The story
Founded by Lothar Kreyssig in 1958.1
Background
ARSP developed out of the actions of the Evangelical Church in Germany to reject Nazism and resist the Nazi regime. The founder of ARSP, Judge Lothar Kreyssig, was one of the determined resisters within the Confessing Church. After the war, he made this refusal by a branch of the Protestant church a subject of discussion and, along with like-minded people, such as Martin Niemöller, Gustav Heinemann and later, Franz von Hammerstein, called for repentance and reversal of harm.
Appeal for the Action for Reconciliation
Lothar Kreyssig tried to find fellow campaigners for his reconciliation service for the first time on Kirchentag 1954, in Leipzig. The appeal found few ears. "That something is right and necessary, is not enough to see it materialize in time and space. The hour must be ripe," he later wrote in his unpublished autobiography. The Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany convened from 26 to 30 April 1958, alternating in Spandau, in West Berlin) and Weißensee in East Berlin. At this point, the synod still involved the entire Evangelical Church in Germany, both east and west. There was a controversy that year over the west German military chaplaincy contract and possible nuclear armament by the Bundeswehr. This was the troubled atmosphere in which Praeses Kreyssig, on the last day of the Synod, read his appeal to found the Action for Reconciliation. Numerous attendees signed the appeal that evening.
The appeal not only expressed an admission of guilt, it also delineated concrete consequences. The Action for Reconciliation would not offer assistance, rather, would ask to help. This humble attitude was a rejection of any patronizing functionalization of the reconciliation thought process. The attitude was to signal the readiness to get involved — that is, to learn by doing and through dialogue — because the appeal relied on conversation, response and new action.
The Action for Reconciliation was initially founded as a Germany-wide organization, but the division of Germany made a joint effort impossible. The two German states therefore had two organizations with a common goal, albeit different emphasis in practice.
Kreyssig wollte seine Gründung "Aktion Versöhnungszeichen" nennen. Auf Anraten des Leiters der Evangelischen Akademie Berlin Erich Müller-Gangloff hieß sie dann aber "Aktion Sühnezeichen", weil "Versöhnung erst die Frucht der Bereitschaft zur Sühne und zur Vergebung sei" (K.Weiß: Lothar Kreyssig Prophet der Versöhnung, 1998, S.336)
Unter diesem Namen wurde in Berlin, Jebenstr. 1 neben dem Konsistorium der EKU, deren Präses Kreyssig war, das Büro der Aktion eingerichtet. (G.Kammerer: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste, 2008, S.38).
Lothar Kreyssig war ihr Leiter bis zum Mauerbau 1961. Danach war die Verwaltung der EKU-Ost und das Büro von Sühnezeichen-Ost im Grüberhaus in der Bischofstraße 6-8, neben der Marienkirche(K.Weiß, a.a.O. S.374).
In Westberlin und in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland wurde Sühnezeichen seit 1961 von Erich Müller-Gangloff und Franz v. Hammerstein geleitet.(G.Kammerer, a.a.O. S.101).Die Arbeit der Sommerlager in der DDR geschah unter dem Dach des Diakonischen Werks.(G.Kammerer, a.a.O. S.102)
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Mit der Vereinsgründung für die Bundesrepublik 1968 wurde auch der Name geändert in "Aktion Sühnezeichen-Friedensdienste".. In der DDR blieb der Name "Aktion Sühnezeichen" bis zur Vereinigung der beiden Hälften zu einem Verein erhalten. Ab 1.Mai 1991 galt dann nur noch der Name "Aktion Sühnezeichen-Friedensdienste"(G.Kammerer, a.a.O. S.109; S.222-226).
ARSP in western Germany
Die Aktion Sühnezeichen began its work in 1959 with construction projects in the Netherlands and Norway and later, with projects in other countries. Volunteers helped build a synagoge in Villeurbanne and the Church of Reconciliation in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, in Burgundy, France. They helped build a kindergarten in Skopje in the former Yugoslavia, helped install a water irrigation system on Crete, and helped create an international symbol of reconciliation from the ruins of Coventry Cathedral in England. Work in Israel began in 1961, after the Adolf Eichmann trial was concluded. From the mid-1960s, the projects slowly changed. There was ever less construction work, but new projects emerged for memorials, for work with the elderly, and social work. By the 1980s, with World War II fading into the past, there were additional projects working with minority groups.
ASZ in eastern Germany
Die DDR-Regierung verhinderte von Anfang an die Aussendung ostdeutscher Freiwlliger. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) considered itself to be an anti-fascist state, it did not consider itself responsible for the consequences of German fascism. Therefore, the projects of the ASZ were initially limited to the GDR. In 1965 and 1966, volunteers were still able to travel with Catholic chaplains from Magdeburg to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Stutthof, Groß-Rosen and Breslau. By 1967 and 1968, further trips to memorial sites in Poland and Czechoslovakia were not permitted, despite invitations being sent to the state visa refusal. With the introduction in 1972 of visa-free travel between the GDR and Poland and Czechoslovakia, young German were able to take part in summer camps in Poland. By then, Polish and Czech young people were also embarking on missions in the GDR. From this time on, reconciliation groups were involved in the preservation and restoration of Jewish cemeteries in almost every region of the GDR. The first group to work at Buchenwald was in 1979. Starting in 1981, the number of summer camps expanded to include Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück, and Nordhausen-Dora. From 1962 till 1992, over 12,000 volunteers took part in the summer camps from ASZ.
Reunification
After reunification, the two eastern and western organizations merged, retaining their different forms of voluntary service, the long-term service of the ARSP and the short-term service and summer camps of the ASZ. Like the European Voluntary Service, since the late 1990s, the ARSP has increased the number of project sites to respond to changing need and new opportunities.
From Wikipedia’s article on Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5