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Press Information published by the International Auschwitz Committee

06.05.2017

Extreme right-wing incidents in the Bundeswehr: Holocaust survivors alert to apparitions from the past

 
 
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Holocaust survivors in the International Auschwitz Committee are following the current news from the Bundeswehr with growing concern and outrage.

Commenting in Berlin Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the committee said:

"For survivors of the Holocaust, simply the thought of Nazi symbols ever being glorified and Wehrmacht traditions being invoked again within the German armed forces is both disconcerting and unbearable. Clearly, there was, and still is a ritual of silence within the Bundeswehr surrounding the right-wing extremist and anti-Semitic incidents which are now rapidly coming to public attention. These rituals are, above all, designed to confine such incidents to the appropriate circles and prevent them from gaining public awareness. The current incantations that are repeatedly being issued by military circles ‘we are aware of the issues’ and ‘we have everything under control’ sound utterly hollow and narrow-minded. There is now an urgent need, especially in view of these and other extreme right-wing and populist challenges in Europe to restructure the debate about the guiding culture in the Bundeswehr. It is also essential to intensify historical and political education within the armed forces, and especially to cultivate links with the tradition of German resistance to National Socialism."

 
 
 

For further Information

Christoph Heubner

Executive Vice President
International Auschwitz Committee
Phone ++ 49 (0)30 26 39 26 81