Hand and hitch-up services

In Germany 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 more contemporary (mandatory) municipal services (German: "Gemeindedienste") are allowed in some German States. In the 1950s in rural municipalities citizens were drafted for mandatory community service frequently, nowadays only small municipalities draft their citizens, like the town of Winsen an der Aller once a year.[1]

Legal Basis

Beside several state´s regulations Hand- und Spanndienste are backed by international agreements like the agreement on the Forced Labour Convention of the ILO of 1930. Following work services, amongst other exceptions, especially for military services, are exceptions of forced or compulsory labour:[2]

any work or service which forms part of the normal civic obligations of the citizens of a fully self-governing country;
any work or service exacted in cases of emergency, that is to say, in the event of war, of a calamity or threatened calamity, such as fire, flood, famine, earthquake, violent epidemic or epizootic diseases, invasion by: animal, insect 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. It was obliged for the citizens of the municipality to do certain physical work, which can be summarised under the historical terms Corvée or Socage. They were based in Germany on the Prussian municipal tax bill of 14 July 1893.[3]

There were different types of services:

Hand Services: The citizen must perform work with his own hand.
Hitch-up services (of hitching up draft animals): The person obliged to 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. This 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.) usually has been provided by the authorities.