The two Catholic Workers Susan Crane (Redwood City, California, left) and Susan van der Hijden (Amsterdam, right) have been sentenced to a 229 and 115 days fine, the Veterans for Peace member Dennis DuVall has been sentenced to 90 days and Gerd Buentzley from Herford, Germany, has been sentenced to 90 days for repeatedly entering Büchel Air Base, Germany, advocating for a nuclear-free world.
Dennis needs immediate support!!! Sign the petition now here: https://www.change.org/Dennis_DuVall
and see here below why …
Around May 31 (Feast of Visitation), we walked a Pilgrimage for Freedom from Nuclear Execution from Büchel AFB to the women’s prison 100 km away. (A short diary of our peace walk you find here.) On June 4th, the end of the pilgrimage, both Susan’s went to jail. On July 22nd Dennis entered Bautzen prison. Gerd will be entering prison in Bielefeld on October 14th. Together, they hope to use their prison sentences to bear witness for a nuclear-weapon-free world.
Contact information
Letters to the inmate can be sent to:
Susan Crane
JVA Koblenz – Offener Vollzug
Simmerner Str. 14 a
56075 Koblenz
Germany
Prison contact for both Susans in Germany is Chris Danowski, christiane.danowski@web.de, (0049 151 10726612).
For visits please also contact Chris first. You can arrange visits with Susan and Susan during their outside time, which changes regularly.
If you like to contribute to their expenses you can send money to
GAAA – Gewaltfreie Aktion Atomwaffen Abschaffen
GLS Bank, IBAN DE57 4306 0967 8019 1512 00, BIC: GENODEM1GLS
Betreff: Vigil behind bars
Dennis DuVall has been released due to an anonymous donation of his fine, but he is now faced with being expelled from Germany. Support is needed!
Why is My Grandma in Prison?
Susan and Susan made a comic strip when being at JVA Rohrbach for the grandchildren of Susan C. (Click on the picture to read the whole comic strip.)
Update November 02
Frits ter Kuile (+31 6 30295461 / fritstk@gmail.com) and Susan Crane joyfully invite you to a walk along the fence of Büchel Air Base on November 16th:
Dear Peace Friends,
We dreamt of a Rainbow Peace Walk on November 16th when Susan Crane has a leave of the prison. The leave goes through and so does the walk!
We start at the Büchel Gewerbegebiet (meeting there at 11 am) and walk along the fence of Büchel Air Base to the main gate (about 3,5 km), hold a vigil on the roundabout in front of the base, enjoy Kaffee & Kuchen at the peace meadow and then walk back to Büchel. We expect to be back at the parking between 2 and 3 pm. The walk has been announced at the Cochem town hall and will hopefully be permited soon.
There will be ribbons in the colors of the rainbow. Who feels called, can help weave on the way back a rainbow in the new ultra fence.
Depending on how many we are and if we can give rides to Susan, who would love to come to Kail but has to sleep in Koblenz, we are welcome either in Koblenz or in Kail at Martin’s place for soup & a full moon fire on Friday evening November 15th!
There are ample bed’s available, but it is nice if you can bring your own bedding or a sleeping bag.
Please let us know before November 11th (fritsk@gmail.com)
– if you are joining us on Friday and/or Saturday
– if you bring a car and can transport people or if you need a ride
– if you like to bring a Kuchen for the picknick.
Peace!
Frits ter Kuile (+31 6 30295461 / fritstk@gmail.com)
Here you find these information in German and English as pdf-file.
Update October 20
Both Susan C and Susan vdH keep on witnessing against war and the thread of nuclear weapons, both from inside and outside the prison. Susan C writes about meeting and talking to people about their lives:
Through the ongoing tragedy of the genocide in Gaza and the climate crisis, there is good news. This morning I was excited to hear that the Nobel Peace Prize had been given to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese organization of witnesses and survivors of the nuclear weapons that the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The members of Nihon Hidankyo have been advocating with their words, actions, and their lives to prevent nuclear war and to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Their witness and their lives are a warning to all of us, and a reminder of the consequences of these weapons.
The 20 U.S. nuclear weapons are still here in Germany at the Büchel air base. We in Koblenz are 55 km from the nuclear weapons, but in reality, there is no safe distance from the blast, heat and radiation, and we are all at risk.
