Cases of far-right extremism on the rise in German military
April 12, 2018
An increase in suspected far-right incidents within the German army, the Bundeswehr, has prompted the opposition Left party to demand that commanders "dry out the brown sump." More than 400 cases are under investigation.
Image: picture-alliance/W. Rothermel
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Cases of far-right extremism within the German armed forces have almost doubled, according to a report published Thursday by newspapers belonging to the Funkemedia group, citing a Defense Ministry response to a parliamentary question tabled by the opposition Left party.
The German military's internal intelligence agency, the Militärische Abschirmdienst (MAD), is currently investigating 431 cases, compared with 275 at this point last year. Twenty-three new cases have arisen since the start of 2018 on top of 289 cases from last year, plus older cases predating 2017.
The opposition Left party's internal affairs spokeswoman, Ulla Jelpka, told the Funke group: "The Bundeswehr has a far-right extremist problem."
She added, however, that "more and more" soldiers are no longer willing to silently tolerate the "far-right behavior of their comrades" and appealed for support for whistleblowers.
"Instead of closing its eyes, the federal government must at long last take necessary measures, and dry out the brown sump," Jelpka said.
Bundeswehr scandals: Von der Leyen on the defensive
For German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, 2017 has so far been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. She's had to weather numerous Bundeswehr scandals and is under fire for not supporting her own troops.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Sauer
Von der Leyen under fire
Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen wanted to show she's not blind to problems among her own troops. In light of the most recent scandal, she openly criticized army leadership, saying the Bundeswehr had an "attitude problem." But Bundeswehr officials found her comments to be outrageous. Their response to the defense minister's criticism: "Leadership goes from the top down."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fischer
A fake Syrian refugee
The story causing the uproar: Bundeswehr lieutenant Franco A. was allegedly planning a terrorist attack and led a double life, pretending to be a Syrian refugee. He was granted partial asylum status as a war refugee in December 2016. His alleged goal: another attack blamed on a refugee. Bundeswehr officials are said to have known about Franco A.'s right-wing tendencies since 2014, but did nothing.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Rumpenhorst
Abuse in Bad Reichenhall mountain rangers unit
The Bundeswehr is currently investigating 275 cases of suspected right-wing extremism. But they're also dealing with other types of scandals. In March 2017, the public learned about the case of a lance corporal who had suffered months of abuse in a Bavarian mountain rangers unit. The victim reported being threatened and sexually harassed in 2015 and 2016. Prosecutors investigated 14 people.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Hoppe
Female recruits forced to pole-dance
The biggest scandal of von der Leyen's term so far: the horror stories coming out of the Staufer army base in Pfullendorf. In January, it was revealed that superior officers there forced recruits to undress and perform sexually-motivated acts and filmed them. Female recruits were forced to pole dance as part of an "entrance exam." The top Bundeswehr training commander was fired as a result.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Warnack
Many cases of right-wing extremism investigated
According to a report from Germany's federal parliamentary commissioner for the Bundeswehr, Hans-Peter Bartels, 2016 wasn't a great year for the Bundeswehr, either. There were around 60 incidents related to alleged right-wing extremism or "violations against the bases of Germany's free democratic constitutional structure." Troops shared anti-Semitic images and music or did the Nazi salute.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Sauer
Death on board the Gorch Fock
The Bundeswehr wasn't immune to scandals before von der Leyen became defense minister in December 2013. One that garnered significant public attention was the death of a 25-year-old recruit on the Navy training vessel Gorch Fock in 2010. The woman fell from the rigging during an exercise. As a consequence, other cadets refused to climb the rigging. Officer training on the ship was suspended.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Rehder
The birth of the Bundeswehr
Directly after World War II, Germany was not allowed to have an army. The Bundeswehr had its start in West Germany in 1955. After reunification, the Bundeswehr took in 20,000 soldiers from East Germany's armed forces. A big change came in 1999, when the Bundeswehr first participated in an international conflict: the Kosovo War. Before that, they had only gone abroad for peacekeeping missions.
Image: picture alliance/akg-images
No more mandatory service
Today the Bundeswehr has roughly 178,200 active soldiers. As of March 2017, 11.4 percent of them are women. Until 2011, men were required to do mandatory military service, the length of which varied between nine and 18 months. Today, the Bundeswehr has to appeal to young people to recruit soldiers. The most recent scandals are making that that more and more difficult.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Sauer
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Commanders appear to be overly lenient, Jelpka said: "Those who scribble swastikas must be sacked, and he should not again end up with a weapon in his hands."
The Bundeswehr must exercise zero tolerance in its ranks toward neo-Nazis and Reichsbürger, Jelpka insisted, referring to a movement averse to Germany's democratic order.
The latest figure is significantly higher than the 162 documented last year by the German parliament's armed forces commissioner, Hans-Peter Bartels, of the Social Democrats (SPD), German news agencies noted in unison.
Bartels documented cases where individual soldiers had shouted Hitler slogans, carved Swastikas in table tops and listened to far-right music.
Funke Media's DerWestern website went to great lengths on Thursday to cite two cases in Bartel's report, saying investigations had been discontinued.
One soldier, it said, had described refugees as a scourge requiring "eradication," during a Bundeswehr political education seminar.
Another had told subordinates that on deployment to Mali they would "shoot Africans heads off," according to Bartels report.
Germany's Bundeswehr currently has 180,000 active-duty solders, including 61, 000 in its army ranks, 28,000 in its air force, and some 16,000 in its navy.
It also has 39,000 civilian administrative personnel. Its combined ranks include 21,000 women soldiers.
