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A construction soldier (German : Bausoldat, BS) was a non-combat role of the National People's Army, the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), from 1964 to 1990. Bausoldaten were conscientious objectors who accepted conscription but refused armed service and instead served in unarmed construction units. Bausoldaten were the only legal form of conscientious objection in the Warsaw Pact.
Before the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, military service in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) was entirely voluntary, though intensive recruitment drives were mounted by public schools and the Free German Youth, and service was often a prerequisite for future career advancement. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) had introduced conscription in 1956, one year after the Bundeswehr was established, to maximise military strength for the potential World War III during the Cold War. The GDR authorities were reluctant to introduce conscription, partly because they feared that it would increase the already large number of citizens legally migrating to West Germany, known as Republikflucht .[ citation needed ] However, the Berlin Wall's construction led to a rapid drop in emigration from the GDR (now effectively illegal) with the number decreasing from hundreds of thousands per year to only hundreds per year.
On 24 January 1962, East Germany introduced conscription, with all males aged 18 to 60 required to serve 18-months in the National People's Army (NVA). The decision was met by strong resistance from Christian churches in the GDR, who rejected military conscription as there were no alternatives for conscientious objectors who refused armed service on pacifist grounds. When over 1,000 East German men refused mandatory military service and were subsequently arrested in 1962 and 1963, the GDR authorities came under pressure to provide an alternative to armed service. In 1964, Emil Fuchs, a prominent member of the pacifists, managed to negotiate a deal with the East German government allowing conscientious objectors to be able to serve their conscription in non-combat roles, becoming the only Warsaw Pact country to allow this. The National Defense Council of East Germany authorised the formation of Baueinheiten (construction units) for men of draft age who "refuse military service with weapons on the grounds of religious viewpoints or for similar reasons". The Baueinheiten were seen as a victory for East German conscientious objectors, but in reality their creation was a planned move by the government to segregate them from regular conscripts, who they feared would be contaminated by pacifist ideas. Additionally, the Bausoldaten provided the GDR with a large source of cheap labor in a country plagued with chronic labor shortages.
The Bausoldaten or "construction soldiers" wore uniforms, lived in barracks under military discipline, and had to serve for the mandatory 18 months like regular soldiers, but were not required to bear arms and received no combat training. They were nicknamed "Spatensoldaten" or "Spati", an abbreviation of the German word for a spade, which was shown on their uniforms. In theory, Bausoldaten were to be used only for civilian construction projects, but they were used to build military installations until 1973 when churches began protesting their usage. Instead, they received relatively "civilian" tasks in military institutions such as repairing tanks and military equipment, gardeners, nurses in military hospitals, or in kitchens. During the later years of the GDR, many construction soldiers also worked in large state-owned companies suffering from labor shortages, for example in the chemical industry or in lignite mines. Though outwardly peaceful in appearance, soldiers in Baueinheiten were obliged to make a promise of loyalty in which they stated that they would "fight against all enemies and obey their superiors unconditionally", though this was replaced by an oath to "increase defence readiness" in the 1980s. The demand for Baueinheiten grew shortly after their founding as workers were needed for labour in construction projects, and in 1966 four more battalions were set up. Prora on the island of Rügen became the largest concentration of Bausoldat, housing over 500 men for the construction of the Mukran ferry port in Sassnitz. In 1968, the demand for Baueinheiten grew rapidly following the GDR government's tacit support for the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, which appalled many young East German men and led to a surge of conscientious objection.
Service in the Baueinheiten, although legal, was deliberately stigmatized, both for ideological reasons and to discourage conscripts from trying to avoid armed service in the "easier" construction units. Originally, the Baueinheiten were stylized as penal military units with names such as Arbeitskompanien ("Labor company") and Arbeitsbataillone ("Labor battalion"), but this styling was dropped when it was considered to be similar to the Strafkompanie of the Nazi concentration camps. The GDR viewed conscientious objectors as potential enemies of the state, and after the completion of mandatory service, former Bausoldaten were actively discriminated against in the state apparatus. A record of service as a construction soldier could lead to the denial of opportunities in employment, career advancement, and the state higher education system. In the 1970s, GDR leaders acknowledged that former construction soldiers were at a disadvantage when they rejoined the civilian sphere. In 1984, General Secretary Erich Honecker and Defence Minister Army General Heinz Hoffmann asserted that Bausoldaten no longer suffered such discrimination; like others who had completed their military service, they were given preference in the university admission process.
In the 1980s, the gradual decline of the GDR led to increasing resistance to mandatory military service, even in the Baueinheiten, from the growing pacifist movement and opposition to the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). Many serving Bausoldaten belonged to the opposition movement, while the youth in East Germany began to increasingly demand for an alternative civilian service.
