Special forces chief vows to root out the far Right
‘You don’t deserve our comradeship! You are not one of us! You should leave on your own initiative’
FAR-RIGHT sympathisers serving in the German army’s special forces will be “found and removed”, the unit’s commander has warned in a letter to his troops.
Brigadier-general Markus Kreitmayr, commanding officer of the elite KSK special forces, warned that the unit was facing “the gravest challenge in its history”.
Gen Kreitmayr wrote to his troops following the arrest of a senior noncommissioned officer on suspicion of far-right links.
The arrested man, a warrant officer named only as Philipp S, was held after police found a hoard of weapons, ammunition and Nazi regalia at his home.
“In the midst of us there were, and obviously still are, individuals from the so-called far-right,” Gen Kreitmayr wrote. “They have not only done massive damage to the reputation of special forces command and to the Bundeswehr [armed forces] as a whole, but also to each and every one of us personally.”
Declaring a “zero tolerance” policy, Gen Kreitmayr went on to address farright sympathisers directly: “You don’t deserve our comradeship! You are not one of us! You should leave our unit and the Bundeswehr on your own initiative. If you don’t, we will find you and we will remove you!”
The letter was sent to members of the KSK two weeks ago, but details only emerged this week. Gen Kreitmayr is believed to have chosen to write a letter because it was impossible for him to address troops directly under Germany’s current coronavirus social distancing rules.
His action underlines the grave concerns that the KSK has been infiltrated by the far Right. Four soldiers have been discharged from the unit over farright links in recent years, and 20 suspected cases are under investigation.
Philipp S had been under surveillance by Germany’s MAD military intelligence service since 2017, when he was put under surveillance after allegedly being witnessed giving a Hitler salute at a private party. Military authorities were unable to act until earlier this month as there was insufficient evidence against him, according to a submission from the defence ministry to the German parliament.