Diaconal Peace Service

The Diakonische Friedensdienst was the first unofficial civilian alternative service in the GDR .

history

Since there was no alternative civilian service in the GDR, conscientious objectors who did not want to go to the construction soldiers within the NVA had only the alternative of total refusal . All initiatives for a civil alternative service (see Social Peace Service ) did not lead to success. Thereupon the regional church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony , the Young Men’s Association of Saxony-Anhalt and the social welfare institution of the Neinstedter institutes acted together and developed the Diaconal Peace Service as an unofficial alternative to military service. Officially, the service provider was employed as an auxiliary nurse for 20 months. An additional agreement regulated the mutual obligations. Henning Schluß was the first to do peacekeeping between 1988 and 1990 .

Web links

• Henning conclusion : The Diakonische Friedensdienst - An experiment at the end of the GDR . Contemporary witness report by a service provider, in: Horch und Guck , 13th vol. H. 46 (2/2004), pp. 45–46.