Conscientious objection in East Germany

There was a high level of conscientious objection in East Germany.

In April 1962 the GDR government introduced military conscription. The period of compulsory service was at least 18 months, and adult males between 18 and 26 were eligible. Service in the National People's Army (in German abbreviated as NVA), the paramilitary forces of the People's Police and the motorised rifles regiment of the Ministry for State Security fulfilled this service obligation. (In the Federal Republic of Germany, conscription was introduced in 1958.)

In the first year, despite the possibility of imprisonment or worse, 231 draftees refused to serve. Most were members of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The number increased to 287 when the second year's cohort was conscripted.

The GDR's socialist government viewed conscientious objectors as enemies of the state, and all 287 were arrested. When the country's influential Protestant Church protested, the government decided to provide a legal means for conscientious objectors to serve as non-combatants in the armed forces. It thus became the only socialist state in history to provide a non-combat alternative for pacifist citizens.

On 16 September 1964 the GDR government announced the formation of non-combat construction units, or Baueinheiten, to provide an alternative for conscripts who could not bear arms because of a personal objection to military service. The Bausoldaten lived in barracks and were subject to military discipline, but did not bear arms or participate in combat training. Their grey uniforms resembled those of the regular infantry with the symbol of a spade on their shoulder boards which had pale green edges. Normally, construction units were isolated from soldiers in regular units to prevent the spread of pacifist ideas.

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 defense readiness" in the 1980s.

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