During a furlough from prison last Sunday, I attended an ordination at the Evangelical Community Church in Cochem.
… read on
Susan vdH gave a speach at a demonstration in Nörvenich (Germany) against the yearly NATO maneuvers “Steadfast Noon”:
During the peace camp in the summer of 2018, again during daylight, with a large group of supporters, we went to Büchel and cut five holes in the fence in 5 places, a few meters apart, and again entered the base. One group, including a person in a wheelchair, began to play a game of basketball on the sports field near the base, others managed to reach a bunker where they climbed up and remained undiscovered for a long time. We were discovered in groups and taken to the soldiers’ canteen where we were given tea, then our details were written down and we were taken on a bus to the other side of the base and put on the street. This time we were all charged though.
More actions followed, but I wanted to mention these two because at the same time they were very serious and at the same time brought so much hope and joy.
Civil disobedience is not something you do just like that and not for fun. The consequences can be very serious for yourself and those around you. I have been in prison for 4 months this year, Susan Crane is still in prison until January, Dennis DuVall may be deported because of his participation in actions in Büchel … read on
On Thursday early in the morning we joyfully welcomed Susan van der Hijden back in freedom after spending 115 days in prison for civil disobedience against nuclear weapons. While waiting we gathered for a vigil in front of the prison and held banners to the cars passing on the busy street in this area of Koblenz. Some cars honked in appreciation. Much to our surprise people came from around the area and a couple of hours driving away. Even Susan Crane was able to attend together with Pastor Stahl from the Protestant Church where she is working and staying on the “free” weekends. (Unfortunately they had to go back to work earlier, so they are not in the pictures, sorry!)
After our short vigil we gathered with coffee and cake in the church and listened to each others questions about prison life and stories. After a while Susan, Frits and me drove to Amsterdam to have a great welcome back dinner for Susan vdH at the Catholic Worker house!
Susan vdH writes:
Dear friends, supporters and family!
As my vigil behind bars, against nuclear weapons in Germany and the rest of the world, comes to an end on September 26th I would like to thank you one last time for all your support, kind words, stamps and continuing struggle for justice.
I wish I could say that when I leave prison the world is in better shape then when I entered, but the opposite is true. The war in Ukraine is escalating and our voices for peace are more needed then ever.
Therefore please continue writing and supporting Susan Crane who will vigil for 4 more months. Also remember the people who will go to jail in the future and please support Dennis DuVall because he is threatened to be expelled from Germany for his peace works.
If you are able, talk to friends and neighbours or join one of the many peace vigils in Germany and elsewhere. Look at https://www.friedenskooperative.de/termine
Or join me in Nörvenich on October 12th to protest the NATO practicing with nukes.
I am grateful for all your letters and support in the last months. This was truly a community effort that I could not have accomplished without your solidarity. The truth is however that I only gave up some luxury privileges and my prison time was much more comfortable than that of say peace activists in Russia or other countries. None of us can be free if not all of us are free! See you at the next peace event! Susan vdH
Update September 9
Whilst Susan Crane still has months of prison left, Susan van der Hijden will soon be released. You are invited to welcome her out and express our solidarity with the people who will have to stay inside.
The vigil will start at 8:00 in the morning on Thursday September 26th, opposite the prison at the yellow mail box (Am Fort Konstantin 2, Koblenz). After the vigil we can go meet Susan Crane at her workplace at Brenderweg 125, Koblenz. There we can say goodbye and have coffee or tea and cake.
Update August 12
Both Susan C and Susan vdH have started jobs (unpaid and paid) inside and outside of the prison – within the regulations of the so called “Offener Vollzug”. They do get to be outside the prison every day and every other weekend. We could spend their first weekend outside together and had a wonderful celebration day of Susan vdH birthday!
Hiroshima Remembrance Day, August 6, 2024 at Koblenz Train Station
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are a warning to us not to continue to build, deploy or use nuclear weapons.
On August 6, Susan van de Hijden and Susan Crane made a paper banner and went to the local train station in Koblenz to perhaps have a chance to vigil, discuss and remind people of the danger of nuclear war and nuclear weapons, and the U.S. nuclear warheads that are deployed right now at Büchel Air Base.
