Human chain from Stuttgart to Neu-Ulm

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The human chain between Stuttgart and Neu-Ulm on October 22, 1983 was a large- scale demonstration by the southern German peace movement as part of a nationwide peace week with a concluding “people's assembly”. It was 108 km long and, according to estimates by the organizers, was formed by 300,000 to 400,000 people, according to other information by 250,000 or over 200,000 people.

The aim of the actions of that day, which were attended nationwide over a million people, was there, the deployment of new medium-range nuclear missiles of the type Pershing II and of novel nuclear cruise missiles (cruise missiles) in Germany and Central Europe in the wake of the so-called. NATO double decision to prevent . The goal has not been reached.

prehistory

The human chain emerged as a compromise from a dispute between various peace groups in southern Germany. In April 1983, after a controversial debate, a nationwide action conference of peace groups in Cologne with around 800 participants decided not to call for a single mass rally in Bonn in the fall, but instead to call for three separate “People's Assemblies for Peace” in Hamburg , Bonn and southern Germany should take place. A fourth was added later in Berlin (West). The peace groups from Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, southern Hesse, the southern Palatinate and Saarland were initially at odds over the question of where their popular assembly should take place. The DGB and the groups of the so-called KoFAZ spectrum advocated a uniform mass rally in Stuttgart, where the headquarters of the US troops in Europe ( EUCOM ) was located. The so-called autonomous groups demanded a non-violent encirclement and blockade of the Wiley barracks in Neu-Ulm, which was considered to be the stationing location for Pershing II missiles. As a compromise proposal, the DFG-VK Baden-Württemberg (and specifically Ulli Thiel ) brought up a human chain over 100 km long, which should connect the two destinations Stuttgart and Neu-Ulm along the federal highway 10. The model for this form of action was a peace campaign by the “Women of Greenham Common ” in Great Britain, which Eva Quistorp had presented and propagated in West Germany. After long and difficult debates, an action conference of the southern German groups on June 5, 1983 in Ulm agreed on the project of a human chain across the Swabian Alb with two final rallies in Stuttgart and Neu-Ulm . The starting point in Stuttgart was the United States European Command in Vaihingen, and the end point in Neu-Ulm was the Wiley Barracks.

In August / September 1983 considerable doubts arose as to whether such a long human chain would come about. Skeptics feared embarrassment. The DFG / VK Baden-Württemberg entrusted with the organization issued the defiant slogan: “What is the bet? We'll create the chain! ”Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, ribbons were brought along in order to bridge any gaps.

call

The call to the human chain began with the words:

We get up. Now. Because time is running out!
In just a few weeks, the fuse is to be laid on the powder keg of the Federal Republic - by Pershing II and cruise missiles. There is talk in Geneva. NATO and our government are acting. Against our will. Against the interests of our country. If we don't prevent it.
Therefore: get up now. Participate anywhere. Increase the resistance. And be ready in October.
Hundreds of thousands in the chain, to the stationing places, to the popular assemblies. We need everyone. We offer nonviolent resistance. We are disobedient. We protect our country!

Conflicts

In August 1983 there was a serious conflict in the 15-person action office that organized the human chain over the question of whether representatives of the GDR's independent peace movement should be invited. After a controversial debate, the southern German coordination committee decided to invite Stefan Heym as a speaker. The representative of the German Peace Union (DFU) in the Action Office took on the task of doing this, but informed the Peace Council of the GDR and the Permanent Mission of the GDR that this invitation was not a criticism of the GDR's "serious peace efforts «Should be understood. The other representatives in the action office felt these letters were submissive "kneeling before the GDR" and a breach of trust and therefore demanded the exclusion of the DFU from the action office. After a debate from which the press representatives were excluded, the coordinating committee decided not to expel and was satisfied with a declaration of apology from the DFU. Heym finally canceled. The civil rights activist Roland Jahn , who had just been expatriated from the GDR, spoke in his place .

There was another dispute when members of the Action Office had “SS 20” printed on some of the demonstration posters under “Pershing II, Cruise Missiles” without prior consultation. The occasion was a registered counter-demonstration by the “Fellbach Forum”, which accused the peace movement of ignoring the stationing of SS-20 missiles . The Soviet medium-range missiles of the type SS 20 were officially considered by NATO as the reason for the stationing of Pershing II and cruise missiles. Large parts of the peace movement, however, refused to equate these weapon systems.

