Dederon – The Wonder Silk from Schwarza

From Schwarza in Thuringia comes the fabric from which socialist dreams were once woven: Dederon. Easy-care, water-repellent, non-iron. At the “Wilhelm Pieck” synthetic fibre combine, 1800 workers produced the famous GDR artificial silk around the clock. It was used to make everything that held socialist everyday life together: men’s shirts, fishing nets, sheer tights, curtains, summer dresses. The overall aprons and shopping bags have since attained cult status.

“Dederon – The Wonder Silk from Schwarza” is a film about life in a place that before reunification was the linchpin of one of the GDR’s most important synthetic fibre plants. The 30-minute documentary sets out in search of clues: it travels back to the golden age of GDR chemistry and tells stories about the workers who streamed through the factory gate every day. And it spins the thread through to the present, because Dederon from Schwarza has survived: the same silk is still spun today in the same factory halls as under socialism. It is exported all over the world – something the GDR never managed.