Striesen, Seidnitz, Strehlen and in between Gruna – the place in the green floodplain

one earth
many worlds
on our earth
I am a guest
in your world

Gruna has existed as a village since the 14th century. At that time, “place in the green meadow” was a common expression. A few centuries later it is often called “district garden” or “community garden” and Gruna has also had one since a few months, the youngest garden in Dresden. You can hardly recognise it as such yet. But there are already two brand-new raised beds with radishes and kohlrabi on the site and the idea of establishing a stage space in this district garden. The thickest roots have already been dug up and the most beautiful songs have already been sung for fans of Rio Reiser and Gerhard Gundermann. Two of the three thirds of the band Tricando played for the neighbourhood meeting. Enrico “Ennosch” Schneider and Andreas Zöllner took up the strings and shaped the evening atmosphere on the new garden stage in the stage garden with hope, melancholy and reverie. The plans for this area are still written in pencil, but the planning momentum is in full swing.

The area was declared an ERDF project less than a week after the first concert.  ERDF means: European Regional Development Fund, and until 2027 EU funding will also flow to Gruna. In planning terms, this means, among other things, upgrading, revitalising and reorganising the “district centre”, upgrading and networking the existing open spaces in Altgruna and the surrounding area, providing exercise and leisure facilities for all age groups, expanding the green spaces and the Rothermundt Park, more spaces for meeting and culture, strengthening cycling and walking.

This is also particularly important because Gruna is home to the oldest people in a Dresden district comparison. With an average age of 47.7, Gruna residents are 4.5 years older than the residents of the other districts in a Dresden comparison. “The proportion of people aged 65 or over in the study area is 35.7%, which is significantly higher than the city average of 22%,” says the ERFE project concept on page 12. This makes the initiatives of the district association and SIGUS e.V., which is particularly dedicated to working with senior citizens, all the more important.

In Gruna leben e.V. · Winterbergstraße 31c · 01277 Dresden
mail: post@dresden-gruna.de · phone: 0351 26552063 oder 0178 29 844 23

Sigus e.V. · Schrammsteinstraße 8 · Dresden
mail: sigus-dd@t-online.de · phone: 0351 26552063 oder 0178 29 844 23

And why Reiser and Gundermann of all things?

Both musicians were self-taught, dedicated to the problems of their time, had a critical eye on society and died early, Reiser at 46 in North Friesland and Gundermann at 43 in Spreetal. The song “King of Germany” is one of Rio Reiser’s most famous. And for many fans, digger driver Gerhard Gundermann has become immortal through his work for and with Tamara Danz, Silly. Tricando plays their music because the three of them still find that both musicians looked out of different picture frames but in the same direction. Somehow the lived idea of reunification on musical terrain, presented in an area that is currently reinventing itself, the Dresden district of Gruna.