Although the concept of "Innere Führung" with its guiding approach of "Citizen in Uniform" is a central identity feature of the Federal Armed Forces, it has been challenged again and again since the Bundeswehr was founded.
Sönke Neitzel recently addressed this controversy in his book “German Warriors. From the Empire to the Berlin Republic - a military history ”, in which he addresses the weaknesses of the concept in relation to the requirements of operational armed forces.
Against the background of the evaluation of the mission in Afghanistan, this provided an important impetus for the current debate on the further development of a contemporary Military Leadership Culture.
The discussion addressed this question and tried to transport it into a public opinion-forming process about what kind of army Germany needs and wants.
The development of a Common European Military Leadership Culture is also one of the main fields of action of EuroISME ! Therefore we assisted to the event and hope to bring the different perspectives into conversation and raise the discourse to our members.
The report about the event is available here and the livestreamed video there
The panelists were :
Prof. Dr. Sönke Neitzel, Professor for military history / cultural history of violence at the University of Potsdam
General (retd.) Wolfgang Schneiderhan, President of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. and former Chief of Defense / Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr (2002 to 2009)
Generalmajor André Bodemann
Commander Leadership Training Center
Dr. Matthias Gillner
Dozent für Katholische Sozialethik an der Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr
Captain Julia Schulze, Officer in the German Federal Armed Forces
Welcome and Opening by Dr. Veronika Bock, Director of the Center for Ethical Education in the Armed Forces
Moderation Dr. Jörg Lüer, Executive Director of the German Commission Justitia et Pax