German military reports rise in extremist incidents

Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, dismissed 90 soldiers for right-wing extremist behaviour last year and took action against six more, the defence ministry in Berlin said on Tuesday.

A total of 280 extremist incidents were confirmed in the military's ranks last year, markedly more than in the previous year, which saw 205, the ministry said in response to a parliamentary inquiry from The Left party.

A list of cases for both years showed that soldiers were let go for various transgressions of a far right-wing character.

These included displaying the Hitler salute, singing racist slogans or making anti-Semitic and "National Socialist statements," the ministry said, using an abbreviated reference to the former Nazi party.

According to the response, 72 soldiers had to leave the military in 2023 in connection with such incidents.

Left Party member of parliament Zada Salihović called the increase alarming. The ministry in turn noted that when measured against the total number of employees in the Bundeswehr, these represented only a very small number of cases.

However, every case of extremism is one too many and should not be tolerated, it stressed.

The Bundeswehr currently has more than 260,000 personnel, including women and men in uniform as well as civilian staff.