Prison Round Trip

Prison Round Trip is a reflection on prison life and how to keep one's sanity and political integrity behind bars. Grappling with themes of consciousness, the nature of freedom, and what it means to be alive, Klaus Viehmann wrote this essay ten years after being released from prison, having completed a 15-year sentence for his involvement in urban guerrilla activities in Germany. The preface by political prisoner Bill Dunne, held by the U.S. government for over thirty years now, shows that the nature of imprisonment, and the ways in which the human spirit can transcend it, are universal.

Klaus Viehmann spent fifteen years in West German prisons after his arrest in 1978 for various activities carried out by the anarchist 2nd of June Movement. While in prison he wrote an essay that became the centerpiece of the book Drei zu Eins (“Three to One”), published in 1991. The book introduced the concept of “triple oppression”--the interrelations between class, gender and race in oppressive social structures--to a radical German-speaking audience, and proved highly influential, especially in autonomist circles. Since his release Viehmann has been active in various left-wing projects, including solidarity campaigns for World War II forced laborers and Colombian trade unionists. He remains involved in numerous publishing activities, as an author, translator, and a graphic designer. He is also co-editor of two extensive volumes documenting the history of autonomist political poster art in Germany: Hoch die Kampf Dem (1999) and Vorwärts bis zum Nieder Mit (2001). His home is once again Berlin--today officially undivided, but, as he puts it, “a place where a lot needs to be done."