79 years after the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and decades after the cold war, a new nuclear arms race is starting in Germany with the announcement of NATO to station, once more, medium range missiles with nuclear capabilities in Germany. The continued buildup of NATO forces in Europe and the regular nuclear war exercises, close to Russia’s borders, threaten life on earth. Not just by worsening relations with Russia and escalating the war in Ukraine but also by causing massive climate damage.
in the Climate Crossfire report Nnimmo Bassey says: “The true environmental impact of war is impossible to quantify because it affects a staggering array of sectors and every aspect of human well being. Wars kill people, extinguish biodiversity, and destroy the infrastructure that could otherwise provide safeguards in the face of extreme weather events. Warfare is an act of climate denial. And it is insulting that the military, which is one of the most polluting sectors, is not required to report its greenhouse gas emissions in nations’ climate targets.” (Lin, H.C.,Buxton, n.,Akkerman, M.,Burton,D.,de Vries, W. (October2023), Climate crossfire: how NATO’s 2 military spending targets contribute to climate breakdown, Transnational Institute http://www.tni.org/climatecrossfire)
Susan and Susan stood at the Koblenz station for 30 minutes with their small banner and got a few headnods (even from the police) and one woman saying, “oh, thats a good idea!” It felt insignificant but they knew there were many other groups in Germany and around the world doing the same thing at the same time; making sure that the 210,000 people that died in Hiroshima that day in 1945 are not forgotten and that we should not make the same mistake again. Nuclear weapons do not make the world safer, rather, they are a sure way towards destroying us all, be it by use or preparing to use them. Hiroshima warns: disarm now!
Update July 30: moving into “Offenen Vollzug” in Koblenz
Susan and Susan moved to a different prison in Koblenz where they are allowed free timee during the day and some weekends ouside the prison. They were taken to the new prison by support person Chris and spend some beautiful hours together chatting, organizing and sharing meals. I will write more about their new daily schedule later. This is their statement about it:
Dear friends, greetings from the open prison of Koblenz!
Since the 30st of July we have exchanged the Rohrbach prison desert, where most women are locked up alone or in pairs for 21 hours of more a day, for the relative freedom of a, so called, open prison. Did the devil tempt these activists in their desert, you may wonder? True enough, we did not apply to move but were offered it by a person with power in Rohrbach prison.
And all power is given by the devil, the bible says. (Lk 4:6)
It was not an easy decision to accept this offer and it might have been a mistake that we will have to rectify in the future. However, this offer also seems an attempt from the German justice system to rectify their mistake in finding us guilty. What kind of peacemakers would we be if we denied this gesture, even if they are not fully aware of making it?
We gratefully accept the offer from the German justice system to give us a few months of food and lodging while allowing us to work with the people who suffer the most from money going towards war preparations instead of education, health care or social housing. And holding regular vigils and talks about nuclear disarmament. Who are we to refuse this attempt of redemption? Perhaps it is a first step to recognizing the value of war resistance and more positive court verdicts?
Soon it will be the 79th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We intend to use those dates, 6-9 August, to start our peace work in Koblenz, either behind bars or on the streets. We hope many of you will join either alone or with a local group (of which there are many!). Fold cranes, hang up a banner, join a vigil, but most importantly talk to your neighbours, express your fears for war and longing for peace and build community!
We too shall use the month of August to speak about the horrors of war, the cancers and birth defects still caused by depleted uranium in Iraq (1), the cancer-causing pollution of the Mississippi River in the USA by tritium (2), the huge increase in CO2 emission by the arms upscaling of NATO (3), the hunger in Sudan, the return of polio in Gaza because of the destruction of health care and sanitation (4), the 10.000s of amputees in Ukraine (5).
Let us work together for a world with more peace, justice and freedom!
