Section II Community Life
Article 119
Marriage, as the foundation of family life and of the maintenance and increase of the nation, is under the special protection of the Constitution. It is based on the equal rights of both sexes.
The maintenance of the purity, the health, and the social advancement of the family is the task of the state and of the municipalities. Families with numerous children have a claim to equalizing assistance.
Motherhood has a claim to the protection and care of the State.
Article 120
The physical, mental, and moral education of their offspring is the highest duty and the natural right of parents, whose activities are supervised by the political community.
Article 121
Illegitimate children shall be provided by law with the same opportunities for their physical, mental, and moral development as legitimate children.
Article 122
Youth shall be protected against exploitation as well as against neglect of their moral, mental, or physical welfare. The necessary arrangements shall be made by state and municipality.
Compulsory protective measures may be ordered only by authority of the law.
Article 123
All Germans have the right of meeting peaceably and unarmed without notice or special permission.
Previous notice may be required by national law for meetings in the open, and such meetings may be forbidden in case of immediate danger to the public safety.
Article 124
All Germans have the right to form associations or societies for purposes not contrary to the criminal law. This right can not be limited by preventive measures. The same provisions apply to religious associations and societies.
Every association has the right of incorporation in accordance with the civil law. No association may be denied this right on the ground that it pursues a political, social-political, or religious object.
Article 125
The liberty and secrecy of the suffrage are guaranteed. Details will be regulated by the election laws.
Article 126
Every German has the right to petition or to complain in writing to the appropriate authorities or to the representatives of the People. This right may be exercised by individuals as well as by several persons together.
Article 127
Municipalities and unions of municipalities have the right of self-government within the limits of the laws.
Article 128
All citizens without distinction are eligible for public office in accordance with the laws and according to their ability and services.
All discriminations against women in the civil service are abolished.
The principles of the official relation shall be regulated by national law.
Article 129
Civil officers are appointed for life, in so far as is not otherwise provided by law. Pensions and provisions for surviving dependents will be regulated by law. The duly acquired rights of the civil officers are inviolable. Claims of civil officers based upon property rights may be established by process of law.
Civil officers may be suspended, temporarily or permanently retired, or transferred to other positions at a smaller salary only under the legally prescribed conditions and forms.
A process of appeal against disciplinary sentence and opportunity for reconsideration shall be established. Reports of an unfavorable character concerning a civil officer shall not be entered in his official record, until he has had the opportunity to express himself. Civil officers shall also be permitted to inspect their official records.
The inviolability of the duly acquired rights and the benefit of legal processes for the establishment of claims based on property rights are also assured especially to regular soldiers. In other respects their position is regulated by national law.
Article 130
The civil officers are servants of the whole community, not of a part of it.
To all civil officers freedom of political opinion and of association are assured.
The civil officers receive special representation in their official capacity in accordance with more precise provisions of national law.
Article 131
If a civil officer in the exercise of the authority conferred upon him by law fails to perform his official duty toward any third person, the responsibility is assumed by the state or public corporation in whose service the officer is. The right of redress [by the state or public corporation] against the officer is reserved. The ordinary process of law may not be excluded.
Detailed regulations will be made by the appropriate law-making authority.
Article 132
Every German, in accordance with the laws, has the duty of accepting honorary offices.
Article 133
All citizens are obliged, in accordance with the laws, to render personal services to the state and the municipality.
The duty of military service will be defined in accordance with the provisions of the national defense law. This will determine also how far particular fundamental rights shall be restricted in their application to the members of the armed forces in order that the latter may fulfill their duties and discipline may be maintained.
Article 134
All citizens, without distinction, contribute according to their means to the support of all public burdens, as may be provided by law.