Call to action: Defend against conscription on 20 February 2026

11 February 2026

On Friday, 5 December 2025, we stood on the streets of Hamburg with 5,000 school and university students, and 50,000 nationwide, to demonstrate against the introduction of the new military service law. On the same day, the law to modernise military service was introduced anyway. Since the new year, medical examinations have been mandatory for all young men born in 2008 or later. The announced lottery procedure in case of too few volunteers was also decided upon. It is clear to us that this paves the way for compulsory military service.

Since then, however, a strong student movement has continued to grow, which we as students and as Asta expressly support and declare our solidarity with. We are all affected by conscription; students too may soon have to do military service instead of determining their own future. We also know that the billions spent on militarisation and war preparations are made possible by cuts in all social areas and are directly linked to the ongoing cuts at our universities. The fight against fascism and war also means fighting for good working conditions, for the full funding of all educational institutions, for student grants for all and well-paid apprenticeships.

We therefore call on all students and employees of the University of Hamburg to join the second school strike against compulsory military service on 20 February!