The West German Peace Movement: A Socio-Political Study

For the discussion of the origins of the peace movement, see Karl Otto , Vom Ostermarsch zur APO, Geschichte der APO (Frankfurt and New York: Campus, 1979), Jeffrey Boutweil , 'Politics and the Peace Movement in West Germany', International Security (Vol. 7, No. 4, Spring 1983 ), pp. 72-92; D.P.A. Hintergrund , Archiv und Informationsmaterial, 'Friedensbewegung Teil I, November 1981; Gordon A. Craig , 'Germany and the Rearmament Debate, 1950-1958 ' in K.E. Knorr (ed.), Nato .and American Security (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959); Theodor Ebert , 'Zur Herkunft und Zukunft der Friedens- und Okologiebewegung' in Hans A. Pestalozzi, Ralph Schlegel and Adolf Bachmann (eds.), Frieden in Deulschland (Munich: Goldmann , 1982).

Prominent members of this committee later joined the Deutsche Friedensunion (DFU) which was founded in 1960 by, among others, former members of the KPD (banned in 1956) and which reappeared in 1982 to co-organise the so-called Krefelder Appell, a somewhat one-sided manifesto condemning the NATO armaments while leaving similar trends in the Warsaw Pact unmentioned. Although highly controversial, the appeal was signed by more than two million people.

With respect to the genesis of the movement itself, it is perhaps incorrect to speak of 'joining' in this context, since it is impossible to detect any kind of central organisation or committee in the peace movement which one might 'join'. Rather, most people and groups 'identify' themselves with the message of the movement and work in different ways towards the common goal.

Gunter Schmid , 'Zur Soziologie der "Friedensbewegung''', Aus Politik and Zeigeschichte (No. 24, 1982), pp. 15-30. Schmid is an expert on the peace movement and a political scientist at the Geschwister Scholl Institute for Political Science at the University of Munich. This article on the peace movement was published in several books and periodicals.

Die Alternativen has no real counterpart in the English language. I will use the English word 'alternative' to describe those members of West German society who claim to practice an alternative lifestyle.

For the dicussion of DKP influence and tactics within trade unions, see Fritz Vilmar and Wolfgang Rudzio , 'Politische Apathie und Kaderpolitik. Zum Streit urn kommunistische Einflusstrategien und ihre Wirkungen in Gewerkschaften und Hochschulen', Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (No. 46, 1981 pp. 13-38.

Harald Rüddenklau , 'Aspekte der innenpolitischen Kontroverse um die Sicherheitspolitik ', unpublished paper, 1983. The author may be contacted at the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Auswaertige Politik, Bonn.

Professor Daubler, who is a former judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of the FRG, is one of the prominent representatives of this group. For a discussion about the constitutionality of the stationing of American nuclear weapons in the FRG, see his book Stationierung und Grundesetz (Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1983 ). Lawyers and judges have found themselves in a serious dilemma on the peace issue because of the required political impartiality of jurists in public service. Nevertheless, there has existed a Committee of Judges and Public Prosecutors for Peace (Kommittee der Richter und Staatsanwaelte, fur den Frieden), which was faced with an, as yet, undecided disciplinary proceeding. The legal question surrounding the stationing of the missiles, however, was conclusively settled by the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in December 1984. The decision of the court to reject the appeal of the Green Party for a declaration of the Cruise missiles deployment as unconstitutional marked the continuation of the Constitutional Court's unwillingness to rule on foreign policy questions. The court had abandoned its past tendency to address political questions in the heyday of conservative appeals against the Social Democratic Ostpolitik towards East Germany a decade earlier. For details on the Court's decision, see 'Der Richter und das unwaegbare Risiko', Die Zeit (Overseas edition), 28 December 1984.

