Elite German army unit accused of sexual harassment, drug use and making Nazi salutes

The German armed forces have been engulfed by a scandal over sexual harassment, far-right extremism and drug use at an elite regiment that threatens to damage efforts to strengthen the military and boost recruitment.

Public prosecutors are examining more than a dozen allegations against soldiers from the 26th Parachute Regiment, an airborne division of the army based in the town of Zweibrücken in the south western state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Investigations have probed allegations of soldiers from the elite unit wearing Nazi-style uniforms and using drugs. 

Defence minister Boris Pistorius has said he is “appalled” by the revelations, saying that they “stand in stark contrast to the fundamental values of the Bundeswehr”, the German armed forces. 

But they have cast a cloud over this month’s launch of a new scheme aimed at attracting 18-year-olds to do a new form of voluntary military service, as Germany strives to bolster its armed forces amid fears of Russian aggression.

The scandal has raised questions about the culture in the military at a time when it is seeking a greater role at home and internationally, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz promising to make the Bundeswehr the strongest conventional army in Europe.

Agnieszka Brugger, a Green member of parliament who sits on the Bundestag’s defence committee, warned that the allegations tarnished not just one unit but rather “the important service performed by so many soldiers”.

She added: “This represents a huge problem at a serious moment, when the Bundeswehr and our politicians need to recruit the most capable people for military service.”

The 26th Parachute Regiment is one of the German armed forces’ most elite units. Made up of around 1,700 soldiers, it has been called upon for foreign deployments and war zone evacuations in countries such as Afghanistan, Mali and Sudan.

The allegations first became public in October when a local paper received an anonymous tip-off that some soldiers in the regiment were being investigated for performing Hitler salutes and photographing male and female colleagues in the showers, as well as drug use and wearing Nazi-style uniforms. 

The army subsequently confirmed that it had been quietly investigating the matter after receiving complaints from female paratroopers, who make up about 5 per cent of the regiment, in June this year.

It also emerged that the commander of the unit, Colonel Oliver Henkel, had been removed from his post. A local broadcaster that obtained a copy of Henkel’s leaving speech said he denied that his job change had any connection to the allegations and said: “I have a clear conscience and am convinced that truth and justice will prevail in the end.”

The accusations have since snowballed. 

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung last week published a long and searing exposé, citing army insiders saying that there was a “far-right, openly antisemitic clique” in Zweibrücken that used insults such as “Jewish pig”. Women were subjected to pornographic jokes and rape threats, and to male colleagues who exposed their genitals. 

Three-star General Harald Gante told the newspaper that he was “practically speechless” when he found out what had been happening in Zweibrücken. “About the events themselves, but also about the way they were handled.”

Good conduct and embodying democratic values, Gante added, was what distinguished the Bundeswehr “from Russian soldiers”, a warning that came just days before Merz promised that German troops would play a role in securing any future ceasefire in Ukraine.

On Thursday, the news magazine Der Spiegel reported further allegations, including claims that a company commander pointed a partially loaded pistol in the faces of two soldiers. Another soldier required surgery, it said, after receiving “repeated blows to the genital area and head” at the hands of his instructors.

As the scale of the accusations has become clear, Pistorius, the defence minister, has drawn criticism from some members of the Bundestag and the German press for waiting until December to speak publicly about it.

In total, the Bundeswehr has investigated a total of 55 suspects, an army spokesperson told the FT. Three soldiers have already been dismissed and a further 19 are facing dismissal proceedings. Sixteen cases have been referred to public prosecutors for criminal investigation, mostly related to drugs offences but also incidental to hatred and the use of banned extremist symbols.

The military has also launched what it has called an “airborne forces action plan” aimed at promoting better leadership and clearer education about values in the armed forces. 

“Violence, sexism and extremism have no place in our Bundeswehr,” said the spokesperson. “We expect our soldiers and civilian employees to actively stand up for and protect the free democratic basic order. Where this is not the case, we act decisively.”

The episode is not the first such scandal to confront the Bundeswehr.

In 2020, the defence ministry dissolved an entire elite special forces unit, warning that its “toxic leadership” had “developed and promoted extremist tendencies”.

In 2022, a former soldier was sentenced to more than five years in prison for plotting to assassinate politicians while posing as a Syrian refugee.

Thomas Röwekamp, a member of parliament who heads the defence committee, said in an interview with the public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that the allegations were “appalling” and “unacceptable”. But he also stressed that they were not representative of Germany’s 180,000 soldiers.

A study published last year by the military’s own Centre of Military History and Social Sciences found that only 0.4 per cent of soldiers showed right-wing extremist attitudes — lower than the rate of more than 5 per cent that the authors said applied to the general population.