The scandal surrounding the army officer-a right-wing extremist shakes the Bundeswehr. The case acquires new details, makes you worry about the likely growth in the number of right-wing elements in the ranks of the German army.
As far as our army is “right”? If her officer to commit a terrorist attack or high-profile political murder, to shift the blame on the refugees, provoking a wave of indignation and, perhaps, to influence the decisions of the Supreme leadership of the country?
Suspicions against the men at arms, those who are called to defend and protect us all always especially terrible — but, alas, gain a real Foundation. The case of senior Lieutenant of the Bundeswehr A. Franco (Franco A.) look absurd, but don’t think because of this less dangerous.
Recall, the officer, who served in Alsace, near the border with Germany, in a joint German-French infantry brigade, one and a half years led a double life. In one reality, Franco A. well-proven in the ranks stationed in Illkirch-Graffenstaden 291 battalion of this brigade, and successfully promoted. Another was posing as a Syrian refugee named David Benjamin (David Benjamin), the son of a fruit merchant from Damascus, in Hesse asked for political asylum in Germany, received the refugee status and the appropriate Handbook, distributed to Bavaria and settled in a refugee camp. To impersonate a refugee officer managed without mastering Arabic: the dark asylum seeker was represented, the Syrian a Christian a native of France, which owns French — language German soldier successfully passed a personal interview with representatives of the Federal office for immigration and refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, BAMF). The investigators believe that Franco A. was preparing to make a “serious subversive act of violence” is easier to say — the attack, hiding behind the refugee status of Syrians, on whom would fall the blame for the offense: a German soldier inspired to this, his extreme right-wing views.
In sight of law enforcement bodies, besides Austrian, not German — a senior Lieutenant came by accident: he was detained at the Vienna airport “Schwechat” when you try to pick up a cache of weapons. A loaded pistol 7.65 mm found a plumber in the air vent of a public toilet. Local intelligence services mounted a video camera and a week later took the act of a German officer, but, as it turned out the fingerprint, along with the Syrian refugee. A. Franco said at a police interview that he found the gun in Vienna, where he arrived at the officers ‘ ball, and hid it in the toilet, when going to fly home and realized that it will not be allowed on the plane with weapons. The soldier did not arrest and handed over the collected information in Germany, where he established observation in order to find accomplices. In all likelihood, they the officer was a result of a busy search for other right-wing radicals in the ranks of the German army, it is possible that extremist elements have established a network for the exchange of information and for preparation of stocks, disguised as the actions of immigrants.
Sam A. Franco, refusing to answer the questions of the investigation of the Hessian Offenbach. There was arrested by his old friend and alleged accomplice 24-year-old student, Mathias F. (Mathias F.), with whom the Lieutenant was in correspondence of the extreme right wing persuasion. The student during the arrest seized weapons and explosives, about Franco A. it is known that he stole from army depots, thousands of bullets for handguns and automatic weapons: perhaps the ammunition was not used during the school shooting, but the statements appeared as shot. From the soldier who now serves in the North Rhine-Westphalia, the management received information that a certain officer, who were themselves xenophobic remarks, spoke about how it is collecting weapons to, when necessary, to fight on the “right side”. A gathering place called the Bundeswehr barracks in Illkirch-Graffenstaden. There’s also the part of the sole joint German-French brigade was a colleague, Franco A., also a senior Lieutenant in the Bundeswehr — 29-year-old Maximilian I. (Maximilian T.), which amounted to a kind of “hit list”: the handwritten document includes the names of the President of Germany retired Joachim gauck (Joachim Gauck), Minister of justice Heiko Maas (Heiko Maaß), an activist of the party “the Left” Anne helm (Anne Helm). The Franco found A. “extended list” of potential victims and possible promotions. These include “explosion headstone Rothschild in Frankfurt”, throwing a grenade into a group of anti-Nazi activists on behalf of the bogus refugee under the video, the release from prison of convicted repeatedly of otricatelniy of the Holocaust, the 89-year-old right-extremist Ursula, the Haferbek (Ursula Haverbeck), when it is once again jailed.
A separate internal investigation underway in relation to the direct military superiors Franco A. According to the investigation, his extreme right-wing views could be seen in 2014, when a soldier, after graduating from military school, has prepared a thesis, full of xenophobic and nationalist reasoning. The Lieutenant had to write and submit new work, further investigation was not given the course the career of a young officer decided not to spoil. The wire then on the French side examination recognized text Franco A. openly right-wing extremist, but the commanders of the battalion was not informed about the radical views of young servicemen of the internal military intelligence service (Militärischer Abschirmdienst, MAD), which aims at detection and neutralization of extremists in the army ranks.
This special service is searching for potential extremists in the ranks of the Bundeswehr. The scandal has forced to increase the efforts and the first results were not long in coming: in the barracks of Fürstenberg in Donaueschingen (Federal state of Baden-württemberg), which housed 292nd jäger battalion, was a whole exhibition of uniforms and symbols of the Third Reich, lovingly presented in a showcase at the entrance to the dining room, soldiers ‘ helmets, insignia and other paraphernalia of the Wehrmacht. In connection with this unexpected discovery, which, it seems, nobody was hiding, the commander of the Bundeswehr Volker Vickers (Volker Wieker) gave the order to check all without exception, the Bundeswehr barracks for the presence of Nazi symbols.
The scandal in connection with Nazi symbols has occurred and in Illkirch-Graffenstaden: in 2012, soldiers poured out of the sand on the territory of barracks swastika of size 4 by 4 meters. The reason was football, the confrontation, tells the tabloid Bild.
Unlike the history with Franco A., sandy swastika was reported in the Ministry of defence and army counterintelligence, three servicemen were subjected to disciplinary sanctions and monetary penalties.
