Central office for the law and protection of conscientious objectors

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The Central Office for Law and Protection of Conscientious Objectors e. V. , in short Zentralstelle KDV , campaigned for the right to conscientious objection in Germany . The association, founded on March 2, 1957, dissolved on December 31, 2014, most recently based in Bockhorn .

The central office KDV campaigned for unrestricted respect for freedom of belief and conscience within the meaning of Article 4 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany ( Article 4 of the Basic Law ). It promoted information about these fundamental rights, in particular the right to refuse military service with a weapon. Advertising for conscientious objection to military service was not one of the tasks of the central office.

Forerunner organizations were the working group of the German peace associations , which was founded in 1948, and the German committee for questions of conscientious objection (1953-1957).

On May 14 and 15, 2011, the Central Office in Berlin celebrated the abolition (suspension) of compulsory military service in Germany with a review of 54 years of conscription. The general meeting decided to dissolve the umbrella organization. Its chairman, Werner Glenewinkel, justified this step to representatives of the press with the fact that the central office had largely fulfilled its tasks by eliminating compulsory military service. The long-time managing director Peter Tobiassen pointed out that this would finally bring the era of forced labor in post-war Germany to an end. On August 31, 2011, the KDV central office ceased its work.

history

In 1956, changes to the Basic Law and the Conscription Act decisively changed the orientation of the Basic Law , which had hitherto been a peace state . The basic right of conscientious objection (conscientious objection) was assigned to administrative law through the regulation of the conscription law, with the consequence that conscientious objectors had to submit an application, prove the right to do so themselves and have this checked by a committee of the military administration.

The KDV central office was founded on March 2, 1957 with eleven member associations in Dortmund . In 1982 the KDV central office celebrated its 25th anniversary and was recognized as a non-profit organization. The number of member organizations had grown to 25.

With the accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany, all KDV regulations from 1990 also applied in the new federal states and Berlin . The general meeting of the central office KDV set the abolition of compulsory military service as a common central goal .

In 2011, the majority of delegates from the 26 member associations resolved to dissolve the KDV Central Office on December 31, 2014. With the suspension of compulsory military service in Germany, the Executive Board saw the work of the KDV Central Office as a joint institution of 26 organizations in matters of freedom of conscience for conscientious objectors in Germany as largely completed on. As before, remaining tasks could be carried out independently by the member organizations without a superordinate coordination and specialist body.

tasks and goals

As part of its task definition, the central office advocated in particular:

  1. the realization and safeguarding of the basic right to conscientious objection,
  2. the protection of freedom of conscience in the area of ​​official duties according to Art. 12a GG,
  3. the impartial and open-minded application of the law by the bodies appointed for this purpose and the further development of the relevant laws,
  4. informing the public about the legal provisions on conscientious objection, including alternative service, and about their practical consequences,
  5. advising and informing men and women who refuse services under Article 12a of the Basic Law for reasons of conscience, as well as providing legal assistance in cases of fundamental importance, as far as this is possible,
  6. any protection of conscientious objectors in public, regardless of their nationality,
  7. advising conscientious objectors, conscripts and their relatives on legal, social and economic issues as well as for
  8. international recognition of the right to conscientious objection through cooperation with like-minded organizations abroad.

Member organizations

(As of December 2009)

Well-known representatives of the KDV central office

literature

  • Norman Ciezki: For the right to conscientious objection: Influence and significance of the central office for the law and protection of conscientious objectors e. V. Agenda Verlag, Münster 1999, ISBN 3-89688-041-1 (Inaugural dissertation about the central office KDV at the University of Marburg).
  • Special issue of conscientious objection from the magazine Forum Pazifismus - magazine for the theory and practice of nonviolence . No. 13, I / 2007 (PDF; 730 kB) .
  • Black Book Conscription - 99 Practical Cases . Edited by the Working Group of Evangelical Youth in the Federal Republic of Germany. V. and the KDV central office (PDF; 1.4 MB) .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bylaws of the KDV Central Office
  2. ↑ Central Office for Conscientious Objectors dissolves , May 13, 2011, accessed on May 15, 2011.
  3. ↑ We are celebrating the end of conscription , accessed on May 15, 2011.
  4. ^ Chronicle of the KDV central office
  5. ↑ http://www.zentralstelle-kdv.de/index.php?ID=12