The German Mennonite Peace Committee, (DMFK), is the peace office of the (AMG). The peace office is financially supported by

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

congregations and interested lay persons. Its work is organized by the director, the DMFK board and various peace activists. The DMFK characterizes its vision for the world in the words "divine peace and justice taking on bodily form" (). The DMFK works with Mennonite and other congregations, seeking to nurture peace practices as well as theological reflections on it. The current director is James (Jakob) Fehr. The offices are located in

Bammental Bammental is a municipality in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Geography Bammental is about 9 km southeast of Heidelberg and 13 km northwest of Sinsheim in the Elsenz valley, between Mauer and Neckargemünd. The bo ...

, near

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

History

The DMFK was established in 1956 as a response to the resumption of

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

in the wake of

West German rearmament West German rearmament () began in the decades after World War II. Fears of another rise of German militarism caused the new military to operate within an alliance framework, under NATO command. The events led to the establishment of the ''Bund ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

saw the need to provide counsel and support to their young men in

conscientious objection A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

to military service, at a time when German conscriptors made it difficult for young men to gain CO status.MCC Peace Office Newsletter: Military Counseling Network: Helping Military Sevicemembers Lay Down Their Arm
MCC Peace Office Newsletter
. The DMFK was established during a period of renewed peace witness among German Mennonites. In the aftermath of the German collapse at the end of World War II, the influence of North American Mennonites led to a recovery of the

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

tradition and a transformation in theological thinking toward peace church theology. During the 1980s DMFK was active in protesting the buildup of American military arms in Germany. DMFK planned and participated in protests and demonstrations. In 1986, while Mennonites were celebrating the tricentennial anniversary of the first Germans emigrating to America, the German and U.S. governments were developing close ties that led to the present military alliance of NATO. DMFK joined the protests, pointing out that good German-American relations need not be a "brotherhood in arms". DMFK informed the public that among the early emigrants to the USA were Mennonites and Quakers from Krefeld, Germany, who crossed the Atlantic to find religious freedom, including the right to refrain from military involvement. In October 1984, DMFK established its permanent office under the leadership of Wolfgang Krauß and became active in uniting American and German peace movements. The

anti-nuclear movement in Germany The anti-nuclear movement in Germany has a long history dating back to the early 1970s when large demonstrations prevented the construction of a nuclear plant at Wyhl. The Wyhl protests were an example of a local community challenging the nuc ...

was particularly strong in Germany during the 1980s, some demonstrations being attended by more than 300,000 people. A human chain extended from Stuttgart to Neu-Ulm to protest against the new middle-range missiles that NATO and the Warsaw Pact wanted to deploy on both sides of the “Iron Curtain”. The concern that a

nuclear holocaust A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear annihilation, nuclear armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a Futures studies, theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes widespread destruction and radi ...

could be imminent was widespread. The protest movement was denounced as “anti-American” by the German government. But the protesters formed their own alliance with American friends, peace groups and churches, in the conviction that transatlantic cooperation need not be guided by military prerogative. In 2003, shortly before the beginning of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, DMFK re-established the

Military Counseling Network The Military Counseling Network (MCN) is a non-profit GI Rights organization dedicated to being a free source of information to U.S military members concerning military regulations and discharges, with an emphasis on working with those members who a ...

to provide support and information to American military members stationed in Europe who were questioning their willingness to participate in warfare. DMFK ended its formal connection to Military Counseling Network in 2013.

Current activities

DMFK re-organised itself in November 2007, forming a new board and new initiatives. It has offered peace theology and conflict transformation seminars for church congregations and youth groups and helps to organize and plan conferences and seminars on issues of faith and peace. It supports the Mennonitisches Friedenszentrum Berlin and the Friedenshaus Ludwigshafen in their work of encouraging Christian-Muslim dialogue and the integration of migrants into German society. A major field of activity of the DMFK is the promotion of the work of

Christian Peacemaker Teams Community Peacemaker Teams or CPT (previously called Christian Peacemaker Teams) is an international organization set up to support teams of peace workers in conflict areas around the world. The organization uses these teams to achieve its aims ...

in Germany and other parts of Europe. DMFK has organised CPT delegations to Palestine and Israel, Iraqi Kurdistan, Grassy Narrows (Canada) and Lesbos. It provides financial aid for persons wishing to complete the CPT peace trainings and is the major sponsor of Aegean Migrant Solidarity, CPT Europe's project on Lesbos which accompanies migrants and refugees on the European border.

Michael Sattler Peace Prize

The Michael Sattler Peace Prize was first awarded in 2006 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the German Mennonite Peace Committee. The Prize is named after

Michael Sattler Michael Sattler (1490 – 20 May 1527) was a monk who left the Roman Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation to become one of the early leaders of the Anabaptist movement. He was particularly influential for his role in developing t ...

, one of the early, influential leaders of the

movement, who was burned at the stake in Rottenburg on May 20 or 21st, 1527. The Sattler Prize was established to encourage, honour and bring attention to persons or groups who have acted in the nonviolent spirit of Sattler. The formal criteria of the prize include: "nonviolent witness to Christ, reconciliation between hostile individuals, communities, or ethnic groups, facilitating dialogue between religions and worldviews, building community of Jesus' followers and/or critiquing and resisting unjust power". Self-identifying as a Christian is not a prerequisite. The prize is awarded approximately every three years by an ecumenical committee. Previous recipients of the Sattler Prize are: * 2006 -

* 2007 - Tent of Nations, Bethlehem, Palestine * 2010 -

Howard Zehr Howard J. Zehr (born July 2, 1944) is an American criminologist. Zehr is considered to be a pioneer of the modern concept of restorative justice. He is Distinguished Professor of Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University's Center for ...

, Professor of Sociology and

Restorative Justice Restorative justice is a community-based approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done to victims, offenders and communities. In doing so, restorative justice practitioners work to ensure that offenders take responsibility for their ac ...

at Eastern Mennonite University * 2013 - Judy da Silva, lay leader and peace activist of the Canadian First Nation of Grassy Narrows * 2016 - Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (the

Church of the Brethren in Nigeria The Church of the Brethren in Nigeria ( (EYN), literally "Church of Children of the Same Mother of Nigeria") is an Anabaptist Christian denomination from Nigeria with close to 1,000,000 members. It has hundreds of pastors and hundreds of parishes. ...

) The prize in 2016 focuses on the work of CAMPI, the Christian and Muslim Peace Initiative of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa. The EYN is based primarily in northeastern Nigeria. As the largest Christian church in the region, it suffered for years from attacks by the Islamic terror organization,

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad (), is a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group spli ...

. Of the 276 Chibok schoolgirls abducted in April 2014, the majority (178) are members of the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa. In spite of this aggression the EYN has held fast to the peace witness of the Gospel and has renounced calls for retaliation. The Church teaches its members, and especially its youth, in the Biblical way of peace and reconciliation, and has established contact with Muslims and mosques open to dialogue. In 2020 the prize committee announced that the next prize winner would be Lutte Pour Le Changement (LUCHA), a youth organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo that works nonviolently for social justice. Because of the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the prize was postponed to 2021.

References

External links

Michael Sattler Peace Prize
(in German)
Deutsches Mennonitisches Friedenskomitee website

Military Counseling Network

DMFK
{{DEFAULTSORT:German Mennonite Peace Committee Christian organisations based in Germany Mennonitism in Germany Peace organisations based in Germany