ProVeg Deutschland

• 1. Introduction

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  ProVeg Deutschland made headlines in over 25 countries in early February 2016, not with a policy announcement, but with a fake restaurant. A fictional Swiss eatery called La Table Suisse appeared to offer cats and dogs for consumption. The backlash on social media was swift. By mid-February, ProVeg and two partner organisations revealed the episode as a deliberate provocation. The goal was to make people question why some animals are food while others are kept as companions. That confrontational impulse has driven German vegetarian advocacy for generations. What began in Nordhausen in 1867 grew, by 2015, into the largest organisation for meat-free living in the German-speaking world.

• 2. Born in Nordhausen

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  Eduard Baltzer founded the Deutscher Verein für natürliche Lebensweise in the city of Nordhausen in 1867. The name translates as the German Association for a Natural Lifestyle. It was one of a series of vegetarian societies that began appearing across Germany during that era. On the 7th of June 1892, Baltzer's group merged with the Hamburger Vegetarierverein, or Hamburg Vegetarian Association. The result was the Deutscher Vegetarierbund, the German Vegetarian League, formally constituted in Leipzig. Its founding purpose was to drive a significant reduction in meat consumption throughout Germany. The early members connected this dietary shift to broader problems in ecology and public health. The league's magazine bore the name Vegetarische Rundschau, meaning Vegetarian Review. Later it was renamed Vegetarische Warte, or Vegetarian Lookout.

  In 1932, vegetarians from many countries gathered in Oranienburg for a world conference. It would prove to be one of the last open gatherings the German movement would enjoy for many years.

• 3. Dissolution and Division

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  On the 18th of February 1935, the German vegetarian association formally dissolved itself. Nazi authorities had accused vegetarian organisations of promoting pacifism, treating the charge as a political threat. The member magazine had gone dark two years earlier, in 1933.

  Rebuilding began in 1946, once the war had ended. Germany's division into Allied occupation zones made a single national organisation structurally impossible. At the instigation of Adolf Briest, two clubs emerged. The Vegetarier-Union Deutschlands, or VUD, was founded on the 29th of May 1946 in Sontra near Kassel, in the American occupation zone. A second body, the Deutsche Vegetarier-Union or DVU, operated in the French occupation zone and continued into the 1970s.

  A new magazine called Der Vegetarier launched in 1956. That same year brought the establishment of the Deutscher Vegetarier-Rat, the German Vegetarian Council. Local branches spread across West Germany in the years that followed.

  In 1973, the VUD merged with the Freundeskreis der deutschen Reformjugend, beginning a long process of consolidation under an ever-simpler name.

• 4. The VEBU Years

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  By 2008, the organisation had adopted its simplest name yet: Vegetarierbund Deutschland, abbreviated to VEBU. That year, the membership stood at just 2,500. What followed was a striking turnaround. By 2012, the count had reached 7,000. By 2013, it crossed 10,000. By 2015, it stood at 14,000. One catalyst was a 2012 absorption: VEBU took in the Vegetarische Gesellschaft Stuttgart, a group co-founded by Gustav Struve in 1868. VEBU drew its income from membership fees, donations, and licensing fees for the European Vegetarian Union's V-Label. Since May 2014, the organisation has carried the seal of the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft, which requires transparency on staff structure and expenses.

  On the 22nd of April 2017, an extraordinary member assembly met in Berlin. The vote that day renamed the organisation ProVeg Deutschland and formally connected it to ProVeg International.

• 5. Campaigns and the V-Label

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  ProVeg holds the authority in Germany to award the V-Label, a certified seal for vegetarian and vegan products. Aldi-Süd began labeling selected products with the V-Label in 2014. The organisation runs several recurring campaigns to encourage plant-based eating across the country. The Thursday is Veggieday campaign promotes vegetarian and vegan food in restaurants and canteen catering each week. Each year, ProVeg invites participation in the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale, annual vegan cake campaign days, and meatout campaign days.

  Since 1999, the member magazine has appeared quarterly, first as Vebu Magazin and later as ProVeg Magazin. Each issue runs to 48 pages with around 16,000 copies in print. ProVeg and the Veggie Times co-produce a newspaper aimed at newcomers to plant-based living. A smartphone app helps users find vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants on the go. As of 2014, more than 200 regional contacts and groups served as local points of contact across Germany.

  VEBU organised the 38th World Vegetarian Congress in Dresden in 2008. Three years later, the first VeggieWorld fair opened in Wiesbaden in February 2011, billed as Europe's largest fair for the vegan lifestyle. Around 40 exhibitors joined more than 20,000 visitors. The fair has also been held in Düsseldorf since 2011. Celebrity guests at the supporting programme have included Attila Hildmann, Barbara Rütting, Marion Kracht, Ariane Sommer, and Anne Menden.

  Beyond Dresden and Wiesbaden, ProVeg also pursues a more conceptual kind of influence. The aim is to shift not just what people eat, but how they think about why they eat it.

• 6. Recognising Carnism

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  Social psychologist Melanie Joy is a partner in ProVeg's Karnismus erkennen project, which launched in autumn 2014. The title translates as Recognising Carnism. ProVeg runs it to bring public discussion of carnism to German audiences. When the La Table Suisse media action ran its course, ProVeg issued a joint press statement. Partners in that statement included Swissveg, the Swiss Association for Vegetarianism, and the Beyond Carnism association.

  Thomas Schönberger has served as president of ProVeg Deutschland since 1996. He publishes the ProVeg Magazin, the quarterly member magazine. ProVeg Deutschland also belongs to two international bodies: the European Vegetarian Union and the International Vegetarian Union.

  A dedicated press office represents ProVeg in national media. Among the organisation's stated goals is the global dissemination of research into how plant-based diets affect both climate and world hunger.