Florian Pfaff

Florian Pfaff (b. 1957 in Munich) is an officer in the Bundeswehr (German Military) who has become well known as a result of his conscientious objection.

After some controversial missions of the Bundeswehr, he became a pacifist and finally refused, on 20 March 2003, to participate indirectly in the Iraq war. After a week long psychiatric assessment (which was ordered on 20 March 2003) which resulted in no pathological diagnosis, he was ordered by his superior officers to stop examining whether he was participating in crimes. He refused to comply. The attempt of the leadership of the Bundeswehr to discharge him without notice failed as well. On 21 June 2005, Florian Pfaff was exonorated by the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court). His demotion which had been imposed by the Truppendienstgericht (military service senate) but which never came into effect was quashed. The state prosecutor stopped their investigation (into refusal to obey and disobedience) against him. Since that time, Florian Pfaff has been active in the peace movement. He published an internal memo of the Bundeswehr, that called for influencing soldiers towards ignoring Article 26 of the German Grundgesetz (GG; forbidding the preparation for a war of aggression) and §80 German Penal Code (StGB; detailing the penalties for this crime) in the case of an illegal war of aggression.

He holds the view that the universal application of human rights and the priority of the rule of law and morality over power can only be achieved by non-violent and democratic means and that each and everyone must personally and consistently avoid committing crimes against this. In his opinion the first step towards peace is truth and the best method is to uncover evidence for the lies created for the purpose of making war. He is collecting and publishing (e.g. in presentations) evidence of such lies which are used to commit (or incite) politically motivated crimes. The judgement of the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (German administrative court) of 21 June 2005 has since been cited in a number of other cases and has led to the exoneration of many others who are opposed to the war in Iraq.