. Horst still pays his taxes in Bad Oeynhausen …

“Who does my village belong to?” Is a very personal film about the nature of democracy and the patience that citizens need in it. Christoph Eder, and he deserves credit for that, allows both sides to have their say, although he by no means conceals his sympathy for the arguments of Nadine Förster and Bernd Elgetis. It shows that political engagement can make a difference at the local level. Bringing structural change and nature conservation under one roof appears to be squaring the circle. But it can be possible to put economic interests under the primacy of resource conservation and sustainability. Mallorca and other tourist hotspots are currently on the right track, which is: less is more. Christoph Eder has been on a promotional tour since it opened in theaters on August 12, 2021, and has now come to North Rhine-Westphalia twice: on August 18, 2021 in the Film Palette Cologne and on August 19, 2021 in Bambi Düsseldorf.

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