Thousands of people are expected to take part in the German peace movement’s traditional Easter peace march, with more than a hundred events taking place in dozens of cities across the country between April 2 and 6. Many German newspapers have run advertisements to mobilize people.
Display, listed on Network of German Peace Movement WebsitesThis has included everything from “bike for peace” tours to concerts to afternoon-long rallies to speeches addressing the wars in Iran, Gaza and Ukraine, the Rojava conflict in northern Syria, as well as human rights and climate justice.
March of this year is likely to be marked by a reform of military service by the German government: from the beginning of this year, all 18-year-olds began to receive a questionnaire from the German military, the purpose of which was to assess their “motivation and suitability” for service. Young men are obliged to fill out the form, while women – who are exempt from mandatory military service by the constitution – can do so voluntarily.
New military service laws sparked a series of nationwide school strikes and it is likely that this year’s Easter march will see a larger turnout of young people. Christian Gola, spokesman for the German Peace Movement Network, said the approximately 20 demos will include speakers who intend to address the issue of recruitment.
decentralized peace movement
Gola said that sadly, there is no shortage of reasons why peace marches are still relevant today. “Whether it’s Ukraine and Russia, the Gulf region, Israel and Palestine, or the bombing of Iran – these will be essential issues for the Easter march, and certainly strengthening international law,” he told DW.
Peace marches are organized decentralized, meaning there is no top-down direction from any particular organization that dictates specific issues or who the speakers are. This year, the German Peace Movement’s website says the movement is calling on the German government to launch “diplomatic initiatives to end wars”, as well as contribute to strengthening international law, and provide more aid for those suffering from war.
The statement also said the network highly criticized the government’s “selective interpretation of international law”, arguing that Germany should condemn the US and Israeli attacks on Iran as much as it does Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Hendrik Hegemann, a senior researcher at the Hamburg-based Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH), said that despite all these legitimate issues and concerns, he did not see the Easter march attracting a huge increase in crowds this year.
This, he discussed, was partly because many people – including some in the peace movement – felt more ambivalent about current conflicts. “For example, in Ukraine, it’s a more complex situation than in Iraq in 2003, the last phase of the big peace protests in Germany, where most people could agree that the attack was wrong,” Hegemann said. “We have now witnessed the fourth anniversary of the attack on Butcha and it is certainly more difficult to mobilize against consolidating Ukraine.”
Old tradition, new urgency
Germany’s Easter Peace Marches began in the early 1960s and were directly inspired by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Britain. They grew rapidly during the early Cold War, from a few thousand participants in the early 1960s to massive crowds of hundreds of thousands by 1968.
Participants have traditionally been brought together by a wide range of organisations, including churches, trade unions, left-wing political parties and pacifist groups such as the German Peace Society (DFG-VK). These latter groups, originally inspired by conscientious objectors, have recently found themselves providing more and more advice and support for young men who wish to refuse military service.
But Hegeman said the Easter march had struggled to unite people over the past few years. “Those traditional organizations no longer have the same mobilization capacity and some of them have changed their stance on peace policy,” he said.
Hegemann also said that in recent years, some Germans had been discouraged from joining the Easter march because some elements of the far-right and divisive political figures, such as Sahra Wagenknecht, had supported the cause.
Nevertheless, Hegemann believed that pacifism still held an important place in Germany’s public debate. “He certainly has less acceptance in the broader debate than he once did, but it remains an important position,” he said. “It’s a very old, very established tradition of trying to point to alternatives, especially in times of re-militarization, trying to make sure that certain ideas are questioned.”
Germans were more worried about war
The sense of security in Germany has declined dramatically over the past few years. Polling institute Allensbach published a report in February saying only 55% of Germans feel safe – down from 60% in 2025, and more than 70% in 2019. Nearly two-thirds of Germans now fear that the country could be involved in direct war.
Ellensbach’s annual “Security Report” also found that few Germans feel that NATO will keep them safe – largely due to a lack of confidence in the US as a guarantor of peace in Europe. Only 42% believe the alliance would successfully repel a Russian attack, down about 14 percentage points from last year. “Certainly, people feel threatened by the overwhelming global situation,” Golla said. “In light of the global situation, I certainly expect more people [than last year]”
But still, he didn’t want to get too excited about the numbers expected this Easter weekend: “I know the weather is a problem – the weather is not expected to be that good,” he said. “Still, I am completely optimistic that more people will come than last year.”
Edited by Reena Goldenberg