From Blackout News

In the fairytale forest near Kassel, magic no longer grows. Where Sleeping Beauty once slept and Rapunzel looked out of the tower, excavators are now digging deep aisles into the earth. The Reinhardswald, one of the last large, contiguous forest areas in Germany, falls victim to the wind power industry. Huge machines cut down old giant trees, level slopes and pour hundreds of tons of gravel onto sensitive forest soil. Within a few months, a centuries-old natural and cultural landscape becomes a major industrial construction site. The destruction is irreversible – and is happening under the guise of the energy transition, although neither the regional population nor nature conservation nor monument protection have been able to exert influence. A unique ecosystem is giving way to a project that has little to do with sustainability (image: 12.06.25).

Fairytale forest becomes an industrial area

Where fairy tale characters once lived, construction machinery is now raging. The Reinhardswald, a symbol of German Romanticism, is transformed into a gigantic wind power construction site. Mountains of sand and gravel replace the enchanted paths. 18 wind turbines with a height of 244 meters will dominate the picture in the future.

Rotor blades as big as airplanes, solid concrete foundations – the dimensions make any idea of environmental compatibility fade. “Nothing of what is happening here in the Reinhardswald right now can be compared even remotely with what you might have in mind from the construction of a wind turbine on a field on the motorway,” says Oliver Penner of the Märchenland Action Alliance.

Deep cuts in nature and landscape

The characteristic low mountain range structure of the fairytale forest is hardly suitable for heavy technology. Differences in height require massive interventions: embankments of up to five metres, excavations just as deep to make room for routes and crane areas.

Residents report an alienated landscape. What was once a natural jewel now looks like an industrial area. The seven surrounding communities are protesting unanimously. Hundreds of citizens have organized. But the owner of the land is the state of Hesse – referendums remain excluded.

Protest without effect

Despite ongoing court proceedings, construction is progressing unabated. 140,000 tons of gravel already cover parts of the forest, and the first wind turbine foundations are in place. The legal objections have been pending since 2022 without a decision. Meanwhile, construction work continues – faster than expected.

Resistance is like fighting windmills. Politicians and investors act while cultural and natural heritage is lost. The symbolic power of the project is clear: technocracy triumphs over attachment to one’s homeland.

The fairytale forest becomes a memorial

The fairytale forest in northern Hesse is not dying as a result of natural disasters, but as a result of planned change. The stories of the Brothers Grimm lose their origin. What has shaped generations disappears under gravel and steel. Romanticism gives way to realpolitik. Fairytale images only exist on postcards. The reality, however, is loud, dusty and irreversible.