On 1 January 1990, the Baueinheiten were dissolved and 1,500 construction soldiers released, while the remaining members were released from the NVA at the beginning of October 1990, days before the GDR's dissolution and German reunification. The dissolution of the Baueinheiten was a deliberate political act under the government Lothar de Maizière, the only non-SED and democratically elected prime minister of the GDR, occurring just over a month after the Fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.
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Conscription is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of near-universal national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s, where it became the basis of a very large and powerful military. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1–8 years on active duty and then transfer to the reserve force.
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to an alternative civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service.
The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I. It was mainly caused by disagreement on whether men should be conscripted to fight in the war, but also brought out many issues regarding relations between French Canadians and English Canadians. The vast majority of French Canadians opposed conscription; they felt that they had no particular loyalty to either Britain or France. Led by Henri Bourassa, they felt their only loyalty was to Canada. English Canadians supported the war effort as they felt stronger ties to the British Empire. On January 1, 1918, the Unionist government began to enforce the Military Service Act. The Act caused 404,385 men to be liable for military service, from which 385,510 sought exemption.
Citizens of Israel have refused to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or have disobeyed orders on the grounds of pacifism, antimilitarism, religious philosophy, or political disagreement with Israeli policy such as its occupation of the West Bank. Conscientious objectors in Israel are known as sarvanim which is sometimes translated as "refuseniks", or mishtamtim.
The National People's Army were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990.
Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches:
There was a high level of conscientious objection in East Germany.
Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
The Federal Republic of Germany had conscription for male citizens between 1956 and 2011. On 22 November 2010, the German Minister of Defence proposed to the government to put conscription into abeyance on 1 July 2011. The constitution, however, retains provisions that would legalize the potential reintroduction of conscription.
Archibald McColl Learmond Baxter was a New Zealand socialist, pacifist and conscientious objector.
The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) was a United States nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people avoid or resist military conscription or seek discharge after voluntary enlistment. It was active in supporting conscientious objectors ("CO's"), war resisters and draft evaders during the Vietnam War. Founded in Philadelphia in 1948 and dissolved in 2011, CCCO emphasized the needs of secular and activist COs, while other organizations supporting COs principally focused on religious objectors and/or legislative reform and government relations.
The End Conscription Campaign was an anti-apartheid organisation allied to the United Democratic Front and composed of conscientious objectors and their supporters in South Africa. It was formed in 1983 to oppose the conscription of all white South African men into military service in the South African Defence Force.
Zivildienst is the German denomination for the alternative civilian service for conscripted persons who are conscientious objectors to fulfill their national service, typically in the fields of social work and, although rarely, environmental protection, agriculture, and public administration. As such, it is exempt from the general ban of forced labor by the European Convention on Human Rights.
South African resistance to war has a long tradition, and a history that includes conscientious objectors, pacifists, deserters and draft dodgers, as well as those whose objections are based upon the notion of "just war" as opposed to unjust or illegal war.
Labour battalions have been a form of alternative service or unfree labour in various countries in lieu of or resembling regular military service. In some cases they were the result of some kind of discriminative segregation of the population, while in some others they have been a conscious choice.
Alternative civilian service, also called alternative services, civilian service, non-military service, and substitute service, is a form of national service performed in lieu of military conscription for various reasons, such as conscientious objection, inadequate health, or political reasons. Alternative service usually involves some kind of labor.
Christianity in East Germany underwent several phases, ranging from state repression to state co-option. Christianity in East Germany also came up against secularism that saw the Church struggle to maintain its influence at times.
The Zivildienst is the most common mandatory alternative service for conscientious objectors of the national military service in the Austrian Armed Forces. Officially called Zivildienstleistender (ZDL) or Zivildiener it is common to call them Zivi. Since 1975, drafted men may refuse the military service on conscientious reasons and serve in the compulsory alternative community service instead. This generally involves work in social services like hospitals, youth organisations, nursing homes, rescue services, emergency medical services, and care of the disabled. The service usually lasts nine months. About more than 40% of the drafted male citizens in Austria choose this option by declaring a conflict of conscience. There is no conscription for women, therefore women are not obliged to serve as a Zivi, which is just a substitute for the still existing mandatory military service.
The Non-Combatant Corps (NCC) was a corps of the British Army composed of conscientious objectors as privates, with NCOs and officers seconded from other corps or regiments. Its members fulfilled various non-combatant roles in the army during the First World War, the Second World War and the period of conscription after the Second World War.
While the Republic of Korea's Constitution states that all citizens, regardless of gender, sex, political or religious affiliation, should be afforded equal treatment under the law, some scholars, such as Intaek Hwang, claim that the culture of militarism is so pervasive that Conscientious Objectors are stripped of the rights discussed in the Constitution when universal male conscription became the law in 1948. A Conscientious Objector is defined as "an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience and or religion" by the United Nation's Human Rights Commission. Since the signing of the Conscription Law in 1949, stating that every male 18 years of age must serve in the military, Conscientious Objectors, when found, are arrested and subject to violent punishments.
