Peace service

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peace service describes a form of work that contributes to the realization of peace . This can be done as a voluntary service , i.e. voluntary work that is done without the intention of material profit and as independent as possible from large public institutions, or as civil service as a substitute for military service.

general definition

Peace service operates on different levels:

The term became known in Germany at the end of the 1950s mainly because the Evangelical Church in Germany found the peace-ethical compromise formula of peace service with and without weapons after the introduction of general conscription .

The John Rabe House in Nanjing, July 2008

history

The forerunners of the Peace Services were the Historic Peace Churches (since the 16th century), the "Peace Societies" in England, USA, Austria (in the 19th century), in Germany the German Peace Society (DFG), in Switzerland the International Peace Bureau .

Around the time of the First World War, two ideas arose: that of an international union of reconciliation and that of a worldwide network of youth volunteer services for international understanding. At the same time as the beginning of the war, the International Union of Reconciliation was founded; soon after the end of the war there were the first international voluntary services, “construction camps” and “workcamps”. In the 1920s, conscientious objection to military service spread parallel to the youth community services . A variety of pacifist organizations arose.

The Second World War and its prehistory brought the end to many people involved in these organizations. According to estimates, more than 6000 German conscientious objectors were killed during the National Socialist era .

After the Second World War, volunteer services for the Church of Peace ( “Relief Teams” from England and the USA, Quaker Peace and Service , Quaker Aid and other initiatives) contributed to the dismantling of old images of the enemy and made suggestions for the establishment of the first voluntary and peace services in Germany : 1946 Christian Peace Service (CFD), 1948 Pax Christi - German Section, 1949 International Youth Community Services (IJGD), 1957 Eirene , 1958 Action atonement (from 1968 with the programmatic name affix peace services ), 1959 World Peace Service.

In the years that followed, other organizations and associations emerged. They made possible (programmatically more or less interlinked) development and peace services in the following forms:

  • long-term government-recognized development services (2 to 3 years, minimum age 21 to 25 years);
  • other long and medium-term services (6 to 18 months, minimum age 18 years);
  • short-term services (3 weeks to 3 months, minimum age 16 years);
  • Group assignments for students and young academics.

Between 1945 and the late 1960s, a total of one million mostly young volunteers had worked in 200 national and international organizations for political and social peace.

Even then, the tension between public funding and political independence was discussed. International organizations were most clearly able to redeem the principles of peace service: independence, voluntariness and group / community ethos. According to the 1970 was voluntary service of the United Nations (United Nations Volunteers) was founded. In addition to his self-description as a “voluntary service in development aid”, he was also seen as “a service to peace”, especially because of his respective international group composition on site.

During the peace movement of the 1980s, the first educational institutions for peace work and non-violent action were established in Germany . In their cooperation with the traditional peace services, new connections between foreign and domestic peace work emerged.

Since 1981, around 800 young people in the GDR around civil rights activists Christoph Wonneberger and Rainer Eppelmann have called for the Social Peace Service (SoFd) as an alternative to military service in the NVA . The Politburo of the SED assessed this as a counter-revolution and responded with arrests.

In the ecumenical council process for justice, peace and integrity of creation (from 1983) the initiative for shalom services and a shalom diaconate was developed.

In 1989 the Federation for Social Defense was founded. He wanted to set a “third pillar” of the peace service alongside civil and military service, and from the mid-1990s he became involved with others in the Civil Peace Service Forum ( see: Civil Peace Service ).

Since 1992 it has been possible to do peace service in Austria as part of foreign service.

See also

literature

  • Reinhard J. Voss : History of the peace services in Germany. In: Tilman Evers (Ed.): Ziviler Friedensdienst. Professionals for Peace. Idea, experience, goals. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2000. ISBN 3-8100-2910-6 , pp. 127-144.
  • Hagen Berndt: Peace and Democratization: Almost a Hundred Years of Voluntary Peace Services. In: Action Group Service for Peace (ed.). Fight nonviolently for a just peace. Oberursel 2008, ISBN 978-3-88095-176-1 , pp. 70-77.

Web links

Germany

Austria

Switzerland