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MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
ARTHUR WARSANY 1884 - 1964  

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Prior to 1914 Britain and Germany were seen by many as two of the most similar countries in Europe. Thousands of Germans travelled over to Britain to work and a similar number of British people could be found working in the major German cities. With the start of the war, those with temporary contracts and without roots in the country went home, but for many who had started families and had a connection to their adopted country, the war left them in a difficult position.

Arthur Warsany was one of these men. He had been born and raised in London to German parents, Charles and Ottillie. Due to his ancestry and his surname, he would have faced significant harassment and discrimination in the increasingly hostile environment of the early years of the war. When Conscription was introduced in 1916, Arthur would make his stand as a conscientious objector to military service on two grounds - his German ancestry and his Christian faith.

Arthur applied for exemption to the Sidcup Tribunal. Unlike many of the Conscientious Objectors who applied for absolute exemption due to their German roots, Arthur had spent significant time in Germany, having been sent away to school there from childhood to the age of 18. Though he had been living in London since 1903, he still clearly felt a great deal of connection to Germany and argued at his Tribunal that he had “German principles and German ideals. I have too much German Kultur to go and fight against them”.

With extended family, friends and close relations serving overseas in the German army, Arthur felt that he would not be forced into a position where he would have to murder or help to murder, his friends just because they were wearing a different kind of uniform.

Arthur was also a committed Christian and added to his application for absolute exemption that his religious principles forbade him from taking an active part in the war, that he had “a deep religious feeling that it was wrong to take human life... it is the consciousness of religion itself” and that he held to “no creed but my conscience, which is God’s voice”.

While his exemption was refused, Arthur had put a very personal face on the “International” motivation that many COs held as their reason for refusing war. Going beyond the fact that Arthur’s relatives would have literally been serving in the German army, many COs felt that people of all nations were their brothers, arguing passionately that war should not set people of different countries against each other. Arthur said that he would “not take up arms for any nation”, a strong commitment to a universal pacifism that knew no arbitrary international boundaries.

There are few records surviving which could tell us what happened to Arthur after his application for exemption was refused. We do know that after the war he continued to live in Kent, and died in 1964.

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Arthur Warsany
Arthur in France 1918

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CO DATA

Born: 1884
Died: 1964
Address: Kenmare, Hatherly-Crescent, Sidcup
Tribunal:
Prison:
HO Scheme:
CO Work:
Occupation: Manufacturers Agent


 


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