(1) NIH 2012
(2) Nukewatch Summer 2024 “NRC apologizes, admits: Monticello’s leake tritium reached the Mississippi River”
(3) Climate Crossfire: How NATO’s 2% military spending targets contribute to climate breakdown” Report Oct 2023
(4) TAZ 23/7/2024
(5) TAZ 17.07.2024
Update July 17
Yesterday Susan and Susan moved to a different wing in the prison, where there is more time being out of the cell and being able to talk to other inmates. Now they can share better about their “vigil behind bars” through showing pictures and newsletters about their cause. They write to us:
“We are asked if we can write about our daily life and the people around. We however feel it distracts from WHY we are in prison. So, if people want to know what prison life is about we suggest that they try to experience it themselves. Every prison is different and so are the people in it. A “simple” go-in at your local NATO base will get you 30 days in German prison. Once you have a prison invitation we are happy to share our knowledge with you. Of course this is not an option for everyone. We are also willing to talk in person to people about prison but we do not want the emphasis on prison life in publications or the internet. We are doing well and meet interesting people, try to speak about nuclear weapons and peace to who wants to listen and continue our CW work if / as we can. We pray, write, read, do exercises and otherwise try to prepare ways to continue our resistance to nuclear weapons during and after our “vigil behand bars”. Thanks to all our supporters for their part in the vigil!”
Update June 27: Report on a prison visit by Elu
Many and very warm greetings from Susan van der Hijden and indirectly also from Susan Crane. As part of yesterday’s vigil, we were eight people from Mainz, Kleve, Herford, Kreuznach, Saarland and Lübtheen (at 31 degrees in the shade) and we were able to carry out our registered visit to the prison. The usual controls are a bit stricter than I am used to elsewhere. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take anything, absolutely nothing, into the visiting room and apparently vice versa. Susan vdH wrote the points she wanted to discuss on her forearm, so we should remember them for our later visits. She was in a good mood.
There was a screen between us that we could reach over and even hug. The screen, surely introduced by Corona, was probably kept simply because of a lack of protests, instead of going back to a rational level of “security”. In addition, you cannot buy sweets or tobacco or coffee from a vending machine, something that would be possible even in high-security prisons. We should protest from the outside about such and other everyday harassment that is important for prisoners. Susan also wants to send us other points that she has noticed. I plan to send a letter to the Ministry of Justice, the prison commissioner of the parliamentary groups and the prison management. That is why I suggest asking all visitors to send me anything that they notice so that we can put together a concentrated load of criticisms of nonsensical measures. The Susans are also interested in getting in touch with lobby groups and organizations for prisoners. I will take care of the Committee for Fundamental Rights and Democracy.
Otherwise, everyday life is just as harsh and boring as in any closed prison I know. They have given us the following tasks:
1. Book list: You can get books, but you have to apply for them and they have to be available to order from a specific online bookstore. Since neither of them knows the exact titles and authors, they would like to have book lists and suggestions from outside so that they can then apply. Then we can order them directly from the bookstore and have it send to them.
2. Stamps: Please also send 1.10 € and 0,70€ stamps (foreign postage). It is best to send 5, 10, 20 and 85 cent stamps (no self-adhesive ones).
3. Both are still happy to receive mail. Unfortunately, they did not receive my colorfully decorated envelope, but apparently only its contents. If we want our letters to remain intact, we should ask them to confirm. Please write the date in the letter.
4. Susan Crane in particular is interested in her message from the Vigil Behind Bars being spread further. We should definitely urge the Bundestag and state parliament members responsible there to visit her. I have already received a rejection from one of them: “As a Bundestag member, she cannot visit criminals because it would be seen as an act of solidarity with the crime.” Lack of civil courage!!! She will get a letter back to that effect as soon as I get home.
Overall, it gave us the satisfaction of having done something meaningful between the two days of the trial.
(Report from Ernst-Ludwig Iskenius)
Update June 26
Liebe Friedensfreund*innen, liebe Atomwaffengegner*innen. anlässlich von zwei Berufungsprozessen am 25. und 27.6.2024 in Koblenz wegen GO IN am 8. Mai 2023 in den Atomwaffenstützpunkt Büchel und dem derzeitigen Gefängnisaufenthalten von Susan Crane (USA) und Susan van der Hijden (Niederlande) die zu 229 Tagessätze bzw. 115 Tagessätze für das gleiche Delikt verurteilt wurden, und diesen Gefängnisaufenthalt als “Mahnwache hinter Gittern” nutzen, finden
am 25.6. von 7.30 Uhr bis 8.30 Uhr eine Mahnwache vor dem Landgericht Koblenz, Karmeliterstrasse 14 anschließend Prozeß
am 26.6. um 12.00 Uhr bis 15.00 Uhr an der JVA Rohrbach, Peter Caesar Allee 1 in 55597 Wöllstein eine Mahnwache
am 27.6. von 7.30 Uhr bis 8.00 Uhr eine Mahnwache vor dem Landgericht Koblenz, Karmeliterstrasse 14 in Koblenz statt.
