Peace demonstration in Bonn in 1982

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Opening meeting for one of the demonstration trains.
View of the assembly of around 500,000 people on the political program in the Rheinaue.
As parking spaces for the many buses, with which a significant part of the journey was made, sections of the motorway were closed.

The peace demonstration in Bonn in 1982 took place on 10 June 1982 on the Rhine meadows in the Bonn district Beuel instead. At that time Bonn was the seat of government of the Federal Republic of Germany . Around 500,000 people took part in the event to protest , among other things, against the NATO double decision . The occasion was a NATO summit in Bonn, which the US President Ronald Reagan also attended. The motto of the demonstration was “Stand up! For the peace". The poster motif showed a drawing of an elderly woman who kicked a huge black bomb with her high-heeled shoe.

The organization of the demonstration marches and the rally presented a significant logistical problem. Because of the NATO summit, the entire city center of Bonn on the left bank of the Rhine had been declared a banned mile for demonstrators . The meeting was moved to the Rheinaue on the right bank of the Rhine. In addition to special trains, travel from all over Germany was often made by buses. Sections of the motorway have been closed specifically for these ( A 562 , A 59 ). From there, the demonstration participants then had to walk to the individual starting points.

In October 1981 a demonstration of comparable size took place in Bonn , and in November 1981 a similarly large peace demonstration in Amsterdam . The enormous number of participants resulted from the fact that an extremely diverse alliance, especially of youth organizations, had called for it. In some cases, this also resulted in considerable internal organizational disputes about participation, which in some places took place against an explicit resolution, such as in the trade unions.

The band BAP was inspired by the demonstration for the song Tenth June . On this occasion, Joseph Beuys composed and sang the song Sonne instead of Reagan! Dorothee Sölle said at the final rally: "We have a different idea of ​​freedom, Mr. Reagan, and we have a different idea of ​​the Sermon on the Mount, Mr. Chancellor".

See also: Nuclear weapons in Germany

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Calendar sheet: June 10, 1982 large-scale demonstration against NATO's double decision. one day on Spiegel Online
  2. a b Reagan no longer understands the world . In: Der Spiegel . No. 23 , 1982, pp. 19-27 ( online ).
  3. Jürgen Leinemann: We fidgeted in between . In: Der Spiegel . No. 24 , 1982, pp. 19-20 ( online ).