Peace demonstration in Bonn's Hofgarten in 1981

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Peace demonstration on October 10, 1981
Peace demonstration with trade unionists on October 10, 1981

The motto of the peace demonstration in Bonn's Hofgarten on October 10, 1981, was to act together against the nuclear threat . Their final rally took place in the Hofgarten in Bonn , the then seat of government of the Federal Republic of Germany . Around 300,000 people took part in protest against, among other things, NATO's double decision . The speakers included Heinrich Albertz , Heinrich Böll , Erhard Eppler , Petra Kelly and Coretta Scott King . It formed the prelude to the three large-scale demonstrations of the West German peace movement from 1981 to 1983.

Organizer and preparation

The organizers were the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace and the Action Group Service for Peace . There were also over 800 other organizations that had supported the call for a demonstration. The concept and appeal were developed in June 1981, initially at a preparatory meeting in Duisburg, attended by representatives of the Action Reconciliation / Peace Services (namely Volkmar Deile ), the Action Group Service for Peace, the Interchurch Peace Council (Interkerkelijk Vredesberaad, IKV) of the Netherlands, Committees for Peace, Disarmament and Cooperation and the Dutch movement “Stop de neutronenbom” participated. In difficult discussions on the sidelines of the 19th German Evangelical Church Congress in Hamburg in June 1981, the call for a demonstration emerged, which Ben ter Veer , chairman of the Inter-Church Peace Council of the Netherlands, read out for the first time at the peace rally on June 19, 1981 in Hamburg. The Bonn demonstration was intended to be the prelude to a series of further peace demonstrations in European capitals. One of them took place in Brussels on October 20, 1981.

call

The call for a demonstration began with a description of the situation: The 1980s are increasingly becoming the most dangerous decade in human history. A 3rd World War is becoming more and more likely due to global armament .

The call formulated four demands:

  • against new nuclear weapons in Europe
  • The NATO countries should withdraw their consent to the stationing of new medium-range missiles (the so-called NATO double decision ) in order to open the "way for the reduction of nuclear weapons in Western and Eastern Europe".
  • a Europe free of nuclear weapons
  • for disarmament and a continuation of the policy of détente .

There were heated discussions between the peace groups in June 1981 about the second point, as the Christian groups ASF and AGDF advocated unilateral disarmament steps by the West, while other groups from the environment of the Federal Association of Citizens' Initiatives Environmental Protection and the Greens called for simultaneous disarmament in West and East . The formulation found represented a compromise.

Criticism in advance

In August 1981, the federal board of the German Trade Union Federation forbade its sub-organizations to call for participation in the demonstration.

In September, Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt criticized the Social Democrats Erhard Eppler and Oskar Lafontaine , who wanted to speak at the Bonn rally. The news magazine Der Spiegel reported on September 21, 1981 that Schmidt was considering an incompatibility decision by the SPD against members who wanted to speak at the rally. However, this was denied by government spokesman Kurt Becker. However, by signing the call for a peace demonstration , the Working Group of Social Democratic Women and the Young Socialists formally violated an incompatibility resolution of the SPD that had been in force since 1972, which forbade SPD members to take joint actions with the German Communist Party .

On the day before the demonstration, the CDU / CSU applied to the Bundestag to condemn the peace demonstration as being "directed against the security interests of the Federal Republic". Friedrich Zimmermann and opposition leader Helmut Kohl justified the request a. a. with the fact that the event "clearly serves the interests of Moscow" and that parts of the SPD there formed a " popular front " with communists. Willy Brandt and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt spoke against the motion, which was ultimately rejected with the votes of the SPD and FDP. Brandt said that the fundamental right to freedom of expression and peaceful demonstrations is not at the disposal of the Bundestag. Schmidt defended NATO's double decision with the aim of a “ zero solution ”, and the majority in the Bundestag reaffirmed this position.

Since there had been riots in September 1981 during a demonstration against the visit of US Foreign Minister Alexander Haig in West Berlin, Defense Minister Hans Apel expressed fear that the demonstrators in Bonn could attack the Defense Ministry on Bonn’s Hardthöhe .

Procedure, speakers, appearances

Most of the demonstrators traveled by special trains. There were five opening rallies: at the north bridge, in Bonn-Beuel, on the Josefshöhe, at the slaughterhouse and at the south cemetery. From there the demonstrators marched to the courtyard garden.

At the opening rallies, u. a. Emil Carlebach , Helmut Gollwitzer , Klaus Mannhardt , Gunnar Matthiessen , Willi Piecyk , Alexander Schubart , Dorothee Sölle , Werner Stürmann as well as representatives of American, Australian, British, Danish, French and Norwegian peace groups. It occurred u. a. Dietrich Kittner and the Zupfgeigenhansel group .

At the closing rally, the following spoke in this order: Heinrich Albertz , Alfred Mechtersheimer , Greetje Witte-Rang (Netherlands), Randall Forsberg (USA), Nino Pasti (Italy), Coretta Scott King (USA), Georg Benz , Erhard Eppler , William Borm , Thomas Heubeck , Robert Jungk , Helmut Ridder , Petra Kelly , Gert Bastian , Uta Ranke-Heinemann and Heinrich Böll . Böll gave the main speech. Martin Niemöller had to cancel for health reasons; his speech was read out. The cultural program included a. on: Harry Belafonte , the Bots , the Cologne Trade Union Choir , Franz Josef Degenhardt , Angi Domdey , Perry Friedman , Fasia Jansen , Otmar Leist and Hannes Wader . Volkmar Deile and Gabi Scherle were the moderators.

In its Brokdorf decision , the Federal Constitutional Court named the peace demonstration as a positive example of the peaceful implementation of a large-scale demonstration , which authorities should use as a guide in the run-up to other large-scale demonstrations.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Volkmar Deile: Bonner Hofgarten, October 10, 1981
  2. ^ Bonn, October 10, 1981. Peace demonstration for disarmament and detente in Europe. Edited by the Action Reconciliation / Peace Services and the Action Group Service for Peace. Lamuv Verlag, Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-921521-46-7
  3. ↑ a b c "That will light up the landscape" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1981, pp. 19-21 ( online - 21 September 1981 ).
  4. ↑ Volkmar Deile, Ulrich Frey: How it came to the demonstration of October 10, 1981 in Bonn. In: Bonn October 10, 1981, p. 14
  5. ↑ "Throw the nuclear weapons into the canal" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 25 , 1981, pp. 30 ( online - June 15, 1981 , on the role of the IKV and the Dutch peace movement at the time).
  6. ↑ Volkmar Deile, Ulrich Frey: How it came to the demonstration of October 10, 1981 in Bonn. In: Bonn October 10, 1981, p. 16
  7. ↑ Volkmar Deile, Ulrich Frey: How it came to the demonstration of October 10, 1981 in Bonn. In: Bonn October 10, 1981, p. 20
  8. ↑ Friedrich Zimmermann pointed this out in the Bundestag debate on October 9, 1981. Frankfurter Rundschau , October 10, 1981, based on: Bonn October 10, 1981, p. 44