Open Letter to Rheinmetall

To the Board of Directors of Rheinmetall AG – Against the Berlin Arms Factory and German Complicity in the Genocide in Palestine

As you read this letter, people are being killed all across West Asia. People with names, with faces, with families. Children are starving. Hospitals are being bombed. 
And you're building a new weapons factory in Berlin.
We are people living in this city and in this country—neighbors, parents, students, working professionals, and retirees. We come from diverse backgrounds. What unites us is the conviction that we cannot remain silent while weapons from Germany enable the killing of civilians.

The fact that German-made military equipment is being used in Israel is not merely an allegation; it is documented by export licenses. The Israeli government and army are committing genocide in Palestine and are attacking Lebanon and Iran in violation of international law. Against this backdrop, any expansion of German arms production is not a neutral economic decision. It is a decision about which part of this story Germany wants to be a part of. It is a decision in favor of profit and against human lives.

The Federal Republic of Germany is committed to international law. The Basic Law requires respect for human dignity. Anyone who profits from the arms trade—whose products are demonstrably used against civilian populations—bears shared responsibility. This applies to governments. And it applies to companies.

We have voted, debated, and watched. And we are witnessing how the government and the arms industry continue, day after day, to choose to actively contribute to the killing of people. This is how normality is created where there should be none. As civilians, we have a responsibility to intervene when those in power fail to uphold international law and kill people around the world. We cannot and must not allow this to happen. 

That is why we are signing this letter. Because we are convinced that silence itself is a stance.

We, as citizens, are firmly opposed to the opening of the new arms factory in the heart of Wedding. People across Germany are speaking out and actively opposing the crimes committed by the federal government and the arms industry.

We urge you: Stop the plans for the Berlin arms factory. And do not contribute to the normalization of an arms industry that acts as if killing people were just business as usual.

https://peacefullyagainstgenocide.org/en/