5 Years of Alternative Life

An article in the alternative newspaper Hovedbladet called "Emigrate with bus number 8" gave the inspiration for occupying the abandoned military terrains at Bådsmandsstræde in Copenhagen. On 26 September 1971 squatters created Christiania as a place of alternative life, apart from the prevailing system. Organised in a number of councils, they experimented with maximum freedom and ways of self-government. Tense relations with the official government made the survival of the community uncertain, but in 1976 they could celebrate their 5th anniversary.