Status: 03/16/2023 6:30 p.m
In a chat group, AfD Vice Boehringer vilifies the Bundeswehr as a “completely corrupt and fully politicized wokes system” that should not be given any money at the moment. The quotes suit him ARD Capital Studio before.
The AfD likes to boast of its alleged closeness to the Bundeswehr: It recently provided a podcast entitled “AfD: The only party that supports the Bundeswehr”. But even the warnings by party leader Tino Chrupalla about the 100 billion special fund and the fact that more AfD MPs in the Bundestag voted against than for it had raised doubts about this self-assessment. Now derogatory statements by deputy party leader Peter Boehringer give a rare insight into what even leading AfD politicians really think of the Bundeswehr.
“Softening” in the troops
In an internal chat group this week, Boehringer describes the troupe as a “bottomless pit” that cannot be saved with money ARD Capital Studio experienced. One could also give the Bundeswehr 1000 billion euros, Boehringer writes on the Telegram channel: “And one would only arm Kiev, make the American armaments industry rich and finance some woken unicorns and trannies in the BW great parties.”
In a series of posts after the military report was published on Tuesday, Boehringer – who once did military service himself – grumbled about “softening” among the troops and complained about a leadership that he believes needs to be replaced. He calls this a radical conversion: “We are allowed to woken this COMPLETELY corrupt and fully politicized system up to the middle officer ranks […] only provide money after a COMPLETE RESTART.”
In June, when the special fund was voted on in the Bundestag, the AfD deputy spoke out in principle for investments in the Bundeswehr – but rejected the 100 billion package.
The contempt with which Boehringer regards the troops in his statements does not stop at their new highest-ranking officer: On Wednesday the Ministry of Defense announced that Lieutenant General Carsten Breuer should become the new inspector general. In the chat, Boehringer reviled Breuer as a “completely loyal ex-Corona general of lies”. Breuer had led the federal government’s vaccination campaign for Chancellor Olaf Scholz during the pandemic as head of the Corona crisis team. Large parts of the AfD reject vaccinations.
Peter Boehringer himself stated at the request of the ARD Capital Studios Regarding the wording in the text messages: “That’s not what I know of in chats.” His stance on financing the Bundeswehr is as follows: “Of the 100 billion euros from the Bundeswehr’s special fund, exactly ZERO cents went to the troops, and that’s a scandal. With more money, only Kiev would be armed.”
The AfD defense expert Rüdiger Lucassen was surprised when asked about the chat entries: “It is difficult for me to imagine that my colleague Peter Böhringer should have made such insulting statements about members of the Bundeswehr. Because that would mean the years of work of our Torpedo the parliamentary group and also openly turn against the basic program of the AfD. A member of the federal executive board of the AfD would not do something like that.”
Lucassen points out when asked by ARD Capital Studios also pointed out that Boehringer, as budgetary spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, reliably supported calls for a massive increase in the defense budget over five years. As a national-conservative party, the AfD stands “100 percent behind the soldiers of the Bundeswehr,” at least that’s his conclusion.
Within the AfD, there has long been a dispute about the right course for Ukraine. In addition, support for a demand from the AfD’s basic program has been crumbling in the party for a few weeks: the reactivation of conscription. An identical, previously announced Bundestag debate at the request of the AfD disappeared from the agenda.