SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Army ritual abuse scandal spreads

The hazing scandal in the German army, in which young recruits have reportedly been forced to eat raw animal liver until they vomited, has snowballed with more soldiers blowing the whistle on ugly rites of passage, reports said Sunday.

Army ritual abuse scandal spreads
Photo: DPA

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Reinhold Robbe, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that at least five more soldiers – some serving and some of whom had left the Bundeswehr – had come to him with stories of brutalisation.

“Following the reports from one of the soldiers of the incidents in the mountain infantry unit in Mittenwald, further soldiers from the unit involved, but also soldiers from other locations, have reported to me. I will inform the (parliamentary) defence committee about it next week,” he said.

Members of the mountain infantry battalion 233 at the Edelweiss barracks in Mittenwald, Bavaria, forced their comrades to eat raw liver washed down with wheat beer until they threw up, Bild am Sonntag reported.

The hazing was supposed to be a rite of passage for soldiers to climb the internal hierarchy within the unit.

The state prosecutor in Munich was investigating one soldier on suspicion of willful bodily harm.

Robbe said the reports also pointed to an alcohol problem in the Bundeswehr.

“It appears from the stories that excessive alcohol consumption has apparently played a large role. I have the impression there is an alcohol problem in certain troop units of our Bundeswehr during off-duty hours, that we must combat decisively.

“Under no circumstances must binge drinking be allowed in the Bundeswehr – which is a combat army – in domestic or foreign locations.”

The scandal began when a young soldier who trained at the camp in Mittenwald came forward to describe hazing that included recruits being forced to drink alcohol until they were sick, eat raw pig liver, and conduct climbing exercises in the nude before their fellow soldiers, daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported last week.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

SHOW COMMENTS