Honor
Bundestag approves annual National Veterans Day
Soldiers of the Bundeswehr’s honor formation in front of Bellevue Palace. In the future, National Veterans Day will take place in Germany on June 15th. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Every year on June 15th, the veterans of the Bundeswehr are to be honored. A majority of parliament wants more appreciation and attention for active and former soldiers.
The Bundestag has voted for the introduction of a national Veterans Day on June 15th each year. A large majority of MPs voted for a corresponding motion that was submitted jointly by the three traffic light parties and the opposition Union.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius described Veterans Day as a strong, important and long-overdue sign of appreciation. “It’s about recognizing those who are ultimately prepared to give their utmost for others and who dedicate their life and limb for our country,” said the SPD politician in the plenary session. He mentioned operations such as those in Afghanistan or protecting merchant shipping in the Red Sea, evacuating from crisis areas, protecting the airspace over Germany, but also helping to fight forest fires or in the corona pandemic.
Who is considered a veteran?
Around ten million Germans did military service or were professional or temporary soldiers, and around 500,000 men and women were deployed. Almost every active or former soldier is now considered a veteran. This also avoids an argument about who is a veteran. There have been discussions in recent years about this question of who should be considered a veteran, because soldiers after deployments abroad or even taking part in combat may have different needs and possibly also merits than those who served in the military during the Cold War era. Germany has chosen the broadest possible definition of veterans – and also the broadest within NATO, as SPD defense politician Johannes Arlt, himself an officer, explained the day before.
In 2012, according to the ideas of the then Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU), only former Bundeswehr soldiers with operational experience should be considered veterans, as he announced at a reception given by the Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Hellmut Königshaus. At the same time, he advocated giving veterans special social appreciation.
In 2018, the then Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) declared in a daily order to the troops that all soldiers were to serve the country faithfully in operations, exercises and daily service at home and abroad. She wrote: “A veteran of the Bundeswehr is anyone who is in active service as a soldier in the Bundeswehr or who has honorably left this service, i.e. has not lost his rank.”
There is no concept for dealing with returning soldiers
In the following years, however, the veterans complained about a lack of support after their service. In 2022, the Association of German Veterans called on the new federal government to significantly improve the care of soldiers after assignments like in Afghanistan. “We have to keep in mind that most veterans are not in the Bundeswehr,” said the association’s federal chairman, Bernhard Drescher, with a view to contract soldiers who have left the troops. Unlike other countries, Germany does not have an adequate concept for dealing with soldiers who return from missions.
In January, a veterans office was opened in Berlin as a central contact point for the Bundeswehr. A large event is to be organized in Berlin around the now introduced Veterans Day – on the weekend before or after June 15th. The application states: “A national day for veterans can create an appropriate framework for recognition and thanks for their special achievements as well as a place for exchange between them, their relatives, the Bundeswehr, society and politics.”