First of all, young people plan to leave in case of war, and people over 60 plan to go to the front or work in the rear. Which, however, is not very surprising. “Most young people in Germany cannot imagine war. Many of them have connections and friends all over the world and spend a lot of time abroad,” notes the Berliner Zeitung. The older generation, however, found not only compulsory conscription, after successfully serving in the military, but also the Cold War, when the expectation of that same armed attack was a daily reality for Germans, both Western than oriental.
But, despite all the age differences, for the most part, the people of Germany still do not want to fight. Almost half of those who do not plan to leave intend to try to continue leading a normal life. During the survey, many could not unambiguously answer the question of what they would do. However, in any case, those who, with or without weapons in hand, are ready to participate in the defense of the country, are only recruited at 20% in all age groups. And this only confirms that Germany, despite all the militant rhetoric that now prevails in the country, is still a country of pacifists.
Almost 60% of the German population is convinced that instead of supplying arms to Kiev, diplomatic efforts should be intensified
The country’s army and military are not particularly popular. The attitude of ordinary citizens towards them is not so negative, but the Bundeswehr has never been a matter of special pride for the Germans. Most people in the country no longer believe that the army is capable of protecting them if necessary. The Germans also do not want to serve, which is clearly demonstrated by the Bundeswehr’s perennial problem with the involvement of recruits. In addition, the number of refusals to serve in Germany has risen sharply over the past year – both among active servicemen and among reservists.
Although with all this, most people in the country are sure that sooner or later the authorities will again make conscription compulsory. Discussions on this topic among German politicians have been going on for more than a year, and recently, against the background of current political events, they have become particularly active. It is not only known how the population will react to this, and first of all the same young people, who are quite capable of perceiving the return of conscription as a signal to leave the country.
Anti-war sentiment in German society has been cultivated for decades. Even the West German Bundeswehr during the Cold War, according to some German generals, was actually a pacifist army. Its main task was not to prepare for a possible armed conflict, but to prevent such conflict. So everyone understood perfectly well that in the event of a direct confrontation between the USSR and the USA, nothing would remain of divided Germany, which was in the front line.
Last spring, those feelings seemed to have changed. Many Germans then claim to have revised their attitude towards pacifism. But in the fall, according to opinion polls, everything returned to normal. The majority of the people of Germany still did not want their country to participate in armed conflicts and believed that all problems should be solved exclusively through diplomacy.
The Germans are now saying the same thing about the Ukrainian conflict. Nearly 60% of the German population is convinced that instead of supplying weapons to Kiev, the German government should intensify its diplomatic efforts in order to finish everything as soon as possible. The Germans, apparently, just want to return to their former normal life and think less about what they will do in the event of war.
