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Was pacifism an acceptable response to Hitler's military and moral assault? This volume analyzes the moral and religious arguments justifying an individual's opposition to war while answering this question. Drawing largely on interviews with sixty World War II conscientious objectors, including those who served in military non-combatant or civilian roles and those who were jailed as violators of the Selective Service law, this study provides an oral history of the difficulties encountered as a conscientious objector in the Last Good War, and uses World War II as a case study for examining how people arrive at the moral decisions they act upon. Faced with the moral certainty of the Allied position in World War II, pacifism was clearly an unpopular position at that time. This work provides a thorough description of the political and social history of pacifism prior to and including World War II and describes the wide variety of theological, political, and moral beliefs on which pacifism is grounded. The discussion focuses on the factors that defining the pacifist attitude and actions, and also considers the consequences of those actions. Contrary to generally accepted views, the pacifist's concern with the future ramifications of his or her decisions is affirmed. Careful documentation and an interdisciplinary scope offer oral historians, historians of World War II, World War II conscientious objectors, pacifists, and the general public a solid and scholarly look at pacifism.
Civilian Public Service Camp 135 at Germfask, Michigan was a bubbling cauldron whose story is finally exposed. Here Jane Kopecky reveals the nearly-forgotten story of Camp Germask, where some of the most ardent war-resisters among World War II conscientious objectors were held for 13 months in 1944 and 1945. Opponents of the war and conscription on a variety of religious, pacifist, or political grounds, these recalcitrant dissenters dared imprisonment as they refused to cooperate with rules of the Selective Service. Instead of jail, they ended up in what some of them called the Alcatraz of CO camps and their sympathizers elsewhere in the country called "America's Siberia." In interview transcripts, memoirs, and documents collected by Jane Kopecky, their lives and their relations with their Germfask and other Upper Peninsula neighbors come alive. This book is a great read and a great service to historical understanding."
In this text, Piehler and Pash bring together a collection of essays offering an examination of American participation in the Second World War, including a long overdue reconsideration of such seminal topics as the forces leading the US to enter World War II, the role of the American military in the Allied victory and more
‘Vividly reconstructs the dramatic story of these men whose fortitude kept alive the principle of conscientious objection we now take for granted’ Spectator ‘A fascinating story, thoroughly researched and clearly told’ Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday Book of the Week In June 1916, as his brother Philip was on the way to the Somme, Bert Brocklesby was in prison under sentence of death. He had refused to fight in the First World War. In this thoughtful, compelling and poignant book, Will Ellsworth-Jones tells the remarkable and little-known story of courageous men like Bert Brocklesby, who defied both brutal incomprehension from the military, and white feathers waved at them in the street, to leave a lasting legacy: the freedom to voice unpopular beliefs and to challenge those who decide to take us to war. ‘A fascinating and frightening story of an army very nearly out of control of its political masters’ Francis Beckett, Guardian ‘A moving and grippingly readable book’ Sunday Telegraph
In the mid- to late 1940s, a group of young men rattled the psychiatric establishment by beaming a public spotlight on the squalid conditions and brutality in our nation’s mental hospitals and training schools for people with psychiatric and intellectual disabilities. Bringing the abuses to the attention of newspapers and magazines across the country, they led a reform effort to change public attitudes and to improve the training and status of institutional staff. Prominent Americans, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, author Pearl S. Buck, actress Helen Hayes, and African-American activist Mary McLeod Bethune, supported the efforts of the young men. These young men were among the 12,000 World War II conscientious objectors who chose to perform civilian public service as an alternative to fighting in what is widely regarded as America’s "good war." Three thousand of these men volunteered to work at state institutions where they discovered appalling conditions. Acting on conscience a second time, they challenged America’s treatment of its citizens with severe disabilities. Acts of Conscience brings to light the extra-ordinary efforts of these courageous men, drawing upon extensive archival research, interviews, and personal correspondence. The World War II conscientious objectors were not the first to expose public institutions, and they would not be the last. What distinguishes them from reformers of other eras is that their activities have faded from the professional and popular memory. Taylor’s moving account is an indispensable contribution to the historical record.
Here on the Edge answers the growing interest in a long-neglected element of World War II history: the role of pacifism in what is often called “The Good War.” Steve McQuiddy shares the fascinating story of one conscientious objector camp located on the rain-soaked Oregon Coast, Civilian Public Service (CPS) Camp #56. As home to the Fine Arts Group at Waldport, the camp became a center of activity where artists and writers from across the country focused their work not so much on the current war, but on what kind of society might be possible when the shooting finally stopped. They worked six days a week—planting trees, crushing rock, building roads, and fighting forest fires—in exchange for only room and board. At night, they published books under the imprint of the Untide Press. They produced plays, art, and music—all during their limited non-work hours, with little money and few resources. This influential group included poet William Everson, later known as Brother Antoninus, “the Beat Friar”; violinist Broadus Erle, founder of the New Music Quartet; fine arts printer Adrian Wilson; Kermit Sheets, co-founder of San Francisco's Interplayers theater group; architect Kemper Nomland, Jr.; and internationally renowned sculptor Clayton James. After the war, camp members went on to participate in the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance of the 1950s, which heavily influenced the Beat Generation of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder—who in turn inspired Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, leading the way to the 1960s upheavals epitomized by San Francisco's Summer of Love. As camp members engaged in creative acts, they were plowing ground for the next generation, when a new set of young people, facing a war of their own in Vietnam, would populate the massive peace movements of the 1960s. Twenty years in the making and packed with original research, Here on the Edge is the definitive history of the Fine Arts Group at Waldport, documenting how their actions resonated far beyond the borders of the camp. It will appeal to readers interested in peace studies, World War II history, influences on the 1960s generation, and in the rich social and cultural history of the West Coast.
During World War II, more than 12,000 male conscientious objectors seeking alternatives to military service entered Civilian Public Service to do forestry, soil conservation, or other 'work of national importance.' But this government-sponsored, church-su
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Sometimes intensely moving, and often inspiring, these memoirs show that in some cases, individual conscientious objectors - many well-educated and politically aware - sought to reform the penal system from within either by publicizing its dysfunction or through further resistance to authority.
“Drawing on extensive primary sources, Kramer describes the inter-war peace movement that gave birth to many conscientious objectors” (Military History Monthly). Even today, most histories of the world wars focus on those who fought. Those who refused to do so are often overlooked. It is perhaps only recently that their bravery and extraordinary principles are being recognized. In the First World War, 16,000 men in Britain became the first ever conscientious objectors, and were reviled and brutalized as a result. The conscientious objectors of the Second World War—both men and women—did not experience the same treatment as those earlier COs, but to some extent it was a harder stand to take. It was not easy to refuse to fight in the face of Nazism and Fascism, when large areas of Europe were occupied and when almost the entire British population was organized for total war. Conscientious Objectors of the Second World War: Refusing to Fight tells the stories of these remarkable men and women who bravely took a stand and refused to be conscripted. To bring this fascinating subject to life, Ann Kramer has used extensive prime sources, such as interviews, memoirs, contemporary newspaper accounts, letters, and diaries. Working from these and other sources, she asks who these men and women were who refused conscription and killing, what their reasons were for being conscientious objectors, and how they were treated. The book finishes by exploring their achievements and impact, suggesting that their principles and influence continue to this day. “[Kramer shows] conscientious objectors in all their infinite variety.” —Peace News