Association of War Resisters

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The Association of War Service Opponents (BdK) was founded in 1919. After the First World War , the BdK was an anti-militarist organization of radical pacifists and conscientious objectors . In 1926 it had about 3,000 members. In 1921 the BdK was a founding member of the International Anti-Militarist Bureau (IAMB) in The Hague and also a founding member of Paco (Esperanto word for peace) in Bilthoven (Netherlands) of what later became War Resisters International (WRI). The BdK representative was Helene Stöcker . There were connections through the IAMB to Albert de Jong and in particular to Bart de Ligt who was politically active in the IAMB and Paco / WRI. The successor organization of the BdK after the Second World War is the International of Military Service Opponents (IDK).

1922 Advertisement and imprint from a publication by the Association of War Service Opponents (BdK)

Policy statement

Members signed a policy statement later (1921) formulated by WRI: “War is a crime against humanity. I am therefore determined not to support any kind of war and to work to eliminate all causes of war. "

Political priorities

The BdK propagated conscientious objection and the abolition of conscription. As a section of the WRI, the BdK was one of the initiators of the International Manifesto against Conscription , which was distributed by War Resisters' International (WRI) in 1925. The BdK criticized compulsory labor service as a state compulsory service and covert conscription. Before 1933, the BdK fought intensively against the propaganda for forced labor service and worked with trade unions. The BdK had connections to the anarcho-syndicalist trade union FAUD through its common membership in the IAMB. There were also political alliances with the German Peace Society (DFG), the New Fatherland Federation , the International Women's League for Peace and Freedom (among others). After 1933 the BdK was broken up by the Nazis and its members were politically persecuted. Many BdK members had to go to concentration camps or went into exile.

Members

Publications

  • The enemy of the war (1923–1930)
  • Peace Watch (1919–1927)
  • Peace Front (1929–1933)

literature

  • Guido Grünewald: Securing peace through radical military service opposition: The Association of Military Service Opponents (BdK) 1919-1933. in: K. Holl / W. Wette (ed.), Pacifism in the Weimar Republic, Paderborn 1981.
  • Johann Orthmann: "Are wars necessary?" Memories of a pacifist and school man. Kiel 1995.
  • H.Donat, K.Holl: Hermes Handlexikon. The peace movement, Düsseldorf 1983
  • W.Fabian, K. Lenz: The peace movement. A handbook of world peace currents, Berlin 1922 (Reprint Bund Verlag 1985)