Serenades for Hitler: neo-Nazism in the Bundeswehr
Lithuanian incident
The German military contingent in Lithuania is deployed as part of the Expanded Forward Presence mission. The Bundeswehr is engaged in a very important matter in the Baltic country - preparing the locals to resist the "Russian aggression". Apparently, this is a very difficult craft.
At the end of April, a platoon of the 92nd training tank grenadier battalion of the Bundeswehr settled in a hotel in the Lithuanian city of Rukla. Prior to that, the fighters took part in a multi-day exercise, after which they decided to loudly celebrate the return. The holiday was definitely a success, and the whole world learned about the misconduct of those present.
As it became known in mid-June, the soldiers' party turned out to be not an ordinary booze, but turned into a celebration of Hitler's birthday. German tank crews generously spiced up the festive program with sexual harassment of colleagues and fights. Spiegel magazine tactfully calls the episodes of the Lithuanian incident "violations of gender identity and discrimination against female soldiers on the basis of gender." It is likely dirty story I would have stayed within the walls of the hotel if one of the participants had not filmed what was happening on the phone. Including sexual harassment of sleeping comrades.
Source: isafmedia / flickr.com
German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has already spoken about what happened in the spirit of "this is unacceptable" and "all accomplices will be punished to the fullest extent."
The guilty platoon was recalled in disgrace from the Lithuanian business trip for further investigation. Interrogations have shown that in this unit they chant serenades in honor of Adolf Hitler and hound black soldiers. So, a fighter of Afghan origin was systematically humiliated, and on his personal weapons scratched out "whore".
It is worth remembering that these are representatives of an elite German unit that was sent to train soldiers of foreign armies. The face of the Bundeswehr, so to speak.
The German media cannot deny themselves the pleasure of mentioning the Russian trace in this story.
It turns out that the Kremlin's special services have been carrying out powerful disinformation work in the Baltics for a long time. According to Spiegel, one of such special operations was allegedly the accusation of Bundeswehr soldiers of raping a Lithuanian minor in 2017. A number of government officials received letters with accusatory materials, but the Lithuanian inspection in hot pursuit did not reveal anything. At least that's what the official version of the incident says.
A little over four years have passed. And the Bundeswehr has once again become famous for the sex scandal. Now in a racist setting.
Is this racist orgy another provocation from Moscow?
Ultra-right Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr, as part of German society, is very sensitive to changes in the political and social climate within the country. And if in Germany itself, ultra-right slogans are increasingly heard, then German servicemen cannot stand aside. Only now they differ from the rest by the presence of weapons and the ability to use them. From this and the thought of a radical solution to the issue of migrants.
An illustrative example is Senior Lieutenant Franko A., who prepared a massacre in a refugee camp in 2017. The most interesting thing is how he planned the attack. Without knowing a word of Arabic, the officer was able to convince the authorities that he was a Syrian refugee. He was granted temporary shelter, and only chance did not allow him to carry out the bloody plan. Franco A. hid the stolen pistol in the toilet cistern at the Vienna airport. The cleaning lady found the weapon and the police took the toilet under surveillance. In addition, the lieutenant managed to steal four firearms, more than 1000 cartridges and about 50 explosive devices. Everything suggests that the Bundeswehr officer was not going to arrange the massacre alone. So far, the alleged accomplices have not been captured.
The story of Franco A. is also significant by the "black list" that the terrorist kept. In it you can find the names of many politicians responsible, according to the officer, for the settlement of the country with migrants. 100% of German servicemen suspected of racism to one degree or another are ready for such a forceful solution to the issue of migrants. The overwhelming majority of the "sleeping cells" in the Bundeswehr so far only verbally express their far-right ideas. This is usually expressed in Nazi photo collages, swastika tattoos and serenade drinking for Hitler. But more and more serious evidence is emerging.
So, in early April, one of the units of the Bundeswehr missed 569 cartridges. Now they are finding out if they were stolen or if this is a statistical error. In any case, the incessant Nazi scandals in the German army could lead to the premature resignation of Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. She has been in office for almost two years and, according to the German media, is unable to cope with ultra-right radicals in the army. Slogans like “all Jews must be gassed” are increasingly common in the German army.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer may well become chancellor after Merkel. If he solves the problem of the ultra-right in the army. Source: wikipedia.org
Meanwhile, in Germany, it seems, its own "Nazi capital" is taking shape. No, this is not Nuremberg, as it might seem at first glance. This is Dresden. And to a greater extent this is due to the barbaric bombing of the city of the Allied aviation in February 1945. The "bombing holocaust" became the banner of the local far-right, under which sympathizers from all over Germany took refuge.
In 2019, nonsense happened in Dresden - a "Nazi emergency" was declared. The resolution with such a provocative name was approved by the city council. The authors assumed that the population would be protected from the attacks of the ultra-right. In particular, the local anti-Islamic movement PEGIDA - "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West" was famous for this. Although officially the activists of the organization are trying only to open the eyes of the Germans to the dominance of visitors from the countries of the Middle East and Africa. The program also includes the replacement of quantitative immigration with a qualitative one, a ban on entry for radicals and fanatics, strengthening of internal security in Germany and (attention!) An end to the incitement of war between Russia and other states. The city became famous also by the organization "Free Association of Dresden", which was banned in 2016. By the way, the city with a "Nazi emergency" in 2025 plans to become a European capital of culture.
Spectrum of problems
As mentioned above, the emergence of the ultra-right in the German army and police is not a unique event in the country.
This is a reflection of what has been happening in civil society for decades. But in recent years, the character of the ultra-right has changed. German neo-Nazism became decentralized and poorly organized, but no less sinister for this.
A typical example. In 2015, Henrietta Recker, a politician known for her tolerance of immigrants, was attacked with a knife by a lone fanatic. Everything turned out to be a moderate injury. But Walter Lübcke, the former chairman of the Kassel Municipal Supervisory Board, was shot dead on the doorstep of his own home on June 2, 2019. The perpetrators were members of a small far-right group that did not appear on police radars until the politician was killed. Lyubke was shot, in particular, for speaking out against the deportation of refugees to their homeland.
Such autonomous Nazi organizations, often consisting of one or two terrorists, become a real headache for the German special services. If 20-30 years ago it was enough to introduce conditional skinhead agents into the organization, now there is nowhere to introduce it. The police do not have reliable data on the "lone wolves".
Before the "Lithuanian incident" the Bundeswehr special forces were disgraced by a racist story.
In addition to the oppression of refugees, two more worrying trends are emerging in Germany.
The first is that the ultra-right is moving from killing migrants to the destruction of government officials.
Second, the military is getting involved. So far, this is expressed in serenades to Hitler and ritual rapes, but when the force of arms and terror against statesmen become united, Germany will face new times.
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