Göttingen eighteen

This article deals with the Göttingen Declaration of 1957 against the nuclear armament of the Bundeswehr.

For a description of the Göttingen Declaration on Copyright Law for Education and Science of July 5, 2004 see Action Alliance Copyright for Education and Science .

The Göttingen Eighteen were a group of 18 highly respected atomic researchers from the Federal Republic of Germany (including the Nobel Prize winners Otto Hahn , Max Born and Werner Heisenberg ) who on April 12, 1957 in the joint Göttingen Declaration (also Göttingen Manifesto ) against the then by name Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss sought to arm the Bundeswehr with nuclear weapons . The scientists are expressly committed to the peaceful use of atomic energy. The immediate cause was a statement by Adenauer to the press on April 5, 1957, in which he called tactical nuclear weapons merely a "further development of artillery" and demanded that the Bundeswehr should also be equipped with these "almost normal weapons". Otto Hahn's secretariat sent the manifesto to the three major national daily newspapers FAZ , Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Welt on April 11, 1957 .

The name Göttinger Eighteen refers to the common academic beginnings of many of its members in Göttingen. It is an allusion to the " Göttinger Sieben ": in 1837 seven Göttingen professors protested publicly against the suspension of the constitution by King Ernst August I. They had to pay for their moral courage with removal from office (and in some cases also banishment ).

Course of events

The group consisted of Fritz Bopp , Max Born , Rudolf Fleischmann , Walther Gerlach , Otto Hahn , Otto Haxel , Werner Heisenberg , Hans Kopfermann , Max von Laue , Heinz Maier-Leibnitz , Josef Mattauch , Fritz Paneth , Wolfgang Paul , Wolfgang Riezler , Fritz Straßmann , Wilhelm Walcher , Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Karl Wirtz .

They were leading scientists in nuclear research and members of government organizations involved in the use of nuclear technology; some had already participated in the uranium project (uranium association) during the Second World War and were members of the German Atomic Energy Commission around 1956 . ( Wolfgang Pauli is often incorrectly named as the signatory instead of Wolfgang Paul. This even happened in the official program of the University of Göttingen for the 50th anniversary ceremony and in the original text that was possibly misquoted.)

Not all leading nuclear researchers in the Federal Republic of Germany signed the appeal. Either the appeal did not go far enough for them (e.g. Karl Bechert ) or they feared personal disadvantages. Certainly there were also practical obstacles for the organizing secretariat of Otto Hahn. Did not take, for example, Erich Bagge , Walther Bothe , Klaus Clusius , Kurt Diebner , Wolfgang Gentner , Wolfgang Finkelnburg , Siegfried Flügge , Paul Harteck , Willibald Jentschke , J. Hans D. Jensen , Pascual Jordan and Walter Seelmann- Eggebert .

Adenauer was outraged by this and rejected the scientists' interference in politics. However, the declaration found an unexpected response in public opinion , but above all at universities, where strong student opposition leaned against it (cf. Studentenkurier , 58er ). Because of this public pressure, Adenauer finally gave in and the Federal Republic of Germany renounced nuclear weapons.

The Göttingen Declaration was also widely echoed in what was then the GDR , as the following declarations show:

• On April 14, 1957, seven Dresden nuclear researchers from industry and teaching - Manfred von Ardenne , Heinz Barwich , Wilhelm Macke , Josef Schintlmeister , Ernst Rexer , Hans Georg Westmeyer and Werner Hartmann - made an initial "Dresden Declaration". For this declaration, a collection of signatures took place among the workforce and students.
• With an unknown date, there is another "Declaration by 105 professors from the Technical University of Dresden on the appeal of West German nuclear researchers" from Dresden.
• On April 17, 1957, at a meeting of the Physical Society of the GDR , 14 well-known nuclear physicists unanimously passed a resolution against nuclear weapon tests, the development of nuclear weapons and for the peaceful use of atomic energy, which was to be understood as a declaration of solidarity for the people of Göttingen. The signatories were Hans-Joachim Born , Alfred Eckardt , Hans Ertel , Hans Falkenhagen , Walter Friedrich , Gustav Hertz , Paul Kunze , Gustav Richter , Robert Rompe , Rudolf Seeliger , Max Steenbeck , Peter Adolf Thiessen , Max Volmer and Carl Friedrich Weiss .
• From the same date there is a declaration from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald "Greifswald stands to Göttingen" signed by the rector Heinrich Borriss and the Senate.
• A declaration dated April 25, 1957, was submitted by physicists at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena , signed by Alfred Eckardt , Gerhard Heber , K. Kühne, Kurt Schuster , Wilhelm Schütz and Max Steenbeck .

In March 1958, the SPD , which also represented this point of view in the Bundestag, founded the Committee on Fight against Nuclear Death , which was also supported by the DGB .

The Union of German Scientists emerged from the Göttingen Eighteen in 1959 , a non-profit organization that is committed to the tradition of responsible science.

Original text

The undersigned nuclear researchers are deeply concerned about the plans to arm the Bundeswehr with nuclear weapons. Some of them already reported their concerns to the responsible federal ministers several months ago. Today a debate on this question has become general. The undersigned therefore feel obliged to publicly point out some facts which all experts know but which the public do not yet seem to be sufficiently aware of.

