Thousands of German Students Walk Out Nationwide in Protest Against New Military Service Law: "We Won't Be Cannon Fodder"

 

Berlin – December 6, 2025 – Tens of thousands of school students across Germany left their classrooms on Friday in the country’s largest youth-led protest in years, marching against a new military service law that reintroduces mandatory health screenings and questionnaires for all 18-year-old men.

Under the slogan “School Strike Against Military Service,” demonstrations took place in more than 90 cities, including Hamburg, Bochum, Bielefeld, Münster, Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Stuttgart. In Berlin alone, over 3,000 students gathered near Hallesches Tor metro station before marching through Kreuzberg to Oranienplatz, carrying banners that read “No to compulsory military service,” “Students against wars and rearmament,” “Our future is our future,” and “We decide ourselves.”

A smaller group rallied directly in front of the Reichstag while lawmakers inside the Bundestag debated and eventually passed the bill by a vote of 323 to 272, with one abstention. The legislation now heads to the Bundesrat, Germany’s upper house, for final approval later this month and is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026.

The new law is designed to address severe personnel shortages in the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, which currently stand at around 184,000 active troops — far below the numbers needed to meet NATO commitments. Defense officials aim to grow the force to approximately 270,000 by 2035, requiring roughly 20,000 new recruits each year.

Under the reform:

• All men born on or after January 1, 2008, will be required to fill out an online questionnaire about their health, education, and interest in military service, followed by a compulsory medical examination.
• Women will receive the same questionnaire on a voluntary basis.
• Actual military service remains optional for now, but the law includes a clause allowing parliament to introduce selective, needs-based conscription in the future if voluntary recruitment targets are consistently missed.

Germany abolished compulsory military service in 2011, switching to a fully professional army. The return of even limited mandatory elements has sparked fierce opposition among young people who grew up in a country long proud of its post-war pacifist tradition.

Many protesters argue that the new system is a “back-door conscription” that could easily be expanded into full mandatory service, especially given rising tensions with Russia and pressure from NATO allies to increase defence spending and troop numbers.

In several cities, school authorities had warned students that unexcused absences could affect their grades, but turnout still far exceeded expectations. Organisers described the day as a clear message to politicians: “We are not willing to be treated as human resources for the next war.”

The government insists the measures are necessary to make the Bundeswehr “fit for the future” and to fulfil Germany’s obligations within NATO. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has repeatedly stressed that there are no plans to reintroduce full conscription, but acknowledged that the door has been deliberately left open in case voluntary recruitment continues to fall short.

With the Bundesrat vote still to come and public opinion deeply divided, Friday’s protests have made one thing clear: any further steps toward mandatory service will face fierce resistance from the generation that would be called upon to serve.