Contrary to Alfred Mechtersheimer's fate with respect to his party affiliation with the CSU, Alt's ideological position did not provoke his exclusion from the CDU. For a discussion of Alt's thesis, see Frieden und Freiheit sind meoglich. Das Streitgespraech Franz Alt mit Heiner Geissler ( Munich. Olzog Verlag. 1983).

See Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. 'Die stille Revolution - Wandlungen im Bewusstsein der deutschen Bevölkerung', Allensbacher Jahrbuch der Demoskopie. Vol, 7 (Allensbach, 1977): the research done by the Jugendwerk der Deutschen Shell of 1979 and 1981: the EMNID-enquiry done for Der Spiegel in 1981, published in No. 48, 23 November 1981. No. 49, 30 November 1981 and No. 50. 7 December 1981. See also, Giinther Schmid. op. cit, who summarises these research projects.

Manfred Klichler . 18 8 bis 35 + Abitur'. Der Spiegel . No. 48, 23 November 1981 . p. 68.

Stephen F. Szabo , 'Brandt's Children: The West German Successor Generation', The Washington Quarterly (Vol. 5, No. 2, Winter 1984 ). p. 50ff. Stephen F. Szabo is Professor of National Security Affairs at the National War College, and Professorial Lecturer in European Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He is editor of The Successor Generation: International Perspectives of Postwar Europeans (London: Bulterworth, 1983).

As a means of substantiating this interpretation, these critics take certain representative (or not so representative) groups within the peace movement out of context and misleadingly depict their programme and characteristics as being representative of a single movement with a common theme. This, of course, puts the whole peace movement on the defensive and in order to retain at least a small measure of unity, the collective peace movement ultimately comes to the defence of its discredited subgroups. The self-fulfilling prophecy strategy is perfect. This is not to say that there is not a certain amount of one-sidedness, but defamation is certainly no way of maintaining a dialogue. For this strategy, see Gerhard Herdegen , 'Die Jugend denkt anders. Das Pazifismussyndrom der nachwachsenden Generation', Die politische Meinung (Vol. 26, No. 195, March/April 1981), pp. 56-64: Bayernkurier, 3 July 1982 (this is the official organ of the Bavarian CSU): Walter Künneth , 'Die Ideologic des Pazifismus - Eine Staatsgefährdung?'. Zeitschrift für Politik (Vol. 29, No. 24, 1982), pp. 282-294: Manfred Spieker , 'Die Vcrteidigung des Friedens gegen den Pazilismus'. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (No. 17, 1983), pp. 17-30. See also the debate in the West German f'arliament on 15 July 1983, discussed in footnote 37.

See Die Grünen , Friedenstmanifest , passed at the Bundesdeligiertenversammlung October 1981; Koordinierungsausschuss der Friedensorganisationen (ed.), Aufstehen! Für den Frieden (Bomheim-Merten : Lamuv Verlag, 1982): Umweltmagazin, Zeitschrift des Bundesverbands Bürgerinitiativen Umweltschutz e.V. (BBU): 'Mediatus. Informationen fur die Friedenspolitische Arbeit', edited by the Forschungsinstitut für Friedenspolitik e.V. in Starnberg, of which Alfred Mechtersheimcr, Oberleutnant a.D.. is the prominent founder; he is a former CSU member and proponent of defensive military strategies: he is currently working on a 'Reorganisation of Defence' and a 'Peace Guide for the Development of Critical Peace Research'. See also Die Griinen Baden-Wurttemberg (ed.), Das kleine Friendens-ABC (Stuttgart, The Greens, 1982): Bundeskongress Autonomer Friedensinitiativen (BAF) (ed.), BAF - INFO, informationsdienst der Autonomen Friedensbewegung, several issues (1982 and 1983): Federation Gewaltfreier Aktionsgruppen (ed.). Grasswurzelrevolution, No. 56 (Hamburg: Federation Gewaltfreier Aktionsgruppen, no date): Hans A. Pestalozzi , Ralph Schlegel and Adolf Bachmann (eds.), Frieden in Deutschland . op. cit.: Wilfried von Bredow. 'Zusammensetzung und Ziele der Friedenshewegung in der BRD', Aus Polilik und Zeigeschichte (No. 24. 1982). pp. 3-13.

