On the fifth day of the Ulm5 hearings, we finally got to hear their opening statements. You can find them on the Ulm5 website, as well as on The Left Berlin.
On 29 May 2026, the Ulm5 trial continued in Stammheim. The day started with the usual hour-long delay and standing ovation when the five took their places behind the glass cage that the judge Kathrin Lauchstädt forces them to sit in. On the previous day in court, Lauchstädt had lost all her composure when someone in the audience briefly clapped and cheered during Daniel’s opening statements and call it a day, not without making a big fuss and a fool of herself, by calling this person to the front and reading their name out loud. Today, she started the trial by telling the audience that she might kick people out or fine them for being noisy. And if enough people made noise, we were told, the judge would kick us all out. She also declared that people were not allowed to applaud silently.
The team of lawyers tried to present motions that — if approved — would give this show trial at least the appearance of fairness. These included motions to allow the defendants to sit next to their lawyers so they could speak confidently; for the lawyers to be allowed to have a professional note-taker in order to have a proper protocol, rather than having the judge decide what went into the official record; and for the public to be able to write. All these motions were denied.The judge defended the seating arrangement by mentioning cases where people accused of murder fled, thus betraying her belief that property damage was equivalent to murder. She claimed that the lawyers ought to be able to follow the case, keep the protocol themselves, and present their motions — all the while talking through a microphone with their defendants, whom they somehow should also be able to see, despite being seated in front of them (the absurdity of a judge who gets distracted by silent applause telling the lawyers that they should multitask is simply asking to be made into a meme). Finally, the judge justified stopping attendees from writing: despite despite the 2.5m security glass dividing her from the public, and despite the fifteen well-equipped security personnel, she required additional protection from the public, armed with dangerous sharp objects; pens, that is.
Today, the judge also dismissed the motion presented for the defendants — who were going to give their opening statements — to have water to drink. Per usual, she took a break to think of an excuse, only to come back and deny the motion, saying that they could drink in one of the many breaks that she forces us to take. This petty act of denying people that were going to give their speeches water was emblematic of this judge’s general demeanour: a cruel bully, clinging on to every last shred of symbolic power.
Every motion dismissal was met with a reply by the team of lawyers, who did an excellent job pointing out the court’s pettiness.The lawyers improvised short, powerful speeches, calling out these arbitrary decisions and remarking that this was just a political show trial. Their speeches were met with the silent applause of the rest of the defence team lawyers; the judge made a show of having this silent applause noted down in the official protocol.
We then came to the opening statements of the Ulm5. These statements were a moral lesson, highlighting their commitment to stop the genocide “even for one day, or one hour”. They showed the defendants’ commitment to human rights, compassion and dignity. It is hard to describe the quiet power of their opening statements, that also helped reshape the court’s narrative. They gave context to their actions, and they reaffirmed their commitment to save lives, and to talk about Germany’s complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people. Their statements are published on the Ulm5 website and here on The Left Berlin: no summary can do them justice. They are now, and will forever be part of Germany’s history, albeit one that the state would rather have erased.
After hearing Vi call out the fact that genocide starts here, the lawyers presented the motion for their defendants to be released from jail, since not only did they not pose a threat to society, but they made it much better. Shortly after, the dismissive judge called it a day. The trial will resume on 15 June.
This trial — with this prosecutor and judge — has been lost. But the world will see through the Staatsräson and see Germany for what it really is: a state consumed by war profiteering and racism, unable to overcome its genocidal impulses.
