Tamás Csapody (1960–) collected sources about conscientious objectors. As a dedicated pacifist and a member of the Bokor base community, he was familiar with theories on nonviolence. The question of passive resistance and conscientious objection has always been part of his life through his personal relationships and the acts he has committed in support of the elimination of the obligation to perform compulsory military service and the release of people imprisoned for refusing to perform compulsory military service.
From the outset of his work in support of this cause, he thought he would be able to help by documenting the problem and thus providing support for his arguments against compulsory military service in the form of authentic data and sources. This was his primary motivation. He was also interested in exploring the various ways in which one could pursue research on this subject. He focused on the political history of the refusal to perform compulsory military service, including its theoretical and theological aspects and international examples of movements for reform. His aim was to document his research and draw the attention of wider audiences to the issue. As the spokesman of the “Alba Kör” (Alba circle), Csapody had appearances on TV and radio programs, and he even made an amateur film based on interviews with conscientious objectors.
The constitution of the Hungarian People’s Republic declared military service an obligation of every Hungarian citizen. In the late 1970s, Károly Kiszely, a member of the Regnum Marianum base community, and József Merza, a member of the Bokor base community, were among the first objectors. Because they were Catholics and members of base communities, the party state paid more attention to members of small religious groups. From the mid-1970s, 33 Catholics (including 32 Bokor members, all of them men) refused to perform military service, and another 150 people committed an offense related to military service. The fundamental motivation for this act, which was a form of conscientious objection, was complex: it was an expression of their rejection of the omnipotence of the state, war, violence, and dictatorial, hierarchical systems.
Tamás Csapody was born in Sopron a city in western Hungary. In Sopron, he met Béla Simonyi, and through Simonyi, he learned about Bokor. Like other small communities, with some 10 or 12 members, Bokor held its meetings primarily in private residences, where they discussed the Bible or the writings of György Bulányi. Csapody joined Bokor, and later he himself organized communities.
Béla Simonyi and József Merza were arrested because they refused to do compulsory the military service. They were imprisoned in the city of Baracska. Meanwhile, Csapody waited for the result of his third university entrance exam when he got notice that he was being called up for military service. This was a major dilemma for him. He had to choose between attending university or taking a stand as a conscientious objector, which would mean prison time. He knew that if he were to opt for the latter: it would be impossible for him to pursue university studies. In the end, he chose to pursue university studies. He was aware of his own state and his own maturity, and he felt that his decision was in accord with the Bokor principles, according to which someone only had to undertake the ethical compulsion to serve prison time as a consequence of having defied the law as an expression of his or her beliefs if he or she were mature enough and would be psychologically and physically able to tackle this difficult challenge.
As an enlisted soldier, he spent 11 months in Kalocsa. In the army, he had many experiences which exerted a strong influence on him and became useful and even essential in his later activities as a protester. People could not claim that he was fighting against something with which he was totally unfamiliar. As he remarked in an interview done in 2017, “I know what the army is, and I know what militarism is, I know what a socialist army is. I felt it on my skin, in my body, in my soul. From the perspective of my later civil, pacifist activity, it was very important to see this organization from the inside.”
Beginning in the 1980s, this topic found expression in his life in different ways. He formed a close friendship with József Merza, and for almost 3 years he was the official contact person of another objector, Péter Orbán, who was also imprisoned. Károly Kiszely was a key figure for him and for every person affected by the law in question, because he was the first person to be sentenced, and he shared the experiences he had had with likeminded compatriots and gave them advice. Thanks to him, they knew a lot about how they had to behave in prison as Catholic people.
In 1987, he was called on to do military service again, but this time, he managed to persuade the authorities that he could perform civilian service instead of military service. The next turning point came in the mid-1980s when the democratic opposition became more and more active. Csapody and Merza attended meetings of the oppositional groups. Thanks to this, they began to grasp that “the doors can be opened,” and they also started to act in their own interests. This was the root of their later activism. The question of the fight to refuse to do compulsory military service became one of the issues for which the democratic oppositional groups fought, and some articles on the subject were published in the samizdat Beszélő.
They negotiated with the relevant authorities and submitted petitions. The individual protest grew into a movement in the early 1980s. The Dialógus békemozgalom, or Dialogue Peace Movement, was established in 1982, without the permission of the authorities. Its program included the introduction of the so-called “peace service” instead of military service. The next year, the state made it impossible for them to remain active. In 1988, Csapody and his likeminded compatriots organized the Network for East-West Dialogue in the Bibó István College. This functioned as an independent cell of the European Nuclear Disarmament (END) until it ceased to be active in 1988/89. The affected Bokor members organized a demonstration in Budapest in 1988. In their petition, which was given to the chair of the parliament, they asked for the introduction of some form of alternative service. In the end, the decision on this question was reached one year later.
Tamás Csapody participated in the formation of the Alba Kör, or Alba Circle, the aim of which was to bring an end to compulsory military service, and while striving to achieve this goal, in the meantime also to improve the circumstances of the people who had been imprisoned. They protested against the closed nature of the trials, where military judges adjudicated. This claim was supported by the opposition, because the process was seen as unlawful.
Alba Kör ceased to be active in 2000. The original aims either were no longer relevant or had not been achieved: in 1997, Hungary joined NATO, and in 2005 selective service was abolished. In parallel with the Alba Kör, the Hadkötelezettséget Ellenzők Ligája, or League Against Conscription pursued similar goals. Csapody was involved in this organization too. In his interview, he shared his opinion of these associations. He thinks that anti-war movements and groups are always necessary, because militarism, violence in everyday life, and the military budget at the government level give them an important role as a voice of opposition.