Die Grünen' Das kleine Friedens-A BC. op. cit

Wolfgang Biermann . 'Positionen der SPD zur Friedenspolitik und zum Verhaltnis von SPD und Friedensbewegung'. in Hans A. Pestalozzi , Ralph Schlegel and Adolf Bachmann (eds.), Frieden in Deutschland, op. cit.

Namely, the Kekkonen Plan 1963 (nuclear-free zone for the Scandinavian countries), the Ceausescu Plan 1957, 1968, 1972 and 1982 (nuclear-free zone for Balkans), the Rapacki Plan 1957-1958 (nuclear-free zones for the FRG, GDR, CSSR and Poland), and the Palme Plan of 1982, calling for a 150-kilometer nuclear-free zone on both sides of the border between East and West Germany.

See Erwin Brunner , Karl-Heinz Janssen and Michael Schwelien, 'Kleingärten des Friedens', Die Zeit, 15 April 1983.

See Gunther Schmid , Sicherheitspolitik und Friedensbewegung. Akademiebeiträge zur Lehrerbildung , Vol. 11, Munich 1982.

These refer to the 'Greens', illegal but non-violent groups, grass roots Church initiatives, trade union affiliates and isolated members of the SPD.

Here I use the categorisation 'left' in the sense in which it is used within the peace movement, namely, to designate the sometimes militant 'autonomous and anti-imperialistic' groups and the Kommunistischer Bund (KB).

See also Wulf Reimer in the Süddeutsche Zoitung, 8 June 1983, reporting on a South German action conference of the peace movement, noting that it became clear that 'ideological disputes are being fought even in the light of a deadly menance'; see also the cover story on the missile discussion in Der Spiegel, No. 24, 13 June 1983.

For example, Gerhard Wettig , Die Friedensbewegung der beginnenden 80er Jahre, Berichte des Bundesinstituts für ostwissenschaftliche und internationale Studien, 1982.

Bundesministerium für Jugend, Familie, und Gesundheit, 'Zur alternativcn Kultur in der BRD', Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (No. 39, 1981). pp. 3-15.

Ibid.

See Roland Schmidt , 'Zur altemativen Kultur, Erscheinungsbild und Strukturen', Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (No. 11, 1982), pp. 41-54; for the' 'left' position, see: Klaus Schroder , Werner Süss , Linke Kontinuität oder Bruch? Zur politschen Einschätzung der Alternativbewegung, FU Berlin - Occasional Papers, Berlin, 1980; Lothar Kolenberger. Die alternative Bewegung in West Berlin, FU Berlin - Occasional Papers, Berlin, 1982: the use of the word 'left' is sometimes rather misleading, since each group uses it differently. The 'alternative' scene's political leanings are close to those of the 'Greens' and other alternative party groups. Ideologically speaking, it categorises itself principally as extreme left to left. The 'left' critics originate from the realm of the aging student revolt generation and consider the 'alternatives' neither expressively left or right in their orientation.

Kolenberger , ibid, p. 53.

Christen für die Abrüstung, founded in 1976 by a member of the Protestant organisation Aktionsgemeinschaft Dienst für den Frieden (AGDF); Ohne Rüstung leben founded in 1978 by priests and laymen, Sicherung des Friedens, a movement based on securing peace by military means initiated in 1980, among whose prominent members are the journalist and priest Eberhard Stammler, strategy researcher Wolf Graf von Baudissin, and the political scientist Kurt Sontheimer; Frieden schaffen ohne Waffen a peace week organised in November 1980 and 1981 by Aktion Sühnezeichen/Friedensdienst c.V., the most important Protestant peace organisation founded in t958.

