Nuclear resister Susan Crane released after 7.5 month prison term in Germany
Catholic Worker
from Nukewatch
U.S. Activist Ends 7.5-Month Prison Term in Germany;
Jailed for Protests Against U.S. “Nuclear Sharing”
by John LaForge
On June 4, 2024, Crane began serving a 230-day sentence at the Wöllstein-Rohrbach prison in Rhineland-Palatinate, the longest term yet imposed in the decades-long campaign of protests against the American-made free-fall, gravity bombs known as B61s at the base. Dutch peace activist Susan van der Hijden from Amsterdam served 115-days along with Crane for similar convictions. After ten days at Wöllstein, the two were transferred to the Offener Vollzug or the “open prison” in Koblenz, a less severe system that permits daytime work release. Crane was welcomed by the Martin Luther Evangelical Church community of Koblenz and did light work around the church grounds for many weeks.
Crane, 81, a life-long peace activist who has endured lengthy prison sentences in the United States for anti-war actions, was convicted of several trespass charges in Germany after joining six “go-in” demonstrations at Büchel. During the actions on the German base, Crane and others warned personnel that stationing the U.S. nuclear weapons there, and NATO’s ongoing threat to use them known quaintly as “nuclear sharing,” are both unlawful. Tornado fighter jet pilots of the German air force’s 33rdTactical Air Wing at Büchel routinely train to drop the U.S. H-bombs on targets in Russia [1], most recently in operation “Steadfast Defender 24” [2] — provocatively staged in the midst of NATO-armed war in Ukraine.
In one action, Crane and others unfurled a banner that read, “Büchel Air Base is a Crime Scene.” According to legal scholars, the transfer of nuclear weapons from the U.S. to Germany violates the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) which explicitly forbids any “transfer to any recipient whatsoever [of] nuclear weapons.” [3] According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the U.S. hydrogen bombs at Büchel are the 170-kiloton B61-3, and the 50-kiloton B61-4.[4] The U.S. atomic bomb that incinerated Hiroshima in 1945 was a 15-kiloton device.
Crane said in a statement before entering prison, “I thought the German courts would listen to the reasons we went onto the base, and understand that our peaceful actions were justified as acts of crime prevention. But international law was not respected or enforced.”
Crane, who has two adult children and four grandchildren, has devoted her life in California to serving the poor and homeless as a member of the of Redwood City Catholic Worker community. In a statement last March Crane said, “I see people living in camps, living in cars, and I see working people who don’t have enough income for basic needs like rent, food, or medical care. Then, I think of the money wasted on war-making by the U.S. and NATO nations, and that 3% of the U.S. military budget alone could end starvation around the world.”
At least 29 Germans, as well as two other U.S. citizens and two Dutch nationals have been jailed in Germany for related protest actions against the U.S. nuclear weapons. [5] Crane is the first U.S. women to be imprisoned in Germany in the campaign. Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa, was recently ordered by the court in Koblenz, Germany to report to the Wittlich prison on February 26, 2025 to serve a 15-day sentence for a related go-in action in July 2019.
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Notes for reference only:
[1] Reuters, “NATO to hold biggest drills since Cold War with 90,000 troops”, Jan. 18, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/nato-kick-off-biggest-drills-decades-with-some-90000-troops-2024-01-18/ ; “NATO Holds Secret Nuclear War Exercises in Germany, Ignores Turkey," Oct. 15, 2020, https://see.news/nato-secret-nuclear-war-exercises-germany-ignores-turkey /; "Stop 'Steadfast Noon' Nuclear War Exercise Now!" Oct. 14, 2020; 2019 “Secret nuclear weapons exercise ‘Steadfast Noon”, https://www.bundeswehr-journal.de/2019/geheime-atomwaffenuebung-steadfast-noon/ ; 2017, “NATO nuclear weapons exercise unusually open,” https://www.bundeswehr-journal.de/2019/geheime-atomwaffenuebung-steadfast-noon/
[2] https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/222847.htm ; https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/Steadfast-Defender-24/
[3] International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms Germany (IALANA), in its submission to the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review, April 5, 2023, p. 3, says in part: “… nuclear sharing together with Germany’s participation … constitute a violation of the spirit and purpose of the NPT.” https://www.ialana.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IALANA_Germany_-_joint_UPR_submission_-_Germany_-_November_2023.pdf
[4] Hans M. Kristensen & Matt Korda, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 76:1, 46-60; https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.2019.1701286
[5] https://www.dfg-vk-rlp.de/aktuell/prozesse-wegen-aktionen-gegen-atomwaffen/susan-crane
