The Command to Refuse

A national organisation of people of German birth or descent objected to a clause in the 1940 draft law that barred its members from taking jobs left open by men called up for service. Its leaders issued a numbered command declaring that every man, if he could, would refuse military duty until the laws restricting members' rights were revoked. The command was sent to local units and read or shown to members, and national leaders toured units to discuss the draft. Members were told to register as the law required but not to serve until the clause was repealed. Twenty-four people were convicted of conspiring to counsel others to evade service. The defendants argued that they had urged open refusal and a legal test of a discriminatory law, not evasion.