Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, hand and hitch-up services (i.e. services of manual work and with hitched-up cart or more modern vehicles, german: Hand- und Spanndienste or ''Hand- und Zugdienste'') or more contemporary (mandatory) municipal services (German: "Gemeindedienste") are allowed in some

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

and German states. In the 1950s in rural

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, citizens were drafted for mandatory

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

frequently, but nowadays only small municipalities draft their citizens, like the German town of

Winsen an der Aller Winsen an der Aller () or Winsen (Aller) is a town in the district of Celle in the German state of Lower Saxony. Geography Winsen has around 12,900 inhabitants and lies on the southern perimeter of the Lüneburg Heath, on the banks of the Aller, ...

once a year or Bezau in Austria.

Legal basis

Beside several states' regulations, ''Hand- und Spanndienste'' are backed by international agreements like the agreement on the

Forced Labour Convention The Forced Labour Convention, the full title of which is the Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, 1930 (No.29), is one of eight ILO fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organization. Its object and purpose is to sup ...

of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

of 1930. The following work services, especially for military services, are exceptions of forced or compulsory labour: *any work or service which forms part of the normal civic obligations of the citizens of a fully

self-governing __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

country; *any work or service exacted in cases of emergency, that is to say, in the event of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, of a calamity or threatened calamity, such as

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

violent epidemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

epizootic diseases In epizoology, an epizootic (from Greek: ''epi-'' upon + ''zoon'' animal) is a disease event in a nonhuman animal population analogous to an epidemic in humans. An epizootic may be restricted to a specific locale (an "outbreak"), general (an "epi ...

, invasion by:

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

or vegetable pests, and in general any circumstance that would endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population; *minor communal services of a kind which, being performed by the members of the municipality in the direct interest of the said municipality, can therefore be considered as normal civic obligations incumbent upon the members of the municipality, provided that the members of the municipality or their direct representatives shall have the right to be consulted in regard to the need for such services.

History

Hand and hitch-up services in history were services for the reduction of municipal taxes. The citizens of the municipality were required to do certain physical work, which can be summarised under the historical terms

corvée Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year. Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...

socage Socage () was one of the feudal duties and land tenure forms in the Feudalism, English feudal system. It eventually evolved into the freehold tenure called "free and common socage", which did not involve feudal duties. Farmers held land in excha ...

. They were based in Germany on the Prussian municipal tax bill of 14 July 1893 and in Austria on state law regulations. There were different types of services: * Hand services: The citizen must perform work with his own hands. * Hitch-up services (of hitching up draft animals): The person must provide services with a team of horses or carriages (train cattle and dishes). * Shovel services: construction of buildings, construction of roads, ditches Hand and hitch-up services in history often have been done by the public. That was, for example, the setting of field bridges in the fields, the preservation of dams or even the construction of agricultural roads and local roads. The necessary materials (stones, wood, etc.) have usually been provided by the authorities.

Hand and hitch-up services today

Austria

Currently, the Austrian state of

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

is executing ''Hand- und Zugdienste'' on the level of the municipalities regularly. According to the respective municipal regulations, basically there are two versions of executing the mandatory services for the drafted citizens: in some municipalities the citizens can choose, if the participate on manual work for the community or if the prefer to pay additional taxes as a substitute to the compulsory community work. In other communities, the administration transfered the work to private companies, so every citizen, that is in age to be drafted, has to pay the additional substitute tax. By local law it is determined, who is obliged for ''Hand- und Zugdienste''-services. For example in

Bürserberg Bürserberg is a municipality in Austria in Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also h ...

, only one person per household is obliged to serve, in

Bezau Bezau is a town in the Bregenz Forest region, in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is part of the district of Bregenz. Bezau is a popular tourist destination around the year, due to its vicinity to ski resorts and hiking trails. Its p ...

all male citizens between the age of 18 and 60 years.

Germany

Even today, municipal regulations in Germany provide that municipalities may, under certain circumstances, oblige their inhabitants to carry out manual and hitch-up services, such as in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. They are public service obligations within the scope of the

German Constitution The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came in ...

and are not contrary to the prohibition of compulsory labor, if following conditions are fullfilled: * Conventionality: compulsory services are intended to reduce the payment of local taxes * Generality: in principle, every member of the municipality is obliged to bear the municipal burdens * Equality: every member of the municipality is obliged in the same way

References