German military magazine

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The German Military Magazine ( DMZ ) has been a bimonthly magazine since 1995 . According to his own statement, the magazine is intended to be aimed “at the generation experienced in the Second World War , at soldiers and reservists in the Bundeswehr and at all citizens interested in contemporary history”. “The former members of the NVA ” should feel “equally addressed” . While the editors locate themselves in the conservative spectrum, the German government believes that the DMZ is close to right-wing extremism . The editorial section of the DMZ contains articles that uncritically deal with the warfare of National Socialist Germany in World War II and in some cases with a historical revisionist tendency.

history

The magazine was founded in April 1995 by Harald Thomas, the former managing director of a National European Youth Organization (NEJ) and former editor-in-chief of its new right-wing magazine Zeitwende . The DMZ. initially appeared every two months by DMZ-Verlag in A4 format and black and white print. In terms of content, the focus was on articles about the Bundeswehr and the Second World War . The editorial team also placed a further focus on eyewitness reports . Right -wing extremist publishers already advertised Druffel and Nation and Europe in the first issue .

At the beginning of 1997 the DMZ was sold and the content was continued by the new editor-in-chief Wolfgang Dischert from Cologne . From 1998 it was published every three months by the Medien-Marketing-Team GmbH (MTM) publishing house in Bad Soden-Salmünster. The editor-in-chief was Wolfgang Dischert. Claus Nordbruch was one of the permanent employees ; Emil Schlee and Wolfgang Strauss were among the freelancers . Jörg Schönbohm and Martin Hohmann could be won for interviews . In addition to other, politically inconspicuous publishers, Grabert Verlag began to place advertisements.

In September 2003 MTM went into bankruptcy proceedings . The publishing house Deutsche Militärzeitschrift (VDZM) from Berchtesgaden took over the editing by the editor-in-chief Josef Gruber. The magazine was now printed in full color with an increased number of images. At the same time, a connection to the Arndt publishing house operated by Dietmar Munier made itself felt. The DMZ's publications were editorially supported and advertised in the form of articles. Books from Muniers Pour le Mérite- Verlag, with whom the VDZM shared the postal address, received full-page advertisements, and a brochure from the publishing and mail-order companylesen & Schenken GmbH was attached to the second edition. Munier's responsibility for the DMZ is also evidenced by his entry as the administrative contact for the MTM and DMZ websites . According to Elmar Vieregge, since Munier's engagement at the end of 2003, the DMZ has de facto belonged to his right-wing extremist Arndt-Verlag. The Schleswig-Holstein Protection of the Constitution rejected in 2010 in his Verfassungsschutzbericht out that the focus of the publishing group sales geschichtsrevisionistischer 's literature and books like that of convicted Holocaust denier David Irving are offered by a partly uncritical attitude to Nazism are presented.

In an analysis, Elmar Vieregge came to the conclusion that Munier had recognized the opportunity to reach readers outside the circle of his like-minded people with the DMZ , which was created in an unencumbered journalistic environment . Munier himself emphasized that through the sale of the DMZ through the magazine trade, the dissemination of texts "no longer takes place outside the public eye in closed circles." Already at the time of the publication under the responsibility of the MTM, those responsible had committed themselves to the basic democratic values known in the Federal Republic of Germany . This commitment was also adopted by the editorial staff working for the VDMZ. Elmar Vieregge points out, however, that despite this apparent distance, the self-portrayal of the editor-in-chief Gruber had shown a widespread attitude, especially among right-wing extremists, to hold German journalists a taboo view of National Socialism and the Second World War. Although this could also be the attitude of a conservative democrat, Munier's positive statements as a well-known right-wing extremist publisher made the printed commitment to basic democratic values ​​untrustworthy.

In 2004 the DMZ was merged with the military magazine Barett , which has been published since 1987 . In spring 2005, the longstanding employee of Junge Freiheit and representative of the New Right , Manuel Ochsenreiter, became editor-in-chief of the DMZ . He reported extensively in the DMZ about his trips to the Middle East, including interviews with Hamas and Hezbollah officials .

Since Ochsenreiter has also been editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine First! Since March 2011, also published by Dietmar Munier . According to the DMZ, Guido Kraus replaced him as editor-in-chief of the DMZ . Ochsenreiter remains editor of the magazine. He traveled to Iran in early 2012 and reported on it in the March issue of First! and the DMZ .

content

The subject areas include, in particular, military history, war, captivity, flight and displacement, military science, trouble spots, the German armed forces and armed forces around the world, often glorifying portraits of soldiers and security policy.

