Cross-border environmental activism

“Nai hammer gsait!” Wyhl, Germany, 1975

The new location of a nuclear power plant in Germany became known on 19th July 1973 – Wyhl. The Alemannic anti-nuclear movement organised themselves, and Hubert Hoffmann designed a banner using the “Nai hämmer gsait” (“We said no!”) motto from Marckolsheim in France.

Construction of the building was approved in January 1975, to commence the next month. On 23rd Februray 1975, after a demonstration involving 28,000 people, the construction site was occupied, and a ‘House of Friendship’ was built. In early April 1977, the Freiburg administrative court ajudged construction of the nuclear plant to be improper due to safety concerns. However, the Mannheim administrative court approved construction on 30th March 1982.

In August 1983, after ten years of disputes between nuclear power plant operators, the regional government of Baden-Württemberg and citizen’s initatives, construction plans were eventually shelved.

Read more about Marckolsheim.
Read more about "the new Watch on the Rhine".