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Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a member of the famous military resistance group against the Nazi regime of July, 20th, 1944; he was killed by the SS in KZ Flossenbürg. He saw the signs of the times, he stood up against racism and oppression, he fought for freedom, justice and peace. At the age of 25 - in 1931 - he delivered his first peace ethic document directed against Nazi ideology in politics and within the protestant church. His theological approach followed a social-oriented "Christian realism" as basis for action: international disarmament, good neighborhood in Europe and reconciliation between the enemies of the Great War. Bonhoeffer acted as youth secretary of the "International Council of Christian Peace Movements" in Geneva. He gave a prominent speech in 1934 in Fanø (Denmark) in which he demanded a fundamental concept of global peace to overcome racial, historical and social differences between nations; he urged representatives of politics and churches to make peace ("pacem facere"). (S+F/Pll)

ZusammenfassungDie evangelische Friedensethik und die Friedensgruppen in der evangelischen Kirche waren lange wichtige Faktoren für die Friedensbewegung in Ost wie West und für die Friedens- und Konfliktforschung. In der Folge der russischen Offensive in der Ukraine waren die Stellungnahmen der evangelischen Kirche allerdings vielstimmig und hatten wenig Resonanz im öffentlichen Raum. In diesem Essay werden ganz unterschiedliche Ursachen dafür ausgemacht. Zunächst kam das dominierende friedensethische Modell des Verantwortungspazifismus (legal pacifism) bei dieser Aggression an seine Grenze. Aber auch die schwindende öffentliche Relevanz der Kirchen generell und inner-organisationale Schwierigkeiten trugen dazu bei. Da sich die Mehrheit im protestantischen Bereich mit einer Ethik der rechtserhaltenden Gewalt zur Selbstverteidigung der Ukraine und überwiegend auch zu Waffenlieferungen bekennt, sind aus diesem Bereich keine Impulse für eine Friedensbewegungzu erwarten. Allerdings könnte von der innerprotestantischen Debatte Inspiration für den friedensethischen und -politischenDiskursausgehen.

The issue of the use of military force has been and remains the subject of controversial debate in Christian thinking. The fact of German rearmament brought forward two main Christian schools of thought which were irreconcilably opposed: on the one hand, those who, due to the still unredeemed world, deem it necessary to resort to military means in order to ensure peace if need be; and on the other hand, those who, in view of the message of the gospel, rejected all use of military force in the here and now. As an attempt to solve this conflict, it was suggested to refer to both positions as "complementary". Now, the debate is dominated by the question of responsibility to protect, combined with the issue of the legitimacy of the use of military force to protect groups of the population who are in danger. On this basis, the question arises to what extent complementarity can still be considered as a "silver bullet" of the peace ethics positioning. (S+F/Pll)