# What does Germany do with draft-dodgers?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-germany-do-with-draft-dodgers/401802>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 26, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-germany-do-with-draft-dodgers/401802 "2007-04-26T23:46:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-germany-do-with-draft-dodgers/401802/1 "2007-04-26T23:46:47Z")

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What happens to German men who are found fit for military service, but refuse to serve or perform any alternative service?

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**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-germany-do-with-draft-dodgers/401802/2 "2007-04-27T00:20:33Z")

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[QUOTE=alphaboi867]  
What happens to German men who are found fit for military service, but refuse to serve or perform any alternative service?  
[/QUOTE]

I assume you refer what’s called _Totalverweigerung_ in Germany, i.e. not just being a consciencious objector and doing nine months of civilian social service instead of military service, but refusing _all_ service out of principle.

The [German Wikipedia article](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalverweigerer) says the usual sentence for nowadays this is a suspended sentence of three to six months, or an equivalent fine.

_Totalverweigerung_ is pretty rare, though, and done only by people who are opposed in principle to any compulsory service, or to any legal authority.

Using the official conscientious objector procedure is much more usual - in 2005 137,000 draft-age men did that ([cite - German language](http://www.frieden-schaffen.de/news.31/)), plus 1639 serving soldiers and 492 reservists. Conscientious objectors serve their terms mainly in social services, hospitals, as ambulance drivers etc; you can alternatively sign up for serving a certain number of hours in Katastrophenschutz (civil defence/emergency response), and in a number of other roles (including foreign aid - my brother fulfilled his obligation by working with homeless people in Washington D.C.)