German soldiers dismissed over Hitler birthday song

FFS. You'd think the Bundeswehr, of all organizations, would be singularly-focused on not having stuff like this happen.

BERLIN, June 16 (Reuters) - Some 30 German soldiers are being recalled from service in Lithuania, with ringleaders facing immediate dismissal, after they were accused of making racist and anti-Semitic remarks and of sexual violence, a German military spokesperson said.

The soldiers were in Lithuania as part of NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence mission providing protection to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia by deterring Russia.

Der Spiegel earlier reported that some German soldiers had got so drunk in a hotel that military police had to be called. Further investigations found that soldiers had sung a birthday song for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler at an earlier gathering.

Beyond violating their oaths, the soldiers were accused of "giving offence with racist and anti-Semitic overtones and showing extremist behaviour," the spokesperson said. They would be back in Germany on Thursday.

"Such behaviour is not only inexcusable but brings shame on us all," she added.

Much of Germany's post-war foreign policy has been focused on showing atonement for the crimes of Hitler's Third Reich, which murdered many millions in the Holocaust of Europe's Jews, one of the worst crimes in human history.

Numerous instances where some members of the police and the military were found showing Nazi sympathies have garnered enormous attention from authorities and the media.

Germany's deployment in the eastern Baltic has added sensitivity since its soldiers last served there in World War Two, where they and members of the German SS committed some of the war's bloodiest crimes in what were then the western marches of the Soviet Union.


The investigation had also found that 569 rounds of ammunition were missing from inventories, though this could have been due to soldiers miscounting at the end of a firing exercise.

The German military's General Inspector had apologised to his Lithuanian counterpart, the spokesperson said.

German soldiers dismissed over Hitler birthday song

Some 30 German soldiers are being recalled from service in Lithuania, with ringleaders facing immediate dismissal, after they were accused of making racist and anti-Semitic remarks and of sexual violence, a German military spokesperson said.

www.reuters.com

 

[rmc_wannabe]

a Sexual Misconduct problem looks pretty tame to having to deal with literal Nazis in your ranks.

I am glad the Bundeswehr stepped in swiftly to deal with the offenders and moved quickly to mend fences with the Host Nation.

 

[Jarnhamar]

a Sexual Misconduct problem looks pretty tame to having to deal with literal Nazis in your ranks.

A victim of systemic sexual misconduct might disagree.

 

[mariomike]

FFS. You'd think the Bundeswehr, of all organizations, would be singularly-focused on not having stuff like this happen.

Further investigations found that soldiers had sung a birthday song for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler at an earlier gathering.

FFS is right.

 

[OldSolduer]

A victim of systemic sexual misconduct might disagree.

Considering the Jews, Gypsies and the LGBTQ community were all terrorized by the Nazis.....even though Ernst Rohm was a homosexual himself (executed after the Night of the Long Knives) and I daresay many others of the Nazi hierarchy may have been as well.

 

[daftandbarmy]

a Sexual Misconduct problem looks pretty tame to having to deal with literal Nazis in your ranks.

I am glad the Bundeswehr stepped in swiftly to deal with the offenders and moved quickly to mend fences with the Host Nation.

They've always had a lingering Nazi issue, especially with their special forces it seems:

Bundeswehr remains under fire for far-right extremism​

An interim report has been completed, documenting dozens of far-right incidents in the elite commando of Germany's defense forces, the KSK, going back to 2017. DW takes a closer look at the KSK's tainted record.

KSK: German army elite force and its links to the far-right – DW – 12/13/2022

A member of the German army's elite force, KSK, was among the far-right plotters who were arrested last week for planning to overthrow the government. DW takes a closer look at the KSK's tainted record.

www.dw.com

 

[mariomike]

They've always had a lingering Nazi issue, especially with their special forces it seems:

​

Maybe their special forces. But, I don't believe any sensible German civilian on the Home-front would feel nostalgic about the old days.
3.37 million dwellings in Germany were destroyed by strategic bombing. 7,500,000 German civilians were also rendered homeless.

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey
The city area raids have left their mark on the German people as well as on their cities . Far more than any other military action that preceded the actual occupation of Germany itself, these attacks left the German people with a solid lesson in the disadvantages of war. It was a terrible lesson; conceivably that lesson, both in Germany and abroad, could be the most lasting single effect of the air war.

 

[FJAG]

Maybe their special forces. But, I don't believe any sensible German civilian on the Home-front would feel nostalgic about the old days.
3.37 million dwellings in Germany were destroyed by strategic bombing. 7,500,000 German civilians were also rendered homeless.

The flaw in your statement is the word "sensible". You're absolutely correct, no "sensible" German is nostalgic for that and in fact very few Germans from that era are still alive.

There are, however, like in North America and in Britain and in numerous European countries, factions of right-wingers who are nostalgic for a predominantly white, Christian society and who feel disconnected from the rest of society. There, like everywhere there are young men with such beliefs who find a military lifestyle to their liking. They flirt with the "romantic" elements of their country's history and seek out others with similar viewpoints.

The question is how they are treated by their superiors when their activities come to their superiors attention. Like army's everywhere, there used to be a level of tolerance for the more stupid after hours behaviour of young troops as long as they soldiered hard during their duty hours. That has been changing everywhere and the red lines are moving ever further downward on the scale.

The fact that people with ideas like this make it into the military or develop such ideas after they get in is exactly that, a fact. It's just a biproduct of a liberal democratic society. What's important is that as soon as they are outed they are dealt with swiftly and decisively.

 

[mariomike]

The flaw in your statement is the word "sensible". You're absolutely correct, no "sensible" German is nostalgic for that and in fact very few Germans from that era are still alive.

Sometimes, "sensible" people don't have much choice.

As the USSBS put it,

If they had been at liberty to vote themselves out of the war, they would have done so well before the final surrender .
The power of a police state over its people cannot be underestimated .