PCelebrities like the feminist Alice Schwarzer, the writer Martin Walser and the science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar have appealed in an open letter to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) not to deliver more heavy weapons to Ukraine. The signatories write in the letter, which is available to the German Press Agency, that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be given any motive for expanding the war to include NATO. They warn of the danger of a third world war. The 28 first signatories include the author Alexander Kluge, the legal philosopher Reinhard Merkel, the singer Reinhard Mey, the cabaret artists Gerhard Polt and Dieter Nuhr, the actors Lars Eidinger and Edgar Selge and the writer Juli Zeh.
The Bundestag approved the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine by a large majority on Thursday. Unlike many critics, who accuse Scholz of hesitating, the signers of the letter express their support for the fact that the Chancellor has done everything possible to prevent the Ukraine war from escalating into World War III. “We therefore hope that you will return to your original position and not, directly or indirectly, supply more heavy weapons to Ukraine. On the contrary, we urge you to do everything you can to ensure that a ceasefire can be reached as soon as possible; to a compromise that both sides can accept.”
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The signatories emphasize that Putin broke international law by attacking Ukraine. However, this does not justify “taking the risk of this war escalating into a nuclear conflict”. The delivery of large quantities of heavy weapons could make Germany itself a party to the war. “A Russian counter-attack could then trigger the case for assistance under the NATO treaty and thus the immediate danger of a world war.”
A second “border line” is the suffering of the Ukrainian civilian population. “Even the justified resistance against an aggressor is in an intolerable disproportion to this. We warn against a double error: Firstly, that the responsibility for the risk of an escalation to a nuclear conflict lies solely with the original aggressor and not also with those who openly provide him with a motive for possibly criminal action. And secondly, that the decision on the moral responsibility of the further ‘costs’ in human lives among the Ukrainian civilian population falls exclusively within the competence of their government. Morally binding norms are universal in nature.”
The open letter should be published on the website of the magazine “Emma” on Friday morning and then be open for signature, said Alice Schwarzer.