The discussion about animal rights in German (under some aspects even in Austrian and Dutch) history

Speech given at the Animal Rights Conference Luxembourg,20. 5. 2011 by Renate Brucker 

Demands for Penal Reforms/ Against Death

Punishment/ Sensibility for Men and Animals

1764 Cesare Beccaria, On crimes and punishments.

Karl Ferdinand Hommel (1722-1781)

(“The German Beccaria”)

Animal cruelty was penally sanctioned 1765/66

Magnus Schwantje (1877 – 1959)

1907 “Society for the Empowerment of Animal Protection and Related Issues”, Berlin (model: The Humanitarian League, London)

1912 – 1915 Monthly Review “Ethische Rundschau”

1919 - 1934 “Federation for Radical Ethics”

Sept. 1933 Columbia House, 1934 Flight to Switzerland

Reverence for life

• First published by Magnus Schwantje in 1908

• Ascription to Albert Schweitzer

• Stronger concept with Schwantje

Radical Ethics

• Latin: radix = root means to fight violence, war, injustice, inhumanity, death punishment, social/economic suppression,

• Radical Animal Protection (= Animal Rights): empowerment of compassion fundamental principle of Radical Ethics

• - Vegetarianism• - Antivivisectionism• - Hunting for fun and cruel sports

Animal Rights

• Animals can suffer, so they can be subject of the right not to be affected (cf. Nelson)

• „Nature“ does not give advice for ethical decisions

• The false concept of the „struggle for life“ empowers social-darwinism, imperialism and social suppression

Magnus SchwantjePeace Activities:

Peace editions of the “Ethical Review”

“God bless all peoples”

1919 Cofounder of Federation of Opponents to Military Service (Bund der Kriegsdienstgegner - BdK)

Member of the DFK (Deutsches Friedenskartell)

Publications (“The Right to Apply Violence”)

Related EndeavoursAntivivisection/ Vegetarianism/Animal Rights

Peace/ War Resistance/ Non-Violence/

English-German Understanding/ Against Antisemitism

Punishment Law Reform/ Against Death Punishment

Child Protection and Youth Protection

Sexual Morals/ Women’s Issues/ Women’s Vote

Antialcoholism/ Housing and Living/ School Reform/ Freedom of Arts/

Against Debasing Handicapped Persons

Protection of Nature

Peace and non violence“As long as there are

slaughterhouses there will be battlefields”

Magnus Schwantje Johannes Ude

Bertha von Suttner Walter Hammer

Hans Paasche Leonard Nelson

Ludwig Quidde Clara Wichmann

International Federation for for Socialist Struggle (1917-1945)

• Founded as International Youth Federation by Leonard Nelson in 1917

• Most effective fight against Nazism in Germany

• Implementation of Animal Rights in the Political Program

• Fighting exploitation means vegetarianism

Leonard Nelson (1882-1927)

Animal do have rights! (Kant confounds subject of rights and of duties)Animals have interests but they can not care for themselves like some human beings But they have rights because they can be affected by others- Unity of Oppression of men and animals-Socialism has to include animals

VegetarianismEduard Balzer, Free Church Minister, Revolutionary of 1848, Founder of the first Vegetarian Society in Germany 1867

Gustav von Struve, Lawyer, Revolutionary of 1848Liberal politician, fighter in the Badenian liberty war together with his wife Author of the article “Rights of Man” in the Rotteck-Welcker DictionaryFighter against slavery in the American Sesession WarFounder of the Vegetarian Society Stuttgart 1868

Pacifists for Animal Rights and Vegetarianism

Ludwig Quidde 1909 (or earlier) World Federation for the Protection of Animals and Against Vivisection, leading Positions there for his lifetime.1927 Nobel Prize for Peace

Bertha von Suttner, Member of BfrE, published “Stop Cruelty”

Hans Paasche, Member BfrE, Pacifist, murdered 1920

Emil Julius Gumbel, Member of BfrE, Pacifist, exmitted from university 1930

Anarchists for Animal Rights

• Leo Tolstoi

• Elisée Reclus

• Pierre Ramus

• Clara Wichmann

• Herbert Müller-Guttenbrunn

• Franz Prisching

Clara Wichmann (1885-1922)

1913 Lawyer, 1914 Central Office of Statistics Den HaagUntil 1917 Chair of the Society for Women’s Right to Vote1919 Oprichtingsmanifest van het comite van actie tegen de bestaande opvattingen omtrent misdaad en straf (C.M.S.)1917 -1917 “Bond van Christen-Socialisten”1919 “Bond van Revolutionnair Socialistische Intellectueelen”1920 “Bond van Religieuze Anarcho-Communisten”

Clara Wichmann

“…het gaat om een grondige en innerlijke omzetting van der menschen verhouding tot de dieren. Om een om-wenteling van die oude gewoonte, de dieren te beschouwen als een zaak, aan Adam gegeven opdat hij er profijt en gemak van hebben zou.”

De rechtspositie der huisdieren, 1920