Epochal shift: 1,000 German soldiers ask not to be sent to war

Deutsche Welle
January 6, 2023

Spike in German troop numbers asking not to be sent to war

It’s fewer than 1,000 troops, but nevertheless, the number of German Bundeswehr soldiers who asked to be exempted from serving in war zones rose markedly in 2022. This option dates back to the era of national service.

Almost 1,000 German military personnel applied for an exemption from serving in combat zones in 2022, a sharp rise on 2021’s figures, according to a report published on Friday.

A spokesperson for the German ministry responsible for processing the applications told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland group of newspapers that 951 Bundeswehr soldiers had applied for the exemption.

“In 2021, 201 applications for exemption from combat service were received, in 2022 it was a total of 951 applications,” the spokesperson for the Ministry for Family and Civil Affairs told the newspapers.

The Bundeswehr has roughly 183,000 serving personnel….

The report cited the war in Ukraine and the increased tensions particularly with Russia in 2022 as the reason for many of the soldiers asking to be ruled out of combat tours….[T]he prospect of conflict with Russia still became a more realistic one in 2022.

A spokesman for the DFK-VG, a German group for conscientious objectors and pacifists, appealed in the report for the Bundeswehr to offer soldiers an “easy way out” if they want one.

“Soldiers who, in this volatile time for security policy, reach the conclusion that they do not want to shoot at other people and kill or maim them, must be offered an easy way out of the army,” Michael Schulze von Glasser said.

***

New recruits to the Bundeswehr can no longer stipulate this, but soldiers who enlisted before the abolition of national service retained the option.

***

After years of pressure from NATO partners for Germany to expand its military role further, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has called for increased defense spending and other changes as part of what it calls an “epochal shift” (Zeitenwende) in light of the invasion of Ukraine.