Counting Them Out

Two decades ago, when West German rearmament in the face of Communist expansion was being debated, the country's youth expressed its opposition in a protest movement called ohne mich (count me out). By the time Bonn finally established the Bundeswehr in 1956, the movement had virtually evaporated, but the federal constitution had incorporated the principle that no German could ever be "compelled against his conscience" to take up arms.

Last week the ohne mich attitude once more became a major issue. Military Affairs Specialist Matthias Hoogen told the Bundestag that so many young men were counting themselves out that West Germany now has the highest rate of conscientious objection of any nation in the world. While only one out of every 750 men called for duty in the U.S. claim conscientious objector status and one out of 50 in Denmark, the figure for Germany is one out of 20. Last year alone, 11,789 youths sought C.O. status, including 3,456 who were already in uniform.

In West Germany, the conscientious objector (or Kriegsdienstverweigerer) need not prove dogmatic pacifism; he must merely convince a local commission of civil servants that he is against the use of force between states. Some 70 chapters of the German War Resisters' League seek to foster that attitude. Aided by leftist student militants, the chapters have held thousands of parades in the last 14 months, lectured to schoolchildren and demonstrated at military shows.

The Bundestag debated the problem for most of its opening session, then voted by a large majority to require from every conscientious objector some form of alternate service--as male nurses, Red Cross helpers, gatekeepers or maintenance men. The deputies also called for swifter processes to muster out of uniform those objectors whose presence in the Bundeswehr might damage their fellow soldiers' morale.

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