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Michael Sladek
Michael Sladek (1 October 1946 – 24 September 2024) was a German physician and environmentalist. After the Chernobyl disaster, he and his wife, Ursula Sladek, initiated a movement in their hometown Schönau im Schwarzwald to become independent of nuclear energy, achieving that goal in 1997. Life and careerSladek was born in Murrhardt[1] on 1 October 1946.[2] He studied medicine at the University of Freiburg and became a physician in general medicine in Schönau in 1977.[1][3][4] He and his wife Ursula, a former primary school teacher, had three children; two more children were born in Schönau.[4][5][6] After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the Sladeks and a small group of others founded the Parents for a Nuclear Free Future group, to research how they could limit the community's dependence on nuclear power.[5] Their first approach was on saving energy and getting others to save energy. They reactivated small hydropower plants in the region.[5] The couple developed the idea of a power system independent of nuclear power plants, generating electric power through distributed mini power plants from renewable sources.[6] After ten years of campaigning and raising awareness, they founded the first German green power utility, the Elektrizitätswerke Schönau (EWS), in 1994.[1] They took over providing power for the community in 1997.[1][5][7][8] With a system that combined efficiency and power-saving strategies, it became possible to satisfy the power consumption of the community. Schönau was the first community in a Western country that became independent of the national power grid and could decide how its power would be produced.[6][9] In 2015 he and his wife left the leadership of EWS, succeeded by two of their sons.[1] Sladek became famous as the Schönauer Stromrebell ("electricity rebel").[3] He was awarded the 1996 WWF Umweltpreis "Öko-Manager des Jahres" from the German magazine Capital.[10] In 1999 he and his wife were awarded the Nuclear-Free Future Award.[4] In January 2004, the Sladeks were awarded the highest order in Germany, the Federal Cross of Merit, for their involvement with the environment.[8] Following a severe illness, Sladek died on 24 September 2024, a week before his 78th birthday.[1][3][4] Honours
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