Bitte überlegt, ob Ihr angesichts der zunehmenden Zuspitzung hin zu einem Atomwaffeneinsatz selbst an einem der Termine teilnehmen wollt oder andere dazu motivieren und mobilisieren könnt.
Update June 19: 1st Statement from Susan and Susan
Vigil behind Bars – For a Disarmed World
JVA Rohrbach June 2024
Here in Rohrbach prison we are awakened by the sounds of doves and other birds, giving the illusion that all is well in the world, until other sounds, keys rattleing, doors being shut, and guards doing the morning body check, bring us back to reality.
We are sitting in a prison cell, 123 km from Büchel Air Force Base, where ~ 20 U.S. nuclear bombs are deployed. At the moment, the runway at Büchel is being rebuilt to accomodate the new F-35 fighter jets that will carry the new B61-12 nuclear bombs that were designed and built in the U.S.
The planning, preparation, possession, deployment, threat or use of these B61-bombs is illegal and criminal. The U.S., Germany and NATO know that each B61 nuclear bomb would inflict unnecessary suffering and casualties on combatants and civilians and induce cancers, keloid growth and leukemia in large numbers, inflict congenital deformities in unborn children and poison food supplies.
“We have no right to obey” says Hannah Arendt.
Although actions might seem futile, we understand that it is our right, duty and responsibility to stand against the planning and preparation for the use of these weapons. They are illegal under the non-proliferation treaty, which both Germany and the U.S. have signed and ratified, and under the The Hague Convention. the Geneva Convention and the Nuremberg Charta.
During the international peace camps in Büchel (organised by the GAAA which consists of, among others, IPPNW, ICAN, FOR and DFG-VK; the German war resisters league), we, together with other war resisters, and with the help of many supporters, went onto Büchel Air Force Base to communicate with the military personel about the illegality and immorality of the nuclear bombs. We also wanted to withdraw our consent and complicity to their use.
The judges who sentenced us for these actions, made a decision to follow some laws and ignore others. It is common sense, and we all know, that even the law against trespass can be broken when life is endangered.
The judges and prosecuters, as well as the guards in prison treat us respectfully and politely while at the same time sticking to laws and rules that are unjust and cause suffering. The biggest crime in their eyes is to upset the “order”, even though the order is set up to be criminal.
We wake up every day with determined joy to continue our “vigil behind bars”. A joy constrained by knowing that the other women here have pain, from being separated from their family and children or from constant physical or psychological difficulties or from being locked in a cell all day with nothing to do. We are only able to “vigil behind bars” through the immense support of people making sure our cw houses can continue, people sending us cards and stamps, organizing visits and money for phone calls, remembering us in their prayers, doing presswork and those that continue fighting the death dealing warmakers in the world.
Blessings to you all!
SUSAN CRANE and SUSAN VAN DER HIJDEN
Update June 19: News from Felice in the USA
News about Susan C. today: She is doing very well, although she still hasn’t had a cup of coffee!! She is hopeful the commissary situation will be worked out soon. Prisoners are locked in their cell 22 hours per day, and she and Susan van der Hijden are very glad to be sharing a cell. They continue to learn the ins and outs about how things work at Rohrbach prison.
She clarified that she is able to receive newsletters, if she asks for prior approval of the specific newsletter. Also, a friend in Germany ordered the NY Times for her, but she hasn’t started to receive it yet.
Susan is grateful for all of the mail and all of the support she has been receiving! She said that friends and supporters in Germany can send German stamps for her to use. She is asking that people in the U.S. who write to her include a couple of blank sheets of paper or some postcards that she can use for correspondence (if you can find peace postcards, that would be great!).
She would really like interesting articles to read. She thought if we print them up on just one side of the paper, and write a letter to her on the blank side, that should be able to get to her.
Peace, Felice
And we got the first calls from Susan vdH as well! She also finally had gotten a paper sheet do fill in for ordering books from a bookshop which they then have to pay for from their commissonary money. But funny enough on the top of the form it states “NOT for ordering books” … !
