Swarthmore College Peace Collection, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081 U.S.A.

Julius Eichel

Papers, 1917-1980; 1.75 linear feet (53 centimeters)

Document Group: DG 131

Provenance:
: Donor/Depositor: Julius Eichel, Seymour Eichel

Received: 1977, 1981, 1982

Restrictions: No

Microfilm: No

Finding Aids: Checklist prepared by Martha P. Shane (March 1982), updated by Wendy E.: Chmielewski (June 1999)
This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Historical Introduction

Julius Eichel (1896-1989) was an absolutist conscientious objector and pacifist imprisoned during both World Wars for his beliefs. He was "a conscientious objector not only to war, but to the extension of the Government's control over the convictions of the individual." He opposed the "crushing of individual conscience by majority rule or legal interpretation" and believed that "conscience without individuals sacrificing for it simply cannot exist."

Eichel, born in 1896 in Austria, came to the United States in 1899. In 1917, both he and his brother David refused to comply with any requirements of the Conscription Act. A military tribunal sentenced them to 20 and 30 years respectively. Julius Eichel spent the next 18 months in the Tombs in New York City and in internment camps in Fort Jay, Camp Upton, Governor's Island, Fort Leavenworth, and Fort Douglas. During these years he refused to cooperate with any compulsory actions other than his own personal needs. Eichel was sometimes sentenced to solitary confinement and bread and water rations.

In 1928 Eichel married. Two years later he and his wife Esther became parents to a son, Seymour (who was himself imprisoned in 1956 for his beliefs). The Eichels ran a small chemists business in New York City. In 1942, Eichel again refused to register for the draft, was tried in a civilian court ,and sent to prison for two weeks.

During World War II ,Julius Eichel started the Absolutist War Objectors Association. This organization was founded on the principle of total opposition to war, conscription and regimentation. Eichel edited its newspaper The Absolutist whose motto read "The health of the nation is periled if one man be oppressed." Together Julius and Esther founded Friends and Families of Imprisoned Conscientious Objectors. Both of these organizations repeatedly urged immediate and unconditional release of all imprisoned objectors and attempted to help and encourage CO's in prison.

Before and during World War II, Julius Eichel carried on a lengthy correspondence with fellow absolutist conscientious objector, William James Sidis (1899-1944). Sidis and Eichel attempted unsuccessfully to establish the Volunteer Urban Self-Supporting Project (VUSP). The VUSP was intended to provide an alternative to Civilian Public Service, which they considered to be war-related, and therefore unacceptable. Neither man would condone any action that abrogated a citizen's freedoms under the Bill of Rights.

Julius Eichel was also very active in and wrote for the War Resisters League (DG 40) and other peace-related organizations. He continued to champion the rights of the individual from government oppression both in the United States and abroad by writing to officials, writing editorials, speaking, and taking part in peace marches.

In 1947 both Eichels were honored by the Friends and Families of Imprisoned Conscientious Objectors. In 1976 Julius Eichel was given the War Resisters League Sixteenth Annual Peace Award.

Arrangement

Julius Eichel organized and arranged the one box of William James Sidis material with the aid of a researcher. All other material was organized by the staff of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. Correspondence (apart from the Sidis material) was placed together in Series II in chronological order.

Copies of The Absolutist and theWeekly Prison News Letter were removed to the Peace Collection's periodical collection. Mail from other organizations in Series VIII is not in any order. Newspaper clippings were photocopied for preservation purposes.

Scope and Contents

The papers of Julius Eichel contain some of his writings, such as the descriptions of his prison experiences during World War I, statements of his philosophy as an absolutist conscientious objector, and articles for various periodicals of the War Resisters League.

Almost one third of the Eichel papers is correspondence (1917-1980). There is family correspondence between Eichel, his brother David, and their parents when both young men were imprisoned during World War I. The collection also contains material about William James Sidis. Sidis corresponded and worked with Eichel during World War II and the years preceding that war. This series includes many periodicals edited by Sidis for small organizations he started during this period, as well as articles about Sidis written after his death in 1944.

The Eichel collection also includes personal memorabilia about honors bestowed on Julius Eichel and his wife Esther, his 80th birthday party, and newsclippings about Julius. There are writings by other CO's, as well as a clipping collection and unsorted mail from other organizations.

Correspondents include Ernest and Marion Bromley, David and Betty Dellinger, William N. Doty, Eichel family members, Harold Fackert, Paul Comly French, Larry Gara, Anna Melissa Graves, John Haynes Holmes, William M. Kantor, Erling Lunde, Alice Niles Lynd, Albon Man, William James Sidis, Abraham Sperling, Lyle Tatum, and Evan W. Thomas.

Checklist

Series I. Writings and statements by Julius Eichel

Box 1

Dated writings (1941-1978): "Personal History of a Conscientious Objector" (1942)
"Leavenworth Mutiny" (1973)
"The Judge Said 'Twenty Years'" (1981)
Undated writings
Series II. Correspondence (1917-1980)
Box 1 (continued)
Correspondence

Box 2
Correspondence

Series III. William James Sidis material
Box 3
Correspondence (1933-1946)
Newsletters edited by William Sidis (1936-1944)
Posthumous biography (3 pages) of William Sidis by Julius Eichel (1944)
Correspondence re: William Sidis between Julius Eichel and Abraham Sperling (1945)
Articles about William Sidis (1978)
Series IV. Organizations founded by Julius Eichel
Box 4
Series V. Personal
Box 4 (continued)
Enlistment records
Honors/Tributes/Reunions
80th Birthday Party (1976)
Clippings about Julius Eichel
Series VI. Writings about Conscientious Objection
Box 4 (continued)
"A Conscientious Objector is Born" by William Kantor (n.d.) "Facing a Test of Faith: Jewish Pacifism during the Second World War" by Michael Young (1975)
Series VII. Newsclippings collected by Julius Eichel
Box 4 (continued)

Series VIII. Mail from other organizations

Box 4 (continued)

See also:
CDG-A New York Bureau of Legal Advice (in SCPC)
CDG-A William Kantor (in SCPC)
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