[Translate to English:] Foto von unserer Bewegungsarbeiter*in Holger Isabelle Jänicke

Holger Isabelle Jänicke

Holger Isabelle Jänicke was born in Lübeck in 1962. Towards the end of his school years, which he spent in Swabia, he became active in the peace movement. In the 1980s, he was mainly involved in the Civil Disobedience to Disarm campaign in Mutlangen. Sentenced several times for coercion (participation in non-violent sit-in blockades of Pershing II missiles), he spent enough time in prison to study law for two semesters as a guest student.


Today, he deals with the issues of Castor and genetically modified plants and takes over the preparation, accompaniment and follow-up of actions for the Law Self-Help. The preparation includes registering assemblies, holding cooperation talks with the police and informing activists about the legal specifics of the action. During the action, he usually acts as the leader of the assembly, keeps in contact with the police to be able to de-escalate in crisis situations and of course supports the activists with legal questions.

The follow-up usually consists of accompanying the participants in the action, in the form of process training, support in court proceedings and, in case of doubt, preparation for prison sentences through "jail training".

The long-term goal of all these activities is to make sure that in civil disobedience actions, fundamental rights are not undermined by either the police or the judiciary. This seems utopian at first glance, but the small and larger successes in court and in politics prove that this is an important element of nonviolent resistance.

He considers his greatest success as an assembly leader to be the demonstration he registered for the "Sichelschmiede", an initiative against the use of the Kyritzer Heide as a bombing range, as part of the G8 protests. Time and again in the past, initiatives have protested against the commissioning of the Bombodrom through go-ins.


"It was also an incredible sense of achievement for me. I have never lost so many participants in a meeting before. Out of about 600, 20 arrived at the ''Pink Point'', the rest got ''lost in the terrain'' together in between. It was a terrific picture and a prime example of the creative, strategic use of the right of assembly."

In a portrait of Holger Isabelle, the taz wrote:

"Jänicke always went against circumstances that disturbed him. He has chosen resistance as his way of life, but he won't get rich doing it. "I can't cope with money anyway," he croaks cheerfully." More>>