Update June 15: First call from the prison
Susan C was able to call today! I first got to talk to Susan vdH but she handed over to Susan C as it was her call. (Susan vdH hasn’t been granted telephone calls yet, both not knowing why …) It was so good to hear her voice! After giving a short update about each other we had a little “business meeting” with Susan C asking me for information and giving me tasks. She is lacking english texts, anything to read, so I am working on how to get her/them books. It is difficult, though. Susan C is looking forward to Monday when they both will be able to order from the prison shop for the first time: “And then, Chris, I hopefully will have coffee!” Me:”Whaaat? Are you telling me you didn’t have ANY yet???” Susan C: “Would you have guessed I survive?!” she answered laughing. Anybody who has been with Susan C knows her thirst for coffee in the early morning, right? ;-))
We also received a couple of letters from both. Susan vdH writes ” … enough complaining. As prisons go, this is a fairly nice one. Big cells, bigger than my room in Amsterdam [and she has the biggest in the house, CD], clean and comfortable. Clothes also plenty and comfortable. Fresh, good food (although more vegetables would be nice), friendly people … Today we asked a guard, Beamte they are called, about something and she too had to sigh and said: Eugh, all those stupid rules!”
They also write about their first Sunday: “We went to an ecumenical church service that was quite nice and simple. The church hall was full!! One of the prisoners played the piano to accompany the songs. She was very good. The priest (?) was also good. He talked about the reading where Jesus is asked what the most important commandment is: to love God and to love your neighbour as yourself. He made it personal by giving examples of how he struggled with these words. The songs were fairly easy and we could both almost sing along.”
Update June 12: Good news:
Both Susans share a cell now!
Beate visited Susan C today. She looked good and was smiling warmly. She is happy about sharing the cell with Susan, but is unhappy with the program the prison offers to the women: almost none. Whereas the men have a full spectrum of courses, the women are even denied to use the soccer field! Both Susans went swimming, though. The prison library has almost no English books. But Beate found a way to send a book to Susan C: She is ripping pages out of a book on Yoga and sends 3-5 pages every day. So far they all were given to Susan C. She also received the printed texts from her court speeches that we send in an envelope. So just try to send printed articles and texts that you want to share. Also the inmates can request to receive newspapers.
The other Susan from Amsterdam had the idea: if you write a letter, maybe on the back copy a song or poem or a quote, e.g. from Thích Nhất Hạnh?
Update June 10:
We can send stamps, but only NOT-self adhesive ones. 0,85€ for inside Germany, 1,10€ for international (any country).
We can NOT send any books. Only way for them is that they order books themselves and pay with their prison account. We do not know yet, how that works. Please do NOT send any money to the prison, but contact Chris.
Update June 07:
They are both well, Susan C. is in a cell alone, Susan vdH shares a cell with a nice, but smoking woman who doesn’t speak German. In our letters no infomaterial, newsletters, newspapers, magazines or such are allowed, only personal letters. You may include pictures of family members (as we are a big family, right?). They can buy stamps and paper in the prison shop but only every (?) tuesday. If you want to send stamps, please be aware that the self-adhesive stamps are NOT allowed.
Susan Crane
– Cochem District court September 29, 2021
– Cochem District court January 17, 2022 and Declaration of Anabel L. Dwyer
– Koblenz Regional court September 20, 2022
– Constitutional Court, Karlsruhe, March 20, 20233 filed by Attorney Milan Martin
– European Court of Human Rights filed by Attorney Milan Martin
“As a US citizen, I feel responsible for the nuclear weapons that are created with my tax dollars. I have said, out of conviction and conscience, that we must disarm nuclear weapons here in the US, and that is why it makes sense to get involved with the international community of peacemakers against the US nuclear weapons stationed in Europe.” The United States spends more than $84,094 on nuclear weapons every minute. Meanwhile, millions of people in the United States face contaminated water and unsafe food, are homeless and suffer from inadequate medical care. These problems, also faced by the poor around the world, could be solved with the resources and money the United States spends on warfare and nuclear weapons. “My faith teaches me that every child is sacred and that there is no moral justification for killing other people in war, destroying their land, or poisoning their water. Nuclear war does all of this.”
– 5 holes action July 15, 2018, 18 people from 4 countries participated in going onto the base.
