Youth protests against military service

Military Service Modernisation Act

The demonstrations on Friday, 5 December 2025, were prompted by the vote in the German Bundestag on the draft bill ‘on the modernisation of military service’ (Wehrdienstmodernisierungsgesetz, WDModG). After it comes into force on 1 January 2026, all 18-year-old men will have to fill out questionnaires and all men born on or after 1 January 2008 will have to attend a medical examination at a later date. According to the Basic Law, women are not required to complete the questionnaire or attend the medical examination. Actual service in the Bundeswehr remains voluntary; this is not a reintroduction of compulsory military service. However, if the personnel target of 260,000 active soldiers is not achieved by 2035, the Bundestag will be able to decide later on whether to introduce compulsory military service.

Nationwide school strikes

Parallel to the debate in the Bundestag, the initiative ‘School Strike Against Compulsory Military Service’ called for rallies in 90 cities. In larger cities, the number of participants was sometimes in the triple digits. According to police, 3,000 people attended the demonstrations in Berlin and 1,000 in Potsdam. Several hundred people were counted in Cologne, and almost 1,000 in Dortmund. The initiative has called for another demonstration against conscription and so-called compulsory service on 5 March 2026.

Extreme left-wing connections

Very few of the students who joined the marches on 5 December are likely to know that leading figures in the demonstration are members of extreme left-wing groups such as the Socialist German Workers' Youth (SDAJ), the Communist Youth or the German Communist Party, which are under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Slogans such as ‘the rich want war, the youth want a future’ were correspondingly polemical and class-warfare-oriented. The fact that Russia is waging war against Ukraine and that the three German intelligence services jointly warned the Bundestag in October 2025 about the threat posed by Russia was ignored.

Security policy in schools

This should be discussed with young people. The reasons why society depends on the active participation of the younger generation must be explained outside of talk shows and the plenary sessions of the Bundestag – in direct dialogue with young people.

Youth officers must hold regular discussions in schools, and the development of security policy expertise and knowledge of contemporary history relating to current conflicts should become a goal of school education. Having one's own reliable expertise offers protection against polemicisation and manipulation by extremists. At the same time, it enables informed exchange with decision-makers on issues of military service that directly affect young people and objectifies the debate.

Taking young people's concerns seriously

The initiators of the rallies complain: ‘But nobody talks to us. Nobody asks us what we want. Nobody wants to know what we think about it.’ In doing so, they clearly reflect the mood of many young people. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, debates about the future of pensions and funding gaps in education, the younger generation already felt unduly burdened. It is therefore legitimate for them to ask why they should once again take on a heavy burden for the older generation in the form of military service.

The fact that young people are taking to the streets to protest against military service is, first and foremost, a good sign of a vibrant democracy and the willingness of young people to participate in the political process. However, accompanying this formation of will among young people must not be left to communist fringe groups.

Explain the reasons for reforms

Political parties are called upon to treat young people with respect and sincerity, to listen to their legitimate concerns and to explain the reasons for reforms. Democracy, family and homeland are worth defending. In view of Russia's human rights violations, this is undoubtedly a message that can be conveyed. Young people who demand ‘good education, real opportunities for the future and a life without coercion and drill’ must ask themselves whether these values should not be defended when they are threatened from outside. 

The more intensive and sincere the dialogue on security policy is, the more young people will be able to accept reforms. So while schoolchildren should be careful not to allow themselves to be exploited by left-wing extremists, politicians and society must be open to the concerns of young people and engage with them on an equal footing.