Christmas in Prison—World War I

December 15, 2008

So everyone but me seems to like the Christmas in the Trenches story set in 1914.

But I think there is a more moving story about World War I.  In April 1917, the United States joined the British, French and Russians in the war against Germany.   In the giddiness of the pro-war success, a conscription was instituted in September 1917 that provided for no exemptions.   People with “religious scruples” could, however, be non-combatants.   The excitement ran so high that when the Department of Justice ran so called “slacker raids” they were helped not only by local police, but private citizens as well. Anyone against the war effort was not only a “slacker,” they were called “yellowbacks” and “atheists.”  They were assumed to be foreigners, aliens.  People who merely refused to buy war bonds were tarred and feathered.  Feelings ran so high that many “peace churches” generally advised their members to register for the draft and accept noncombatant positions.

Yet some men, many who came or their parents came to the U. S. seeking freedom from conscription in the German, Russian, and other armies, stood up and said no not only to the war but to the military.  These men genuinely faced death sentences.

Over 500 men remained firm.  There were 17 death sentences (which were commuted), 142 life terms, and 345 sentences which averaged 16 ½ years.  Many of the sentences were handed down long after Armistice Day and the War was over.  While 185 of the sentences were eventually reduced, the last conscientious objector was released from prison in the 1930s.

The military prison conditions were grim and the treatment was brutal.  So brutal that a congressional investigation was held in 1919 where it was disclosed that it was common to force them to take cold showers in unheated rooms, and that they were beaten, fed only bread and water, and actually hanged by their thumbs for hours at a time.  One conscientious objector who refused to wear the military uniform was left standing buck-naked on the Kansas plains in the winter.  When he died of pneumonia, he was dressed in the uniform and sent home to his parents.  Seventeen conscientious objectors died in prison.

So I think of this as the real peace story for Christmas—Christmas 1917 when men suffered cruelly for saying no to killing.  These men did not say no for one night and then return to war.  They said no to war forever—even unto their own death.