– Appeal to the Personnel of Büchel Air Force Base from the US Peace Delegation to Germany 2018
– Weapons Inspectors August 6, 2018 John LaForge and I went onto the base and climbed onto a bunker on the edge of the runway, where the U.S. B61 nuclear warheads were probably deployed.
– July 14, 2019
“The four actions in which I took part in 2019 were an attempt to stop a crime in progress: the criminal planning and preparation of attacks with US nuclear weapons from Büchel Air Base. This unlawful planning and preparation is criminal under international humanitarian laws, treaties and agreements because it violates the Hague Conventions, the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg Principles and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which Germany and the United States are obliged to comply with under their constitutions .”
Susan van der Hijden
Susan, born 1969, has been living in the Amsterdam Catholic Worker since 1998, with a long break after her participation in the Jubilee Ploughshares 2000 action in England. Besides (helping) organise actions against nuclear weapons, such as the Pink Shovel actions and the Volkel peace camp in August 2023. Susan enjoys knitting, listening to podcasts and drumming in a ‘tactical frivolity’ drum group that plays at actions and demonstrations, lately mainly at climate, anti racism and pro palestine events. Although already demonstrating at Büchel in the early 2000’s, the first actions Susan helped organise and involved going on the nuclear air base were in 2017. The current prison punishment is a result from actions in 2018 and 2019.
Court statement in Cochem dicstrict court 2020:
Honourable Judge, ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to start with thanking the people that made it possible for me to stand here today. I was part of a group of seventeen people, who together cut and entered the fences of Nuclear airforce base Büchel. The courts decided to only prosecute ten of us. The people who did most of the cutting are not called to come to this court but are here in spirit.
I do not have much faith in the law. The law should protect its citizens but it keeps protecting the weapons, the violence against the poor and the fences surounding nuclear bases such as the ones at Büchel airforce base.
I want to give you reasons to acquit me but you probably cannot. You may be sympathetic to our reasons but unable to escape the law that says that fences are more important than human lives.
I could tell you about the International court of justice saying nuclear weapons are illegal because these weapons cannot distinguish between soldiers and civilians or between civilian and military targets. That nuclear weapons are illegal because they cause unnecessary suffering; the principle of proportionality. Or about theNon Proliferation Treaty, that says that countries are not allowed to share their nuclear weapons with other countries, something that is cleary happening here in Büchel.
I can name more laws and treaties, but in the end the fences are more important than human lives. You asking us to come here despite the fact that there is a pandemic going on is prove of that also.
I can talk about the damage done to people and the enviroment from mining Uranium, or the families I talked to in Kansas City in the USA, who lost loved ones to cancer, who worked making Nuclear weapons. Or I could mention the amount of money that is spend on these weapons,(and the fences!) the new B61 bombs are more expensive than their weight in gold! that could be used for healthcare and education.
You will tell me you sympathize but that this is not the right way to go about it. That the fence is sacred and shall not be touched. There are other ways to get rid of the nukes. But what are they? We have tried everything as my friend Chris will explain. I wish I could do other things, but do not know what will make those in power listen. It seems time to make the changes we want ourselves. Cutting the fence is the first step.
I appealed because I want to speak up against nukes. Not because I am not guilty. I did what I was accused of and am proud of it and wish I dared or could do more. And I wish you all would do more.
I dont have much faith in the law but I have hope. And I do think its a good thing to have laws. So I came here, despite all the Corona madness, to have you judge my actions. If you really think the fences are more important than human lives you should punish me and I will go to prison without resistance. But I have hope that these small actions of ours will plant seeds for the future, that they will draw attention to these weapons of mass destruction and keep it on the agendas of politicians.
Dennis DuVall
On July 22, accompanied by his wife and friends, 82-year-old Dennis DuVall reported to Bautzen prison in Germany. The Veterans for Peace member spent 60 days in the same prison in 2023, also for actions at Büchel, where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored. The American citizen, who has lived in Germany for six years, was about to be serving a 90 day sentence for nonpayment of fines for protest actions at Büchel air base. He was being payed out though by an anonymous donor and now tries to fight being expelled from Germany. Please support
by signing the petition: https://www.change.org/Dennis_DuVall
and by sending letters as he states:
Germany wants to deport anti-nuclear activist
On 31 October, Germany intends to expel 82-year-old US citizen Dennis DuVall, resident of Radeberg, Germany, member of Veterans For Peace and anti-nuclear activist against the US/NATO nuclear bombs stationed at the NATO base in Büchel, Germany.