The magazine often contains interviews with politicians and celebrities from other sectors of public life about their experiences in the military. For example, the former Federal Defense Ministers Rudolf Scharping , Hans Apel , Rupert Scholz , Georg Leber , the former KFOR commander Klaus Reinhardt (No. 22/2000), Lieutenant General ret. D. and former commander of the NATO Defense College in Rome Franz Uhle-Wettler (special edition paratroopers, No. 89/2012), the retired Brigadier General. D. and former commander of the KSK Reinhard Günzel (special edition Africa Corps, No. 56/2007, No. 59/2007 and No. 63/2008), Major General a. D. Gerd Schultze-Rhonhof (No. 37/2004 and No. 99/2014) the then Brandenburg Interior Minister Jörg Schönbohm (No. 16/1999), the former Saxon Justice Minister Steffen Heitmann (No. 8/1997 and No. 21 / 2000), Hajo Herrmann (No. 20/2000), Heinrich Lummer (No. 23/2000), the BdV President Erika Steinbach , the US actor Tom Cruise (No. 52/2006), the actor Heino Ferch , the President of the German Football Association Theo Zwanziger and Peter Scholl-Latour (No. 38/2004) of the magazine Interviews. The Israeli military historian and theorist Martin van Creveld gave the DMZ several interviews, for example for the January / February 2009 and September 2011 issues.

reception

According to an analysis by Elmar Vieregge , the majority of the articles in the DMZ contain neither right-wing extremist content nor openly racist or anti-Semitic statements. The articles on weapons technology and military meetings as well as most of the texts on the development of the Bundeswehr would give the impression that the magazine was primarily devoted to military matters. But through the publisher there is a right-wing extremist background, and the editor-in-chief Ochsenreiter and some of the regular authors have created an editorial line “that is based on right-wing extremist revisionism in the broader sense. He does not deny the Holocaust , but denies or relativizes other Nazi crimes. Thereby the Third Reich should appear in a more favorable light and current system alternatives from the right should be freed from the burden caused by the memory of the National Socialist crimes. [...] With the combination of concealment or relativization of the Nazi crimes and the portrayal of Germans as mere victims of air strikes, displacement or mistreatment in prisoner-of-war camps, the DMZ used a procedure that has been common in right-wing extremism for decades to downplay Nazi Germany and as a To depict victims of hostile powers. "

Fabian Virchow classified the DMZ as a “magazine project from the extreme right”, which deals with historical, current military and military-political issues. In the contributions of well-known representatives of the extreme right, according to Virchow's legends, the German “preventive war” was spoken of as well as an alleged desire for peace on the part of the National Socialist regime.

The authors from the right-wing conservative to right-wing extremist spectrum include: B. the former president of the study center Weikersheim Klaus Hornung , Claus Nordbruch and Franz W. Seidler as well as lieutenant general ret. D. Franz Uhle-Wettler . Other authors are Rolf-Josef Eibicht , the republican member Emil Schlee , Hans-Joachim von Leesen , nation-and-Europe author Wolfgang Strauss , the right-wing extremist expellee functionary Walter Staffa and the former commander of the KSK Brigadier General a. D. Reinhard Gunzel .

The publication of the résumés of military persons from the time of the Second World War such as Michael Wittmann is seen as an appreciation of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS .

Advertising and advertisements for the DMZ are published in media such as Junge Freiheit , but also the NPD newspaper German Voice . The German Weapons Journal , the Munster tank museum and the Bundeswehr's Y. Magazin advertised in the DMZ . Advertisers include advertisements from well-known right-wing extremist publishers such as Grabert-Verlag or “Munin-Verlag” with its periodical “Der Freiwillige” that glorifies the Waffen-SS . The German voice publishing house of the NPD , the revanchist weekly newspaper Der Schlesier and the right-wing Ares publishing house from Graz have also advertised in the German military magazine .

Assessment of the federal government

Due to small inquiries from the Left Party , the federal government issued several statements on the German military magazine . Accordingly, the magazine is “ close to the right-wing extremist ' Arndt-Verlag '” and “regularly publishes advertisements for print products from the 'Arndt-Verlag' and other right-wing extremist publishers. The editorial section of the DMZ contains articles that deal with the Second World War uncritically and in some cases with a historical revisionist tendency. ”This is why the Federal Government instructed all Bundeswehr libraries and specialist information centers in 2008 to stop receiving the German military magazine . Exceptions to this are the Military History Research Office , the Military History Museum and the Bundeswehr Academy for Information and Communication , where “the journal can be used by a limited group of people for purely scientific purposes”.

DMZ contemporary history

Since 2012, a bi-monthly publication has been published under the title DMZ Zeitgeschichte , which has thematically specialized in the Waffen-SS . In addition to the editors who also work for the DMZ , the authors include the representatives of the preventive war thesis Heinz Magenheimer and the military writers with a focus on Waffen-SS Rolf Michaelis and Jean Restayn . The publication presents the Waffen-SS as a “military elite unit” and emphasizes its military achievements, but at the same time suppresses the ideological background of the Waffen-SS. It also does not address their involvement in war crimes or their role in the Holocaust . On the other hand, acts of Allied soldiers against members of the Waffen SS are highlighted. According to its own account, the magazine sees itself as apolitical in the sense that facts are presented “soberly, factually, historically flawlessly”. In fact, according to Lenard Suerman in Der Rechts Rand , “völkisch-nationalist historical politics” is conveyed. According to the historian Elmar Vieregge in an article for Endstation Rechts , the DMZ contemporary history on the one hand glorifies the Waffen-SS and on the other hand presents especially young right-wing extremists a historical ideal for their own life.