These organisations received the main impulse for such mass displays and so-called peace weeks from the Dutch church organisation. Interchurch Council of Peace (Interkirchlicher Friedensrat), founded in 1967 by the nine largest churches of the Netherlands. The IKV had called for saving the world from nuclear weapons and had challenged the Dutch people to begin a crusade in their own country.

They provoked the church hierarchy by their appeal to all participants to wear lilac handkerchiefs with the inscription 'The time is ripe for a no without any yes to weapons of mass destruction' and which obviously would have given the Kirchentag a political flavour.

On the other hand, it is astonishing that there has never been as many voluntary conscripts for the armed services as in 1983. The relatively high rate of unemployment in Germany might be one factor which explains this tendency.

Süddeutsche· Zeitung. 8 June 1983; for the discussion of the Protestant part of the peace movement, see also Erwin Wilkens (ed.), Christliche· Ethik und Sicherheitspolitik (Frankfurt and Main: Evanglisches Verlagswerk , 1982) ; Aktion Sühnezeichen/Friedensdienste (ed.), Aktionshandbuch 2, Frieden schaffen ohne Waffen (Bornheim Merton: Lamuv Verlag , 1981); Jurgen Benedict , 'Auf dem Weg zur Friedenskirche. Entstehung und Erscheinungsformen in der evangelischen Kirche ', Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konftikforschung (HSFK) (ed.) Die neue Friedensbewegung ( Frankfurt and Main: Evanglisches Verlagswerk, 1982); for the Dutch connection, see: Walter Laqueur , Der neue Neutralismus, Europäische Rundschau (Vol. 9, No. 3, Summer 1981 ) pp. 11-28.

Of 36 organisations within the co-ordination committee in Bonn involved with this week of action, three were organised by Church groups . Der Spiegel, No. 24, 13 June 1983, p. 32.

See Alfred Zeller , 'Das ZdK-Friedenspapier und die Friedensdiskussion in der katholischen Kirche', in Hans A. Pestalozzi , Ralph Schlegel and Adolf Bachmann (eds.). op. cit.; Sekretariat der Deutschen Bischofsekonferenz (ed.), Gerechtigkeit schafft Frieden. Wort der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz (Bonn, 1983); Lutz Lemhöfer , 'Zögernder Aufbruch aus dem Kalten Krieg. Die katholische Kirche und die bundesdeutsche "neue Friedensbewegung,"' Die neue Friedensbewegung . op. cit., B. Sutor , 'Friedenserklaerungen der Bishofskonferenz .' Stimmen der Zeit Heft 7. 1984; for the Catholic Church Days, see Die Zeit (Overseas edition) No. 29, July 1984.

See footnote 10.

For a review of the the major opinion polls on the subject in 1982 and 1983, see Die Zeit (Overseas Edition), No. 41, 14 October 1983.

Symptomatic of this split was the remark of the Minister for family affairs in the Bundestag, H. Geissler, who tried to discredit the peace movement's ambitions and especially those members of parliament directly participating in it, such as the Greens, or those who sympathised with it, including several members of the SPD: 'The pacifism of the 1930s, which in terms of its philosophical-ethical justification differs only slightly from that which we note in the justifications of today's pacifist movement, was what made Auschwitz possible at all'. See, Deutscher Bundestag , Plenarprotokoll 10+13. 15 June 1983. The ensuing debate reached its peak when, on 23 June 1983, the insulted SPD faction presented a petition supported by the Greens calling for the dismissal of the minister, see, Deutscher Bundestag. Plenarprotokoll 10/16, 23 June 1983. Depending on the ideological orientation, newspapers in Germany have varied from steadfast to complete support or have condemned the peace movement.

Der Spiegel, No. 50, 7 December 1981, p. 101.

