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Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, SPD
Photo: IMAGO/Florian Gaertner/photothek.de / IMAGO/photothek
The Federal Ministry of Defense wants to put the controversial military police motto "To each his own" to the test.
The Feldjäger are the military police of the Bundeswehr.
They use the Latin phrase »suum cuique« (»to each his own«) in badges that are worn on a beret, for example.
The words go back to Roman philosophy and describe a classic principle of justice.
However, they were abused by the Nazis;
the lettering was above the entrance to the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar.
The ministry spokeswoman did not want to comment on the duration and possible result of the test.
However, the Bundeswehr has proven that it is capable of “changing even longstanding traditions”.
The traditional decree was “completely revised” in 2018.
There are "very clear criteria and standards" against which the military police motto is now measured.
The then Federal Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) put the revised traditional decree into force in March 2018.
It stipulates that the Bundeswehr's own history should be the focus in future when it comes to cultivating tradition.
The decree states, among other things, that the criminal Nazi state cannot establish tradition.
"For the armed forces of a democratic constitutional state, the Wehrmacht as an institution is not worthy of tradition." The display of National Socialist symbols and signs is expressly forbidden.
till/AFP