DONNELLY-DISSERTATION-2015

277 Pages·2015·0.68 MB·English

by  Jared Donnelly

STAYING CIVIL
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN WEST GERMANY,
1956-1966

A Dissertation
by
JARED RYAN DONNELLY

Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of
Texas A&M University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Chair of Committee, Arnold P. Krammer
Committee Members, Adam R. Seipp
Terry H. Anderson
Robert R. Shandley
Head of Department, David Vaught

August 2015

Major Subject: History

Copyright 2015 Jared Ryan Donnelly
ABSTRACT

In the years following WWII, the West German peace movement emerged from
its dormancy, developed into a popular movement, rose to challenge the policy of the
government, and changed the character of West German society. The development of
peace activism in postwar West Germany was a process that required the efforts of
people willing to push the boundaries of the normal spheres of political life. The training
ground for many of these peace activists was the West German conscientious objection
(CO) movement. By studying their learning process as they rediscovered pacifist
traditions as well as the organizations and the transnational networks they cultivated, we
can learn a great deal about the foundations of the protest movements of the late 1960s.
This dissertation examines the origins and activities of the early West German
CO protest groups and problematizes the role of these groups in the early West German
peace movement. The groups were an integral part of the broader German peace
movement and frequently participated in peace demonstrations both nationally and
internationally. The organizational development of the CO groups in the 1950s and early
1960s laid the groundwork for the emergence of larger and more popular protest
movements that played major roles in the turbulent late 1960s.
The individual actors who were the catalysts of change and growth for the
conscientious objection movement and the peace movement as a whole are an essential
element of my dissertation. The contacts they made, the relationships they developed,
the philosophical teachings they (re-)discovered, and the protest culture they cultivated
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are fundamental to understanding how the peace movement left its mark on West
German society. Often dismissed as a ‘single issue’ campaign, I argue that although CO
groups primarily focused on conscientious objection, they also promoted a complex set
of issues regarding political legitimacy, the role of the postwar state, and challenged the
right of an older generation over the use of their bodies. My work challenges the
traditional understanding of the conscientious objection movement in West Germany
and elucidates the early development of extra-parliamentary opposition.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Arnold Krammer, and my
committee members, Dr. Adam Seipp, Dr. Terry Anderson, and Dr. Robert Shandley, for
their guidance and support throughout the course of this research. I am proud to be the
final PhD student of Arnold Krammer’s long and distinguished career. He has imparted
to me decades of wisdom and advice and I am very grateful to have had the chance to
apprentice with a master of the craft.
Thanks to my parents, Jim and Susan, for their encouragement and for starting
me on the path of learning. From an early age they instilled in me the value of hard work
and persistence; their lessons have served me well. Without the unfailing love and
support of my wife I would never have made it this far. Her patience as my sounding
board and her sharp editorial eye were invaluable and I owe her a debt of gratitude.
Becca, this is for you, Thomas, and our baby girl who will soon grace us with her
presence.
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NOMENCLATURE

