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Audio Archive Podcast – Go against the Grain is a long-term journalistic project and digital archive for conversations, interviews, reports, and essays on politics, society, and culture. Two to four new podcast episodes are released each month.
For more than three decades, we have been conducting interviews with philosophers, authors, activists, and scientists worldwide. Our interviewees explain the complex developments of our time and place them in an easily understandable and contemporary context within the global framework.
The Audio Archive Podcasts focus neither on mass media uniformity nor on unreflective pack journalism, but on differentiating insights: enlightening, knowledgeable and free from economic interests.
All Audio Archive podcasts are free. No revenue is generated through advertising. No AI support.
More details about the project, background informations, articles, video shorts, essays and more you'll find on our webpage www.audio-archiv.com
Audio Archive Podcast – Go against the Grain is a long-term journalistic project and digital archive for conversations, interviews, reports, and essays on politics, society, and culture. Two to four new podcast episodes are released each month.
For more than three decades, we have been conducting interviews with philosophers, authors, activists, and scientists worldwide. Our interviewees explain the complex developments of our time and place them in an easily understandable and contemporary context within the global framework.
The Audio Archive Podcasts focus neither on mass media uniformity nor on unreflective pack journalism, but on differentiating insights: enlightening, knowledgeable and free from economic interests.
All Audio Archive podcasts are free. No revenue is generated through advertising. No AI support.
More details about the project, background informations, articles, video shorts, essays and more you'll find on our webpage www.audio-archiv.com
Episodes

Oct 25, 2024
Oct 25, 2024
34 min
🎓 Johannes Laping (1949-2021 - Adivasi Koordination Deutschland) im Gespräch mit Jan Bodo Sperling (1928-2024). Das deutsche (BRD) so genannte Wirtschaftswunder der 50er Jahre basiert auf dem Export. Der Nachweis industrieller Leistungsfähigkeit gelang mit der Errichtung eines Stahlwerkes im indischen Dschungel. Neben dem Stahlwerk entstand die Stadt Rourkela (heute 540.000 Einwohner). Die Planungen begannen 1954. An der Errichtung waren hunderte deutsche Firmen beteiligt. Zeitweise arbeiteten über 4000 Deutsche für einige Jahre zusammen mit ca. 60.000 Indern in Rourkela (links s. unten). Jan Bodo Sperling, vom Spiegel damals als "Sheriff von Rourkela" bezeichnet, arbeitete in den 50er jahren als verantwortlicher Leiter und Betreuer der deutschen Gastarbeiter in Indien. Jan Bodo Sperling wurde 1928 in Braunschweig geboren. Er studierte Volkswirtschaft und nach dem Indienaufenthalt Soziologie und Psychologie. Später arbeitete er für die UNO. Vorraussetzung für die Errichtung des Stahlwerks war die Enteignung der ortsansässigen Adivasi. Diese wurden entweder in Ghettos zwangsumgesiedelt oder in angebliche Siedlungen im Urwald deportiert, wo es zu Hunderten von Todesfällen durch Hunger und Kranheiten kam. Diese sind bis in die Gegenwart kaum dokumentiert. Versprochene Entschädigungszahlungen wurden bis heute nicht geleistet. So steht das Stahlwerk in Rourkela gleichzeitig am Beginn des deutschen (BRD) Wirtschaftswunders sowie auch am Beginn der industriellen Entwicklung Indiens. Zudem markiert Rourkela eine Eskalationsstufe für die bis in die Gegenwart andauernde Verteibung und soziale Diskriminierung indischer Adivasi.
/🎓 Johannes Laping (1949-2021 - Adivasi Coordination Germany) in conversation with Jan Bodo Sperling (1928-2024). The German (FRG) economic miracle was based on exports all over the world. The construction of a steelworks in the Indian jungle was proof of industrial efficiency. The city of Rourkela (today 540,000 inhabitants) was built next to the steelworks. Planning began in 1954 and hundreds of German companies were involved in the construction. At times, over 4,000 Germans worked in Rourkela for several years together with around 60,000 Indians (see below left). Jan Bodo Sperling, referred to by Der Spiegel as the ‘Sheriff of Rourkela’ at the time, worked in the 1950s as the responsible manager and supervisor of the German guest workers in India. Jan Bodo Sperling was born in Braunschweig in 1928. He studied economics and, after his stay in India, sociology and psychology. He later worked for the UN. The prerequisite for the construction of the steelworks was the dispossession of the local Adivasi. They were either forcibly resettled in ghettos or deported to supposed settlements in the jungle, where hundreds of deaths from hunger and disease occurred. These have hardly been documented to this day. Promised compensation payments have still not been made. The steelworks in Rourkela thus marked the beginning of the German (FRG) economic miracle as well as the start of India's industrial development. In addition, Rourkela marks an escalation stage for the ongoing displacement and social discrimination of Indian Adivasis.
📚 Veröffentlichungen und Hinweise - Publications and references:
- Jan Bodo Sperling: "Die Rourkela-Deutschen." Mit einem Vorwort von Klaus Mehnert. DVA, Stuttgart 1965.
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- Adivasi Koordination Deutschland: Johannes Laping.
- audio archiv: https://www.audio-archiv.com/countries/india
- Adivasi Koordination Deutschland: Rourkela und die Folgen. 50 Jahre industrieller Aufbau und soziale Verantwortung
#india #adivasi #rourkela
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The Audio Archive Podcasts focus neither on mass media uniformity nor on unreflective pack journalism, but on differentiating insights: enlightening, knowledgeable and free from economic interests.
All Audio Archive podcasts are free. No revenue is generated through advertising.

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