Publisher of major German daily uses "hardship in training" to minimize resurgent Wehrmacht veneration

When the story of the fake Syrian refugee who was an active German army officer broke, the media had a field day.  And when the defense minister stated that the German military had "an attitude problem", all the stops came out.

How dare she accuse all German soldiers, the outrage went. Are we not always told sweeping generalizations are dumb? There are criminal refugees, but we are not accusing all, right?

The latter, a version of the bad apple argument, is also an apples and oranges comparison.

Refugees don't have tanks, planes and guns and are not being paid to go to Afghanistan or other countries and kill people. Refugees are not an "essential part of state power", as the friends of the military call the armed forces.

The defense secretary criticized the attitude of the Bundeswehr towards the presence of nationalist, Nazi venerating, right wing blood and honor members in its ranks.

Of the many who came to the defense of the German military across the political spectrum, from conservatives to social democrats and greens, one OpEd by a publisher of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) stood out.

Calling the debate sweeping and exaggerated, the man went: The Bundeswehr does not have an "attitude problem". There may well be one on the part of politicians. If you send German soldiers into crisis areas and wars, you have to prepare them - and yourself - for the hardship that awaits them there. *

How should we interpret this statement?

Basically, that having the kind of undesirables and the hazing and brutality the defense secretary did not want to be seen covered up by the institution is part and parcel of the 21st century German military.

Calling the Bundeswehr the most democratic military Germany has ever had sounds good, as does the cautionary note we cannot let the Bundeswehr become a home for extremists and sadists of all kinds.

But it is the "of all kinds" that gives away the game. There are no extremists in the German military that you could call, well, left wing or anarchist or other kinds than extreme right or purely sadist. Next comes the often heard excuse that suspending the draft in favor of an all volunteer force may be one reason for a shift in the quality of the personnel. The suspension occurred in 2011, which really means that almost all current officers of the ranks of captain and above have had most of their careers in the conscript army. And it is those superiors who failed to avoid a slew of recent scandals.

The publisher derides the “fantasy image” of the Bundeswehr “as a kind of missionary military that spreads the gospel of the German constitution so that the German spirit shall heal the world.”

He goes on: Because the Bundeswehr has to teach its recruits to fight and kill … it must be able to go to the limits of what is permissible in terms of hardship in training its fighting units.

And he ends with a sweet: If you don't see cohesion and pride in the military as desirable but as negative,  you might as well dissolve it.

Which seems like a great idea to the blogster.

The fact of the matter is, not a single one of Germany's neighbors shows any appetite to go to war in Europe. There even is a joint Franco-German brigade, where Germans serve under French officers and vice versa. Unfortunately, that's where the fake refugee served. And neither does Russia, in case you haven't noticed. Ukraine is a different issue.

This OpEd came before the arrest of a second officer and before the defense minister ordered all German military installations be searched for Nazi and Wehrmacht memorabilia.

The publisher has been silent since, but another long time journalist of FAZ took up the effort, calling this measure "an exorcism".
The Bundeswehr was established by Wehrmacht officers, and it used and continued o develop their equipment and their training methods. Like the Bundeswehr, the Wehrmacht did not come out of nothing. If only resistance is deemed a worthy tradition, why do the generals submit to this farce?**

Is he calling for resisting the hunt for Nazi memorabilia?

The education of Germany's young men in the spirit on non-aggression may have worked a little too well. Once upon a time, the blogster was part of a delegation that inspected nuclear weapons storage facilities in Germany. Having climbed up the steel tube of a watchtower, we were among a couple of German conscript guards.

One of the tower windows had a bullet hole.

Taped on the glass next to the hole was a clipping from a German newspaper article. It described conscripts as cannon fodder.

The blogster smiled.

It seems that being highly critical of an institution while honoring the individuals, especially those drafted or coerced to serve is not well understood and accepted. 


* Orig: Die Bundeswehr hat kein „Haltungsproblem“. Es scheint eher auf Seiten der Politik zu bestehen. Wer deutsche Soldaten und Soldatinnen in Krisen und Kriege schickt, muss sie – und sich – auf die Härte vorbereiten, die sie dort erwartet.  

** Orig: Die Bundeswehr ist von Wehrmachtsoffizieren aufgebaut worden und hat noch jahrzehntelang ihre Ausrüstung und Ausbildungsmaximen genutzt und weiterentwickelt. Wie die Wehrmacht entstand auch die Bundeswehr nicht aus dem Nichts. Wenn nur Widerstand traditionsbildend sein soll – warum machen dann die Generäle diesen Spuk mit?

[Update 5/10/2017] Spelling & minor formatting fixes.