Legal status. In contrast to the position within the UK, there was no formal provision for conscientious objectors and review panels. Under article 68 of the German constitution during war, executive authority lay with the military command. Traditional religious objectors were more readily recognised than those objecting on other philosophical or political grounds. Most of those objecting on such principles as these were either sent to mental asylums or prison. The probably best known of these was Ernst Friedrich who identified as a radical anarchist socialist. Such was the common sense of unfairness at the British war against Germany that many previously pacifist inclined supported what they saw as defensive violence. https://theconversation.com/anthill-31-world-war-i-remembered-podcast-106498; http://www.abolishwar.org.uk/uploads/1/6/6/2/16622106/german_resistance_to_world_war_one_-_english_version.pdf.
Christian objectors The dominant sense of national loyalty meant that even long standing pacifist sensitivities within minority churches were muted. It is reported that only some 30 Seventh Day Adventists and another 40 International Bible Students( Jehovah’s Witnesses) were active in opposition.
Some Roman Catholic criticism of the war emerged amongst Bavarian priests in mid 1917.