The number of conscientious objectors in the Bundeswehr skyrocketed in 2022, the year of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
“In 2021, the Federal Office for Family and Civil Society Tasks received 201 applications for conscientious objection, in 2022 there were a total of 951 applications,” said a spokesman for the Federal Office for Family and Civil Society Tasks the editorial network Germany (RND).
Since conscription was suspended in 2011, conscientious objectors have only been people who are already serving in the Bundeswehr. According to the report, many justify their applications with the fact that they did not expect a military conflict.
The Political Director of the “German Peace Society”, Michael Schulze von Glaßer, told the RND: “Soldiers who come to the realization in this explosive time in terms of security policy that they do not want to shoot at other people and kill or injure them must do so easy way out of the army.” Many of today’s Bundeswehr members are lured into the army with advertising promises that have nothing to do with reality.
