On July 12, the military leaders of the German army recently adopted a document entitled "Guidelines on the understanding and cultivation of tradition in the Bundeswehr". In this document, it is urged not only to refer positively to military leaders of the FRG. Those responsible for the fascist Wehrmacht are now also to receive recognition.

This document is to be seen as a supplement to the so-called "Tradition Decree", which defines the values and norms of the German army. Originally issued in 1965, the decree was revised twice in the following decades. For the first time in 1982 and most recently in 2018 - at least until July of this year. The newly adopted document is therefore to be seen as a third revision of the traditional decree. According to the aforementioned document, the purpose of this revision is to implement the so-called military turning point proclaimed in 2022 in the area of preserving tradition. To this end, soldiers with a Nazi past are to be increasingly used as positive role models for the troops.
The document states accordingly:

"Consequently, in the cultivation of tradition, greater attention must also be paid to military excellence (ability or skill) over other tradition-forming examples such as classic soldierly virtues (character) or achievements for the integration of the armed forces into society...".

"Decisive for the tradition-worthiness of soldiers
of the founding generation of the Bundeswehr is the result of a careful weighing up between any personal guilt and individual achievement that has a meaningful effect in the present..."

"The Tradition Decree expressly permits the adoption of exemplary soldierly and actions from other eras - including the Second World War. This does not only include those members of the Wehrmacht belonging to the military resistance".

In other words, as long as someone was a good soldier, he is forgiven for the role he played in the armed realization of the fascist crimes. In fact, this corresponds very well to the "moral compass" of the bourgeois military. What this clearly propagates is the penetration of cadaver obedience into the minds and hearts of soldiers. The message is: no matter who gives the orders, no matter if you are fighting for something good or something bad, as long as you dutifully follow your orders without questioning, stand at attention and shoot well, you are a good soldier. This way of thinking is usual in the bourgeois military and it is precisely this way of thinking that the rulers there need in order to effectively unleash their bloodhounds on their enemies. Be it on the oppressed peoples, the armies of imperialist competitors or, if necessary, on their own revolting people

A prime example of democratic values. One of the positive mentionded soldiers, Erich Topp (left) together with Hitler (right).

Source: U552.de

When you read the document, you notice that the Wehrmacht is not held up as a great historical role model overall, and that the paper seems to have been written with tactical restraint in various places. Rather, the impression is given, that this document is carefully feeling its way forward in order to slowly test out how much room for maneuver is possible in honoring of Nazi soldiers. Obviously, the opposition to this, among the general public and in the ranks of politics, is very limited after the publication of the document.

It seems as if the red-green-yellow traffic light government, of which two parties are constantly trying to portray themselves as left-liberal, has chosen brown as its new color. On the whole, this also fits in very well with the increasing fascist tendency that is being promoted. Things like regular arbitrary bans on organizations against disagreeable political forces and the increasingly frequent violation of freedom of expression and assembly, which we have already reported on here in the past, are part of this. The fact that the war-mongering government under the leadership of the criminal Olaf Scholz now commands an army that looks with pride on its Nazi criminals of the Second World War is also something that is actually in continuity with the history of the FRG. What is striking, however, is that the leading role of Nazi soldiers in the FRG has mainly been silenced up, but now the tone is changing and the lack of denazification get even being positively propagated.

In this sense, the paper also uses the rhetoric that the people named as military role models are primarily soldiers who played an important role in the development of the West German armed forces after the Second World War. Due to their leading role in the development of the armed forces of the FRG, the document assumes that they purposely stood up for the so-called "free democratic basic order". In reality, however, this did not mean a break with the fascist past. The entire apparatus of the FRG, especially the military apparatus, was built up by leading fascist cadres. They were the same convinced fascists who murdered under Hitler, only the banner under which they "served" has officially changed. But for a good bourgeois soldier this is not important as long as he follows orders without questioning, stands at attention and shoots well.

Mainpicture Source: wdr.de