ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the issue of conscientious objection was discussed as early as in January 1949, when nobody was talking about rearming Germany or even creating a new German Army. Most urgent was certainly the fear that during the emerging Cold War the occupation powers adamant that the Krauts should defend their own soil instead of shedding the blood of allied soldiers if the conflict turned into a hot war would try to compel Germans to serve in some kind of military formations commanded by foreign generals of the Allied Forces. The chapter considers the military, Innere Fuehrung safeguards the fundamental human and civil rights the constitution guarantees to all citizens, including when they are doing their military duty in the Bundeswehr, because those rights are to be defended in case of emergency, if necessary by risking life and limb. The military oathhas gradually lost its timeless and indissoluble effect as part of the general change of values.
