Defence of freedom, justice and human dignity

The following quotations are taken from a book (see source) that makes accessible the decisive writings and speeches of a pioneer and co-thinker as well as a pioneer of the establishment of the German Bundeswehr. The author is Wolf Graf von Baudissin, Lieutenant General of the Bundeswehr and 1965–1967 Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Allied High Command in Europe. His views on the core and task of a modern German army, based on his own war experiences and personal righteousness, are highly explosive in view of the current slogan that Germany must become “fit for war” again and take on a “leading role” within the EU. Baudissin’s statements on the internal constitution of the Bundeswehr testify to seriousness and a sense of responsibility towards the whole world. A government that jeopardises this responsibility out of misunderstood vassal loyalty to an aggressive NATO should use Baudissin’s positions for a long overdue reflection and conversion.

“The concept of ‘Innere Führung’¹, which would promote a commitment to the free and democratic basic order, had to be designed and realised for the future soldiers of West Germany after the outbreak of the Korean War. For they too would […] only oppose an attack at the risk of their lives as long as they considered the conditions in West Germany as a whole to be worth defending.” (Foreword, p. 11)
  “On 8 May 1951, the Federal Chancellor’s [Adenauer’s] security commissioner, Theodor Blank, appointed Major Wolf Graf von Baudissin as the fifth former officer of the former Wehrmacht to be responsible for planning this new concept of military leadership. His main concern was to help design a defence constitution in line with the German Basic Law, a democratic defence constitution that would encourage the future soldier […] to defend […] freedom, justice and human dignity against any assault […] instead of being forced to do so again. […] instead of expecting him once again […] to conquer foreign ‘Lebensraum’ (living space)² in the name of the German people, to expose its inhabitants to extermination and to watch as fellow citizens and comrades are arbitrarily disenfranchised.” (Foreword, p. 10, emphasis pk; translation of all quotations Current Concerns)
  “An in-depth study would surprisingly show that armed forces today are only capable of war if they are fuelled by the same impulses as the community they are defending; if they represent the same order. The democratic state must not refrain from playing an active role in this sector of public life to promote its basic order. This order should consist of ensuring that during his service the soldier himself does not have to renounce what he has decided to defend – freedom, the rule of law and the preservation of human dignity.” (Baudissin, p. 248, emphasis pk)
  “Finally, I would like to point out a crucial problem: the relationship of the soldier to war and thus to the meaning of his task. It is indisputable that modern war is no longer a longed-for field for the exercise of masculine virtues or a normal means of realising political intentions and goals. These two perspectives of the 19^th century are blocked to us. Total war no longer knows and brings peace, but ends with the widespread destruction of life. Preventing its outbreak must be the goal of all those who see and are responsible today. It only appears justified as a defence of the last human, i.e. liberal, existence.” (Baudissin, p. 254, emphasis pk)  •

¹ The founders of the German Bundeswehr understood “Innere Führung” (Leadership Development and Civic Education) to mean the awakening of the mindset among soldiers and officers that the Bundeswehr had the task of not only defending the principles of the democratic constitutional state and freedom and human dignity, but also of living them concretely. Baudissin repeatedly points out that the members of this German army must have the right and the duty to defend themselves against orders that violate human dignity and the Basic Law.
² The “right” to more “Lebensraum” (living space) was an empty Hitlerian phrase used to justify the conquest of foreign territories as the “right of the German people”. In contrast, the Charter of the United Nations guarantees the inviolable right of every state to its inviolable territory.

Source: von Schubert, Peter (ed.). Graf Baudissin – Soldat für den Frieden. Entwürfe für eine zeitgemässe Bundeswehr, (Soldier for Peace. Drafts for a contemporary Bundeswehr), Munich (Verlag Piper) 1969