1. Tactical nuclear weapons have the destructive effect of normal nuclear bombs. They are called "tactical" to express that they should not only be used against human settlements, but also against troops in ground combat. Every single tactical atomic bomb or grenade has a similar effect as the first atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Since tactical nuclear weapons are present in great numbers today, their destructive effect would be much greater on the whole. These bombs are called “small” only in comparison to the effects of the “strategic” bombs that have since been developed, especially the hydrogen bombs.

2. There is no known natural limit to the possibility of the life-exterminating effect of strategic nuclear weapons. Today, a tactical atomic bomb can destroy a smaller city, but a hydrogen bomb can temporarily make a region the size of the Ruhr area uninhabitable. By spreading radioactivity, hydrogen bombs could probably exterminate the population of the Federal Republic today. We are not aware of any technical means of reliably protecting large populations from this danger.

We know how difficult it is to draw the political conclusions from these facts. We, as non-politicians, will want to deny our entitlement to do so; our activity, which is pure science and its application and in which we bring many young people to our field, loads us with a responsibility for the possible consequences of this activity. That is why we cannot remain silent on all political issues. We are committed to freedom as it represents the western world against communism today. We do not deny that the mutual fear of the hydrogen bombs today makes an essential contribution to the maintenance of peace throughout the world and freedom in one part of the world. But we consider this way of securing peace and freedom to be unreliable in the long run, and we consider the danger in the event of failure to be fatal. We feel no competence to make concrete proposals for the policies of the great powers. For a small country like the Federal Republic of Germany, we believe that it is best to protect itself today and most likely to promote world peace if it expressly and voluntarily renounces the possession of nuclear weapons of any kind. In any case, none of the undersigned would be willing to participate in the production, testing or use of nuclear weapons in any way. At the same time, we stress that it is extremely important to promote the peaceful use of atomic energy by all means, and we want to continue to participate in this task.

Fritz Bopp, Max Born, Rudolf Fleischmann, Walther Gerlach, Otto Hahn, Otto Haxel, Werner Heisenberg, Hans Kopfermann, Max v. Laue, Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, Josef Mattauch, Friedrich-Adolf Paneth, Wolfgang Paul, Wolfgang Riezler, Fritz Straßmann, Wilhelm Walcher, Carl Friedrich Frhr. v. Weizsäcker, Karl Wirtz.

literature

• Otto Hahn : My life - the memories of the great atomic researcher and humanist. (Extended new edition) . Piper, Munich, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-492-00838-0 , pp. 228-236 .
• Werner Heisenberg : The part and the whole : Conversations related to atomic physics . Piper, Munich 1969, ISBN 3-492-22297-8 . , Chapter "Debates in Politics and Science"
• Elisabeth Kraus: Nuclear weapons for the Bundeswehr? In: Physics Journal . tape 6 , no. 4 , April 2007, ISSN  1617-9439 , p. 37 .
• Robert Lorenz: The "Göttingen Declaration" from 1957. Scholars' protest in the Adenauer era . In: Johanna Klatt / Robert Lorenz (eds.): Manifeste. Past and present of the political appeal . transcript, Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-8376-1679-8 , p. 199-227 .
  • Robert Lorenz: Protest of the physicists: the "Göttingen Declaration" of 1957 . transcript, Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-8376-1852-5 .

Web links

• deutschlandfunk.de , Background, Appeals of the 20th Century , May 19, 2018, Norbert Seitz : The Göttingen Declaration 1957
• taz.de , January 9, 2012, Interview with Robert Lorenz ( Dissertation Protest of the Physicists. The 'Göttingen Declaration' of 1957 ): taz.de: Göttingen Declaration disenchanted - "Propaganda for atomic research"
• University of Göttingen , uni-goettingen.de: The Göttingen Declaration 1957
  • text

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Manfred Wetzel: Practical Political Philosophy - Volume 1 . Königshausen & Neumann, 2004, ISBN 3-8260-2773-6 , p. 467 .
2. ^ Franz Walter: Revolt of the atomic researchers. On: Spiegel online. April 10, 2007.
3. ↑ see Nuclear Weapons in Germany
4. ↑ 50 years of the Göttingen Declaration. On: uni-goettingen.de April 12, 2007.
5. ↑ The German nuclear physicists in both parts of Germany are united in their rejection of the use of atomic energy for warlike purposes / against atomic death and annihilation, for peace and the welfare of mankind! ( SLUB [accessed on January 13, 2016] Signature in the SLUB: 2014 4 002302. Certificate 2012 from private ownership transferred to the SLUB.).
6. ↑ Max Born: Man and the atom . In: The higher education system, vol. 5 . 1957, p. 250 (text copy).
7. ↑ Max Born: Man and the atom . In: The higher education system, vol. 5 . 1957, p. 252-253 (transcript).
8. ↑ Max Born: Man and the atom . In: The higher education system, vol. 5 . 1957, p. 256 (text transcript).
9. ^ Minutes of the extraordinary Senate meeting on April 17, 1957 . (Signature in the University Library Greifswald: UAG, R (nF) 84).
10. ↑ Gerhard Heber. Retrieved January 14, 2016 .  
11. ^ Wilhelm Schütz. Retrieved January 14, 2016 .  
12. ↑ Bernd Helmbold: Nuclear Physics at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena from 1946 to 1968 . In: Jena contributions to the history of physics; 1 . Publishing house for the history of natural sciences and technology, Diepholz - Stuttgart - Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86225-100-1 , p. 104 (facsimile).
13. ↑ Text of the Göttingen Manifesto of the Göttingen 18. On: uni-goettingen.de December 19, 2012.