COURAGE

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The Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS) was founded in April 1978 by Charter 77 signatories, although this organisation was independent from Charter 77. The aim of this organisation was to monitor cases of persons that were criminally prosecuted or kept in prison because of their beliefs or became victims of police and judicial despotism. VONS helped individuals facing persecution to obtain legal representation and acted as mediators in acquiring assistance of a financial or other nature. VONS informed the Czechoslovak and international public (e.g. via Radio Free Europe, Voice of America and the BBC) about these cases. Thus, VONS also tried to publicise “non-prominent” Czechoslovak persecuted dissidents, who were not so well-known. A number of VONS members were persecuted by the communist regime; some of them were kept in prison or were forced to emigrate. VONS was also active after November 1989, when it focused on amending the criminal code or preparing rehabilitation laws. In 1996 VONS suspended its activities for an indefinite period.

In 1859, in the region of the former Habsburg Empire, the Congregatio Austriaca came into being, and the Cistercian Abbey of Zirc was part of it. The Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart in 1918, and at the time, the Cistercians of Hungary had formed their own independent congregation to suit their particular circumstances. In 1923, Pope Pius XI established the Congregation of Zirc of the Cistercian Order, centred in Zirc with the Abbot of Zirc as its head. At the time, the following belonged to it: the abbey of Szentgotthárd, under the abbot of Zirc; also the monastic houses of Eger, Székesfehérvár, Pécs, Baja, Buda, and Előszállás, and the study house of Budapest. From 1947 to 1977, the American Spring Bank priory (located in Wisconsin, and as of 1963 an abbey), attended mostly by Hungarian Cistercians; from 1955 the priory of Dallas (an abbey as of 1963), founded by the Hungarian Cistercians; finally, in 1996, the abbey of the Cistercian sisters, The House of the Blessed Virgin at Kismaros, became a member of the Congregation of Zirc. After lengthy preparatory work, the constitution of the Congregation of Zirc was approved by the Holy See in 1941.

In Hungary, on 7 September 1950, the government prohibited the functioning of almost all the monastic orders, including that of the Cistercians. In 1989, when the monastic orders were again permitted to operate, the Congregation of Zirc needed a new constitution because of the changed circumstances, as there were two abbeys by then (Zirc and Dallas), and from 1996 a third abbey, that of Kismaros, which belonged to the Congregation. In 1991 and again in 2000, the Holy See approved the new constitution of the Congregation of Zirc. The president of the Congregation, its Abbot President, was always the abbot of Zirc, and the members of its general meetings and chapters were the governing abbots and the chosen delegates of the abbeys.

The GDR introduced conscription for all males in 1962. Apart from complete refusal to partake in military service, opting to become a construction soldier offered the only other possibility for unarmed service. Construction soldiers were distinguished by a small shovel on their uniforms and built military facilities, served as orderlies in hospitals, but also later as gardeners, kitchen assistants and finally, as laborers. Construction soldiers were often subject to harassment and their social prospects upon completing their military service were dismal.

The informal network of former construction soldiers offered an important and reliable basis for the peace movement, as well as a bloc which advocated for civil service (instead of military service) and peace education initiatives. Between 1964 and 1989, nearly 15,000 men had served in the National People’s Army as construction soldiers. Rainer Eppelmann (the last Defense Minister of the GDR; „Minister for Disarmament and Defense“), the future mayor of Leipzig, Wolfgang Tiefensee, the poet Bert Papenfuß and the songwriter Gerhard Schöne are among the most prominent former construction soldiers.