The German expulsion order describes DuVall’s nuclear resistance as a ‘serious threat to security and public order’. DuVall believes that he is legally obliged to oppose the planning and preparation of a nuclear war at the NATO base in Büchel, which is a violation of international law and a crime under the Nuremberg Charter and Principles.
‘B61-12 nuclear bombs and F35 fighter planes at Büchel will bring NATO closer to war,’ warns DuVall, ’and the stationing of medium-range missiles in Germany also raises the spectre of a wider European war.’
DuVall is calling on peace and anti-war/anti-weapons groups and individuals to support his fight to keep the missiles in Germany. Write respectful letters of support to Herr Staatsminister Armin Schuster, Sächsisches Staatsministerium des Innern, 01095 Dresden, Germany .
Support Dennis’ demand to ban the US/NATO B61-12 nuclear bombs from Büchel and to stop the stationing of medium-range missiles in Germany.
Leave Dennis DuVall in Germany and throw out the American bombs!
Contact: michelle.shiloh(at)icloud.com
Court statement from Dennis DuVall:
I am here today as a United States citizen committed to removing American nuclear weapons out of Germany: “I am not to blame, but I am responsible.”
As a U.S. citizen, I am responsible for the production of hydrogen bombs in the USA: From the plutonium produced at the Hanford N-Reactor in Washington state, to purifying and machining the plutonium at Rocky Flats, Colorado, to building the hydrogen fusion secondary at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to the non-nuclear casing and electrical parts in Kansas City, Missouri, to final assembly of the bomb at the Pantex plant in Texas. New bomb plants are also being built in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Savannah River, S. Carolina.
I am back at Bautzen prison not because I am reverting back to criminal behavior, but because my civil resistance raises public awareness about a new nuclear arms race now speeding ahead with fantastically costly bombs and warplanes. The Life Extension Program for nuclear bombs and missiles will cost one trillion dollars over the next 30 years, which includes 400 B61-12 nuclear bombs ($28 Million each). At more than $100 million each, the F35 warplane program has already cost more than two trillion dollars over its lifetime.
Nuclear resistance is not criminal behavior, it is crime prevention. Nuclear resistance is stopping or preventing the crime of planning and preparing for nuclear war – a nuclear war that would kill millions of people and destroy all living things – omnicide! Nuclear resistance is stopping a mind-boggling waste of money that should be spent on human needs instead of death and destruction.
Gerd Buentzly
Letters can be sent to
Gerd Buentzly
JVA Bielefeld-Senne
Hafthaus Ummeln
Zinnstraße 33
33649 Bielefeld
Gemany
A good overview in German you can find here: Berliner Mahnwache für das Verbot der Atomwaffen – weltweit!
Background information
In the German book Brot und Gessetze brechen – Christlicher Antimilitarismus auf der Anklagebank, by Jakob Frühmann and Cristina Yurena Zerr, you find more about theses and connected actions.
Ordensschwestern, Großmütter, Priester oder Postangestellte, die in Militärbasen einbrechen, um gegen dort stationierte Atombomben zu protestieren und so Veränderungen globaler Gewaltverhältnisse zu fordern. Die Pflugscharbewegung wurde zum Symbol radikal christlicher und gewaltfreier Praxis. So etwa im deutschen Büchel, wo US-Atomwaffen gelagert werden, oder in Kings Bay (USA), einer Basis für UBoote mit nuklearen Sprengköpfen. An beiden Orten fanden 2018 Einbrüche statt, um mittels zivilem Ungehorsam gegen die Gewalt und Autorität des Staates Widerstand zu leisten – die Konsequenz waren Prozesse und mehrjährige Haftstrafen.
Das Buch gibt die bemerkenswerten Abschlussplädoyers der angeklagten Aktivist*innen wieder und versammelt Beiträge zur Frage von Abrüstung von unten, zur Geschichte christlich-antimilitaristischen Widerstands und zu blinden Flecken in der Linken. Es liefert in Zeiten zunehmender Aufrüstung Impulse für eine neue Friedensbewegung fernab bürgerlicher Religiosität.