Thomas Pirot

Nuclear weapons? In Germany?

DIE ZEIT, 2022

1,200 people, a bakery, an Aral gas station, this is Büchel in the Eifel – the entire still life of the village is cut through lengthwise by the main road. And then there are 20 atomic bombs. Most likely they are there, even if nobody officially confirms it.
During the Cold War, the US stationed thousands of nuclear weapons on German soil, and after the fall of the Wall, they were transported back piece by piece. But the "20 things in Büchel", as the then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder once said in good Schröder German, stayed where they were - and are still there today.

Picture editor: Maria Rohweder
Writer: Florentin Schumacher

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Nuclear Weapons? In Germany?
DIE ZEIT, 2022

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Büchel in the Eifel: 1200 people, a bakery, an Aral petrol station, a view of the cemetery from the kindergarten - the entire village still life is bisected lengthwise by the main road. And then there are the 20 nuclear bombs. They are most probably there, even if nobody officially confirms it. The Bundeswehr spokesman makes a we-know-nothing joke when asked what is supposed to be stored a few hundred meters away from the Büchel town sign in crypts under the air base of Tactical Air Wing 33. Nuclear weapons? In Germany? Yes, there are rumored to exist.

Picture editor: Maria Rohweder
Writer: Florentin Schumacher