The big tattoo of the Bundeswehr at the end of the Afghanistan mission sparked a debate. The tradition is over 400 years old. But this time the criticism is particularly harsh. There are reasons.
The excitement about the big tattoo of the Bundeswehr at the end of the Afghanistan mission is no coincidence, but can be explained quite simply by media mechanisms. Before now, however, one – even a retired one! – Columnist gets on there, a note: For soldiers who stick their heads out for the comfort of all of us, for those returning to Afghanistan, for relatives of people who died there, it is simply disgraceful that commentators are now making crude comparisons to the Wehrmacht. 59 soldiers died in Afghanistan, 35 were injured in combat or in attacks. The returnees have to live with the fact that many observers have found their efforts in vain. I cannot empathize with it, I can only respect it.
But now: The dear media and what happened there.
First of all, there is the timing: this time the Bundeswehr ceremonial took place in a political journalistic vacuum. The silent lemons (FDP and Greens) and the SPD are to blame: The traffic light parties are probing so devoutly and silently that it drives professional political commentators crazy. FDP General Volker Wissing once said “Freedom” instead of “Friday” at a press conference, FDP leader Christian Lindner smiled, which didn’t quite fit in with his speech of “heavy mood”. Otherwise: phrases, cuddling. Write an editorial about something like that! A reporter from abroad mocked: One should pray for the journalists who should say something substantial about it.
Tattoo in the news hole
The CDU wasn’t any more helpful: it just imploded. The CDU wrecking ball Armin Laschet has withdrawn, at least somehow, in the same way as Schrödinger’s cat died: halfway. Since then, the party has been twitching here and there, but it is gradually becoming clear that this process will take longer.
If we were to have fiery debates about the solidarity surcharge, fundamental questions of tax justice or the level of the minimum wage, there would be less room for the ceremony on the Republic Square. But like this: maximum attention for the big tattoo.
But the news hole doesn’t explain everything. The media world is no longer the same either. The last torchlight parade in 2019 took place in front of the Bendler Block, to say goodbye to Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. There they played the “Scorpions”, that possibly dampened the militaristic impression. Even with their predecessors in office, pop music was heard. In contrast, the last march in front of the Reichstag was in 2015, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Bundeswehr.
The slingshot of indignation has grown
The much-scolded outrage-slinger Twitter has grown continuously since 2015. The number of users is increasing by an estimated 10 percent per year, which is difficult to quantify. In addition, the medium is becoming more and more established: traditional media include tweets in their online articles. But Twitter is no longer just an elite medium – anyone who knows the platform will probably mumble “unfortunately” quietly. So some of you there may be consciously seeing a tattoo for the first time. Somebody quickly transported a recording into the film aesthetics of the 30s and thus visualized what many think: Look, looks like the Nazis back then. This kind of thing continues, leading to more critical articles in newspapers and online media.
The comparison is superficially nonsense, because it is not a Wehrmacht tradition. Defense politicians and (ex) soldiers in particular were all the more upright in view of the harsh and unserved criticism: A guilty party was quickly identified, the damned Internet. Twitter is really not the reality, it was said, one does not understand “the people there”, others were completely denied reason because of their comparisons to the Wehrmacht. Some yell at the other as one is used to.
Correct: it is part of grid-driven debates that everything and anything gets mixed up. Shouldn’t the Bundeswehr as a parliamentary army be marching in front of the Reichstag building? Does it have to be steel helmets? And torches? Then someone mixes suspected right-wing extremism into the cocktail of indignation. As if from now on all soldiers had to go to the room instead of being honored on this one day.
“Call of Duty” and gags for new recruits
So what we experience is also a media phenomenon. To conclude from this that it would pass again and that one could continue as before, but would be wrong.
The Bundeswehr has had a problem since the end of compulsory military service: not enough people are taking part. The Bundeswehr lures with “Call of Duty” aesthetics and gags that are otherwise known from the ailing Berlin subway operator: “Gas, water, shooting”, something like that. This is legitimate: the fish must like the bait, not the angler. Anyone who abolishes conscription must acquire marketing.
However, it does not really fit in with the fact that the parliamentary army at the Great Zapfenstreich pretends to be media-blindly as if there were no graphic associations with demonstrations of power by the Wehrmacht in front of the Reichstag building – especially among the potential recruits it recruits. As infamous as the Wehrmacht comparisons are for soldiers, it is unclear why it should not be possible to modernize this tradition. Isn’t it detrimental to the cohesion of the Bundeswehr if such a ceremony arouses the wrong associations?
Communication can no longer be channeled
Comparisons with the armies of other countries are limp. The British ceremony “Trooping the Color” is clearly different and, above all, more colorful. Nor do the British need to consider a comparably large historical shadow. In other contexts, the Germans try to distance themselves as much as possible from images and associations with the “Third Reich”. It is intellectually understandable that historians and military personnel roll their eyes when people cannot think back more than 70 years – but what do you conclude from that? That the publicity of a public ceremony should only be assessed through trained eyes?
Communication can no longer be channeled as it used to be, everything always happens in the public as a whole and at the same time. TV commentators and newspaper columnists may classify the Great Zapfenstreich and evaluate it historically correctly – but by then the live images have long since passed through the social media outrage. Many only see the pictures, but do not experience the festivities on site. You can curse this media presence, but it doesn’t go away. This does not mean that there will be no more room for traditions – but they will have to be adapted.
Recognition instead of Prussia
It doesn’t help: the next tattoo is sure to come. No one can escape the new public of the 2020s. Not under the steel helmet and not in the Puma armored personnel carrier. The sooner the Bundeswehr and its friendly politicians accept this, the sooner the soldiers will get what they deserve: recognition without discord. That’s what it should be about. And less about Prussia.