AG Action Group for Nonviolence (Aktionskreis für Gewaltlosigkeit)
APO Extra-Parliamentary Opposition (außerparlamentarische
opposition)
BKV Union of Military Service Objectors (Bund der
Kriegsdienstverweigerer)
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany (Christlich
Demokratische Union Deutschlands)
CND Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
CNVA Committee for Nonviolent Action
CO Conscientious Objection
CSU Christian Social Union in Bavaria (Christlich-Soziale Union in
Bayern)
DAC Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War
DDR German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische
Republik)
DFG German Peace Society (Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft)
DGB German Trade Union Federation (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund)
DP German Party (Deutsche Partei)
EDC Pan-European Defense Community
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EKD West Germany’s Protestant Church (Evangelische Kirche in
Deutschland)
FDP Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei)
FRG Federal Republic of Germany
GdW Group of Military Service Objectors (Gruppe der
Wehrdienstverweigerer)
HIS Hamburg Institute for Social Research (Hamburger Institut für
Sozialforschung)
IdK German Branch of the War Resisters’ International
(Internationale der Kriegsdienstgegner)
IfZM Institute for Contemporary History in Munich (Institut für
Zeitgeschichte München)
IISG International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam
(Internationaal Instituut voor sociale Geschiedenis)
KdA Fight Atomic Death (Kampf dem Atomtod)
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
ND Nuclear Disarmament
SCPC Swarthmore College Peace Collection
SED Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei
Deutschlands)
SJD Socialist Youth of Germany (Sozialistische Jugend Deutschlands)
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SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei
Deutschlands)
UN United Nations
VK Association of Military Service Objectors (Verband der
Kriegsdienstverweigerer)
WRI War Resisters’ International
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... iv
NOMENCLATURE .................................................................................................. v
TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 1
CHAPTER II REARMAMENT AND CONSCRIPTION DEBATE ................... 26
CHAPTER III REFORM ....................................................................................... 62
CHAPTER IV BROADENING THE SCOPE OF THE PROTESTS, 1958-1960 111
CHAPTER V MARCH FOR PEACE: THE WEST GERMAN
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION MOVEMENT AND THE
CREATION OF THE OSTERMARSCH ........................................ 148
CHAPTER VI THROUGH THE IRON CURTAIN: WEST GERMAN
ACTIVISTS AND THE 1961 SAN FRANCISCO TO
MOSCOW WALK FOR PEACE .................................................. 196
CHAPTER VII CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 239
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 255
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
From the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany on May 23, 1949, the
West Germans were faced with the difficult task of building a new democratic society;
one that ensured the basic rights of its people and promoted participation in the new
parliamentary system. Burdened by the legacy and remnants of National Socialism,
Germans had to find within themselves the building blocks for a civil society to
transform into a “civilized” nation. This multilevel process required political, economic,
and social reform to reverse the barbarization of society that occurred during the Third
Reich. This dissertation, ultimately, studies this recivilizing process in West Germany by
examining the early protest movements and positioning them in history of how Germany
became a “civilized” society after the Second World War.
Konrad Jarausch in his 2006 book After Hitler: Recivilizing Germans, 1945-1995
wrote, “The idea of a sphere of societas civilis outside of one’s own house but still below
the purview of the state was understood…above all as a demarcation from nature and
barbarism.”1 An important feature of civil society, as described by Jürgen Kocka, is
social self-organization of free citizens for the pursuit of collective interests in the public
sphere.2 Jarausch provided a useful definition of the concept of civil society that includes
1 Konrad Hugo Jarausch, After Hitler: Recivilizing Germans, 1945-1995 (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2006), 12.
2 Jürgen Kocka, Civil Society and Dictatorship in Modern German History (Hanover, NH:
University Press of New England, 2010).
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nonviolent sociability, a relationship between states that is not marked by militarism,
religious tolerance, civic courage, a sense of responsibility for the community, and
perhaps most importantly, “…civil society entails civic involvement in both local
self-government and national rights of democratic participation.”3 Jarausch presents the
concept of civilized society as an alternative to the Sonderweg thesis and the idea of
westernization in measuring the development of states.4
The civil society concept allows for a more cultural approach to the development
of German society after the Second World War. Jarausch contends that such an approach
can bring together high politics and the grassroots experience. This dissertation focuses
on the point where the spheres of politics and society intersect. By studying the
conscientious objection movement and a number of key activists during the latter half of
the 1950s and early 1960s this dissertation illustrates how West Germans navigated the
undefined extra-parliamentary space and learned to participate in the new democracy.
Through their actions, which were driven by strongly held convictions and sense of
morality, these individuals helped create a place in their society that allowed for the
peaceful but resolute expression of political opinion.
The earliest mass protest movements in the Federal Republic of Germany were
those against West German rearmament and military conscription in the 1950s. Fifteen

3 Jarausch, After Hitler, 12.
4 However, the importance of the decidedly westward development of postwar Germany should not be
dismissed as Heinrich August Winkler argued in his work on the history of modern Germany. Heinrich
August Winkler, Germany: The Long Road West (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
2