All of the Warsaw Pact countries, of course, have official peace movements headed by so-called 'Peace Councils' and dating back to the immediate post-war period. The genesis of most of these organisations is linked to the founding of the World Peace Council in Paris in 1949. The WPC and its successor organisations played a major role in coordinating the activities of various Soviet peace offensives in the post-war period. In May 1949, a German Committee for Fighters for Peace was established in East Berlin. It has been renamed several times, with the current designation 'Peace Council of the GDR' which dates from 1963. The GDR Peace Council has spearheaded East German efforts within the blockwide campaign against the neutron bomb and, more recently, against the 1979 NATO decision on intermediate nuclear forces.

The motto could be deecribed like this; even if our two states do not pursue a common policy, we should still keep in mind many areas of commonality and make good

For the text, see 'Offener Brief an den Vorsitzenden des Presidiums des Obersten Sowjets der UdSSR, Leonid Breshnev', Die Zeit . 20 November 198 Robert Havemann was a Representative to the People's Assembly of the GDR and a physicist. The East German authorities sought to isolate Havemann because of his critical stance towards Socialism as practised in the GDR; he died in the spring of 1982.

For the literary dimension, see Rolf Schneider , 'Nationale und Kulturetle Einheit Deutschlands?', Merkur, (Vol. 37, No. 4, 1983), pp. 376-383.

Wolfgang Venohr (ed.), Die Deutsche Einheit kommt bestimmt (Bergisch Gladbach 1982).

This point especially has been the subject of controversy in the German media. The discussion was induced by an article by the left-wing intellectual Wolfgang Pohrt, in which he vehemently attacks the nationalist character of the peace movement. See Wolfgang Pohrt , 'Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Frieden, Über die Friedensbewegung und das neue, alte Heimatgefühl, Die Zeit, 10 October 1981; On 21 June 1983, there was a documentary on one of the German television networks (ZDF), concerned with the same issue, by Klaus Harpprecht. It was entitled, 'How German should Germany become? The March Within'; in addition, in connection with left-wing nationalism, Erwin K. Scheuch , 'Nationalismus von links', Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2 August 1983; the media coverage suggests that it has not been solely an academic concern.

Heinrich August Winkler , in his article 'Sind die Deutschen Nationalisten? ', expresses the same opinion: 'The German Nationalists on the right and the left are officers without soldiers', Die Zeit, 29 January 1982.

With respect to the oft-cited book Die Deutsche Einheit kommt bestimmt. which partly stimulated the whole discussion in Germany and abroad, it is interesting to note that seven of the eight authors of various political persuasions are from Berlin, the DDR or former German territory in Poland.

See Gerhard Wettig , op. cit

Cf, a comment of a member of the 'alternative ticket' in West Berlin, Klaus Harpprecht, op. cit.

Hans Mommsen , 'Nationale Frage und Identitat. Nationalismus-Nation-Nationalstaat: Überlegungen zur deutschen Frage vor und nach 1945', Loccumer Protokolle (No. 34, 1981), pp. 23-40.

See Alfred Grosser , Die deutsch-deutsche ' Frage. Ein nationales oder ein europaisches Problem? Loccumer Protokolle, (No. 34, 1981), p. 19ff.

William Griffith, 'Bonn and Washington: From Deterioration to Crisis? ', Orbis (Vol. 26, No. 1, Spring 1982), p. 128 With regard to neo-conservatism, see also; Michael W. Hughey , `The New Conservatism', Dialogue (Vol. 61, No. 3, 1983), pp. 20-25; Hans Rühle, Hans Joachim Veen, Walter F. Hahn (eds.), Der Neokonservatismus in den Vereinigien Staaten und seine Auswirkungen auf die Atianlische Allianz, Forschungsbericht der Konrad Adenauer Stiftung 16, 1982.

The peace movement has entered a phase of self-examination and has for the time being split; its Coordinating Committee has decided to refrain from any 'blind activism' and is deliberating on new goals and strategies. For a discussion, see Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 22 November 1984; Die Zeit (Overseas Edition), 28 December 1984.