Jan
Nolte
Jewish
Military Ministry
German
Bundestag, May 15, 2020, Plenarprotokoll 19/161, p. 20081
[Jan Nolte is an Alternative für Deutschland
Bundestag member from the western German state of Hessen. He is a petty officer
in the German navy. He here responds to a draft law proposed by the government for
the purpose of establishing a Jewish rabbinate in the Bundeswehr.]
Right
honorable Frau President. Right honorable ladies and gentlemen.
Jews
have always been a part of the German armies. They helped break the power of
Napoleon at Waterloo, fought in the Franco-Prussian [Deutsche-Französischen] War which ultimately ended in the founding
of the Reich in 1871, and threw themselves into the material battles of the
First World War. And even though the criminal regime of the National Socialists
had seized control of the German states, a regime which in gruesome ways sinned
against the Jews, 150,000 of them fought in the Wehrmacht, many so as to avoid a
worse fate for themselves.
Yet
even before, there was anti-semitism; that is clear. It was for a very long
time in Europe a socially acceptable standard which today is scarcely to be
explained. It is therefore good that today in Germany we have 180,000 brave men
and women in the Bundeswehr – and some 300 of them are Jews – who defend our
free, democratic fundamental order and who stand for a Germany in which no one
can any longer be persecuted on account of his religion or his beliefs.
That
in the infrastructure planning for the Jewish rabbinate there nevertheless must
be consideration given to bulletproof glass shows that we in Germany today are
not where we ought to be. On that account also is the return of military rabbis
after nearly one hundred years an important signal. To anti-semitism will be
opposed a clear message: That the Jews in Germany have our support, that they
are strong constituents of the armed forces and of society, and that we will
not tolerate attacks upon them.
(A shout from Helin Evrim Sommer
(Linke)).
I
hear comment here. Anyone can readily put a question. That is no problem.
Helin Evrim Sommer (Linke): No, we
waive that.
Yet
it ought not to stop at such signals. In debates like this, it also must be
said that, on account of political correctness, the origins of anti-semitism
unfortunately oftentimes have not been completely addressed. Obviously there is
right-wing extremist terrorism, besides that of leftist extremism, and it is
completely clear that there must be proceedings against that. But the fact is
that for 81 percent of the victims of anti-semitism the perpetrator is a
Moslem, and of that one does not speak so readily.
Marcus Grübel (CDU/CSU): The
criminal statistics unfortunately do not
coincide.
A
deeply rooted hatred of Jews often prevails in Moslem societies, and if we
seriously intend to fight against anti-semitism and really wish to help, then
we first must have the courage to name the complete problem, and not only a
portion thereof.
That
a religious military ministry is now to be available to our Jewish soldiers is
a proper and important thing. The extreme experiences that a soldier can have
during his time in the service requires that he defend not only his body but
his soul against injury. The soldier needs someone in whom he can confide and
who is also an adviser if – and this also belongs to the reality of being a
soldier – he is confronted with the possiblity of his own death.
I dedicate
the last part of my speech to Corporal Sergei Motz, the recent anniversary of
whose death was May 11. Corporal Motz is the first German soldier killed in
action since the Second World War; he fell in Afghanistan and he belongs to the
Orthodox Church. In this regard, I wish to direct an appeal to you, Frau
Minister –it may sound as if I was pushing on an open door: That perhaps we
find as good a solution for the Orthodox soldiers as we here now put forward
for the Jewish soldiers.
The
AfD will vote in committee for this draft law.
[Translated by Todd Martin]