The organizers brought the president of VfB Stuttgart (and CDU politician) Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder to prevent a Bundesliga game against FC Bayern Munich planned for the day of the rally only at around 5 p.m. H. after the rally is over.

procedure

The demonstrators traveled with 48 special trains and almost 2,000 buses to the 24 cities and villages, where the opening rallies were held at 9.30 a.m. There were 18 rallies in Stuttgart alone. The other collection points were Esslingen, Zell, Altbach, Plochingen, Reichenbach, Ebersbach, Uhingen, Faurndau, Göppingen, Eislingen, Salach, Süssen, Gingen, Kuchen, Geislingen, Amstetten, Urspring, Lonsee, Westerstetten, Beimerstetten, Dornstadt, Jungingen and Ulm / New Ulm. The route was divided into 23 sections, and the participants were assigned a starting point and route section by the action office according to their home postal code or region of origin, in order to ensure that they were evenly distributed over the entire route. The kick-off rallies were organized by local peace groups.

From the opening rallies, people continued on foot or by bus from 11.30 a.m. to form the chain. It turned out that so many people had come on the sunny autumn day that in many places the chain could even be formed in serpentine lines or double rows. The chain was closed from 12.40 p.m. to 1 p.m. - that is, all cross streets were blocked during this time. Then the people made their way to their buses or train stations and special trains to reach Stuttgart or Neu-Ulm.

At the final rally in Stuttgart, Erhard Eppler (SPD), Marieluise Beck-Oberdorf (The Greens) and Siegfried Pommerenke (DGB) spoke . Roland Jahn spoke at the final rally in Neu-Ulm .

Effects

The human chain went down in history as a particularly impressive mass action. This is also reflected in the headlines of the press (all of October 24, 1983, unless otherwise mentioned):

  • Peace vibrations on the rough Alb: "Thu laughs dr Russ, but schee isch g'wea" (taz)
  • How Plochingen experienced the human chain: "But it was decent" (Badische Zeitung)
  • Many hundreds of thousands peacefully for peace (Sunday, October 23, 1983)
  • Hurray shouts sound as the chain closes on the Alb (Schwäbische Zeitung)
  • The largest and most peaceful event of all time in Stuttgart (Stuttgarter Zeitung)
  • FRG The Human Chain (Disarmament Campaign, December 1983)
  • A swinging band of demonstrators as a living symbol (Stuttgarter Zeitung)

As controversial as the human chain was still controversial in the peace movement in the summer of 1983, its various factions unanimously opted for this form of action a year later: For the autumn of 1984, the so-called KoFAZ spectrum of peace groups called for a 250 km long human chain, made by Duisburg should extend via Cologne and Bonn to Hasselbach im Hunsrück, a stationing place for cruise missiles. The autonomous spectrum called for the formation of a "network of people in the Fulda Gap": The autumn maneuvers of the Bundeswehr in the Fulda / Vogelsberg area were to be disrupted by numerous chains and blockades.

criticism

The “Fellbacher Forum”, an association of Bundeswehr reservists and the Young Union , demonstrated against the human chain with a motorcade. The approximately 100 counter-demonstrators accused the peace movement of ignoring the existence of the Soviet SS-20 missiles and of endangering German-American friendship.

In a caricature, Klaus Böhle juxtaposed the human chain, the people of which were cut out as paper figures, with Soviet convicts who marched into a prison camp on chains. The scissors created by the peace protesters cross both images and end in a hammer and sickle symbol .

literature

The human chain. A review. Edited by the German Peace Society - United War Service Opponents Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1984.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ DFG-VK BAden-Württemberg: 25 years of human chains . ( Memento from April 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ The human chain from Stuttgart to Ulm 20 years ago. Stuttgarter Zeitung, October 22, 2003 , according to enslinweb.de
  3. ↑ a b c d "I would do it again" . In: Swabian . October 22, 2008 ( schwaebische.de [accessed September 2, 2018]).
  4. ↑ The human chain . An idea and its realization. Conversation with Ulli Thiel in: The human chain. A review. Edited by DFG / VK Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1984, p. 15
  5. ↑ Facsimile in: The human chain. A review. Edited by DFG / VK Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1984, p. 94f
  6. ↑ The human chain . A review. Edited by DFG / VK Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1984, pp. 60-68
  7. ↑ The human chain . A review. Edited by DFG / VK Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1984, pp. 117f
  8. ↑ Die Welt October 24, 1983. Facsimile in: The human chain. A review. Edited by DFG / VK Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1984, p. 134
  9. ^ Information from Ulli Thiel, 2013
  10. ↑ Michael Schwellien: Hare and Hedgehog. Die Zeit September 14, 1984. Online
  11. ↑ Die Welt October 24, 1983, Sonntag Aktuell October 23, 1983. Facsimiles in: Die Menschenkette. A review. Edited by DFG / VK Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1984, pp. 134, 137
  12. ↑ Die Welt October 24, 1983. Facsimile in: The human chain. A review. Edited by DFG / VK Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1984, p. 134