Talk:Conscription in Germany

Article history notes

Cut and paste job from conscription page. This section was getting too long. cleanup required. Zeimusu 14:29, 2004 Dec 16 (UTC)

Questions

Introducing mandatory military service in BRD must have been a very controversial program at the time. But there doesn't seem to be much information out there about why it came about (or was allowed to), or even addressing any public discussion that might have occurred. knoodelhed 19:07, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

At first, there has been a very strong opposition against remilitarising West Germany at all. As conscription had been the normal military system in the past it was clear that remilitarisation also meant conscription. Also, given the constellation of powers in Europe and the perceived Soviet threat German remilitarisation had to be more than a political token. It was seen as a meaningful military contribution of the most populated country in Western Europe. That, however, meant that the German armed forces had to be of considerable size (initial plans foresaw between 400,000 and 500,000 man) that only could be reached through the draft. Conscription was introduced about one year after the first military units of Western Germany had been established.

The anti-military protesters of the 1950s were numerous and from all political groups. Their slogan was "Ohne mich" ("Without me") and indicated that most of the protesters were not willing to join any military force. Both, remilitarisation and conscription had to be agreed upon, however, by a great majority of the parliament as the necessary change of the constitution required a two-thirds vote. Chancellor Adenauer had succeeded to convince the oppositional Social Democrats to accept the change after long discussions and under the impression of the Soviet interventions in Eastern Germany 1953 and Hungary 1956.

Interestingly, the West German constitution of 1949 already knew the right to object military service at a time when Germany was strictly forbidden to have own military forces. This article of the constitution was to protect German citizens against being drafted into the service of Allied forces against there will (something that never happened).--KuK 18:38, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Draft dodgers

What happens if a man refuses to serve in the military or do any alternative service? (Alphaboi867 06:19, 24 September 2005 (UTC))

This man will be subject to legal prosecution and may be sentenced to confinement in prison. Such cases do occur, in fact, but are not very frequent.--KuK 18:38, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

"Mine sraper"

This phrase appears in the section detailing the 'first alternative' to active military duty, namely 'civilian service.' Being not personally familiar with the German language or current military forces, I am unsure as to whether this is a technical term, a poor translation, or a typographical error. I suspect that the desired term is 'mine sweeper', but I hesitate to make the correction as this seems a highly 'combat-oriented' duty to assign to those who are objecting to active service. I will check in a few weeks and if it has not been addressed by someone with first-hand knowledge, I will make the edit.

(Supasheep 09:34, 8 October 2005 (UTC))