literature

  • Patrick Schwarz: History falsification on a glossy finish - The “German military magazine”. Belltower April 18, 2008, online as PDF , comes from the anti-fascist information sheet , 2007.
  • Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Ed.): Yearbook for Research on Extremism and Terrorism 2009/2010, Brühl 2010, ISBN 978-3-938407-31-8 , pp. 151-190. ( Online as PDF )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Editorial self-presentation of the DMZ on its website ( memento of September 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 8, 2019.
  2. ↑ Franziska Hundseder: Look twice. Anonymous interviews - how right-wing papers create reputation for themselves. In: The time. No. 44 of October 26, 1990; Jens Mecklenburg (Hrsg.): Handbook of German right-wing extremism. Berlin 1996, p. 239 f.
  3. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Extremism and Terrorism Research 2009/2010. Brühl / Rhineland 2010, p. 153.
  4. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Extremism and Terrorism Research 2009/2010. Brühl / Rheinland 2010, pp. 153–155.
  5. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Extremism and Terrorism Research 2009/2010. Brühl / Rhineland 2010, p. 185.
  6. ↑ Ministry of the Interior of Schleswig-Holstein (ed.): Verfassungsschutz Report 2010 ( Memento from July 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 3.4 MB) . Kiel 2011, ISSN 0935-4042 , p. 56 f.  
  7. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Extremism and Terrorism Research 2009/2010. Brühl / Rheinland 2010, p. 189.
  8. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Extremism and Terrorism Research 2009/2010. Brühl / Rhineland 2010, p. 154 f.
  9. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Extremism and Terrorism Research 2009/2010. Brühl / Rhineland 2010, p. 156 f.
  10. ↑ Article to Manuel Ochsenreiter in looking to the right he was, by its own account Head of Policy
  11. ↑ The DMZ - a right-wing revolver: Hezbollah fan tour by German militarists
  12. ↑ Right-wing extremists / Ahmadine-Jihad pose on the wrecked tank January 13, 2009 The gap between Islamists and German right-wing extremists is decreasing: the editor of a right-wing "military magazine" was on a friendly visit to Hezbollah, the Muslim market is happy about the propaganda support. ( Memento of July 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 8, 2019
  13. ^ Anton Maegerle: Solidarity with Ahmadinejad. ( Memento of October 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Tribune. Journal for the Understanding of Judaism. (Frankfurt am Main). 3rd quarter 2009, year 48, issue 191.
  14. ↑ d-mz.de ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.d-mz.de
  15. ↑ d-mz.de ( Memento from January 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 8, 2019
  16. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Ed.): Yearbook for Research on Extremism and Terrorism 2009. Brühl / Rheinland 2010, pp. 184–188, quoted. 185, 186.
  17. ↑ Fabian Virchow, Against Civilism: International Relations and the Military in the Political Conceptions of the Extreme Right , Springer-Verlag 2006, p. 494.
  18. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Extremism and Terrorism Research 2009. Brühl / Rheinland 2010, p. 169.
  19. ↑ Stephan Braun and Ute Vogt (eds.): The weekly newspaper 'Junge Freiheit' - Critical analyzes of the program, authors and customers. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, 2007, p. 218.
  20. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Ed.): Yearbook for Research on Extremism and Terrorism 2009. Brühl / Rheinland 2010, p. 183.
  21. ↑ Elmar Vieregge: German military magazine (DMZ). An analysis of the role of a military-oriented magazine in right-wing extremist journalism. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Extremism and Terrorism Research 2009. Brühl / Rheinland 2010, p. 184.
  22. ↑ Stephan Braun and Ute Vogt (eds.): The weekly newspaper 'Junge Freiheit' - Critical analyzes of the program, authors and customers. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, 2007, p. 218.
  23. ↑ Answer of the federal government to the small question of the MPs Ulla Jelpke, Sevim Dagdelen, Kersten Naumann, other MPs and the parliamentary group Die Linke: traditional associations, comradeship associations and right-wing extremism . Bundestag printed paper 16/1282 , April 25, 2006 (PDF, 116 kB), accessed on May 4, 2011.
  24. ↑ Answer of the Federal Government to the small question of the MPs Ulla Jelpke, Inge Höger, Petra Pau, Paul Schäfer (Cologne) and the faction Die Linke: Contacts between the Bundeswehr and advertisers of the right-wing extremist German military magazine . Bundestag printed paper 16/9550 , June 12, 2008 (PDF, 116 kB), accessed on May 4, 2011.
  25. ↑ Answer of the Parliamentary State Secretary Christian Schmidt of February 7th, 2007. In: Written questions with the answers of the Federal Government received in the week of February 5th, 2007. Bundestag printed paper 16/4306 , February 9, 2007 (PDF, 646 kB), p. 37, accessed on May 4, 2011.
  26. ^ A b Lenard Suermann: New brown press. In: The Right Edge . Number 143 (July / August 2013), p. 9. ISSN  1619-1404
  27. ^ A b Elmar Vieregge: The magazine "DMZ Zeitgeschichte" and the glorification of the Waffen-SS at the magazine kiosk . In: right end of the line . May 18, 2013.