German Federal Armed Forces Association
| German Federal Armed Forces Association V. (DBwV) |
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| purpose | Interest group |
| Chair: | André Wüstner |
| Establishment date: | July 14, 1956 |
| Number of members: | more than 200,000 |
| Seat : | Berlin |
| Website: | German Armed Forces Association |
The Deutsche BundeswehrVerband eV (DBwV) is a non-partisan and financially independent registered association. It represents the interests of its more than 200,000 members in all questions of service, social and supply law - active soldiers, reservists, former and surviving dependents, civilian members of the Bundeswehr and supporting members. He also takes part in security and socio-political debates.
Unit and umbrella organization
The DBwV is committed to the principle of the citizen in uniform , who basically has the same rights and obligations as every citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany. The German Armed Forces Association was founded on July 14, 1956, when, for the first time in German history, soldiers of all rank groups came together to represent their interests in a democratic professional organization.
The Bundestag and the Federal Government involve the DBwV as the central organization of the soldiers when legal regulations or the interests of the people of the Bundeswehr and their family members are affected. The association endeavors to influence decisions by government and parliament in the interests of its members.
Membership in the German Armed Forces Association is voluntary.
European role
The German Federal Armed Forces Association (DBwV) represents the non-material, social and professional interests as well as the rights of all active or former soldiers, civil servants and employees of the Federal Armed Forces at both national and international level. He works with other European associations to ensure that the interests of members are effectively represented internationally.
European Organization of Military Associations ( EUROMIL )
In 1972, as a founding member, the DBwV played a key role in the creation of EUROMIL, the European organization of military associations. EUROMIL consists of around 40 military associations from all over Europe. The office is in Brussels. The organization deals with the professional and social interests of its 500,000 members across Europe. EUROMIL has participation status with the Council of Europe and is accredited as a lobbyist by the European Parliament. EUROMIL also maintains contacts with the European Commission, the European Council and NATO. Since 2012, Captain Jörg Greiffendorf has represented the DBwV on both the Presidium and the Board of EUROMIL.
Confédération Européene des Syndicats Indépendants ( CESI )
Since January 2013, the DBwV has also been a member of CESI, the "European Association of Independent Trade Unions". CESI is an association of trade unions and federations as well as trade union confederations from all over Europe. The organization pursues the goal of creating better living and working conditions within the EU in the public service and related areas. CESI consists of professional councils that deal with topics such as the relevant legislation for the various professional sectors or subject areas. The DBwV provides with Lieutenant Colonel a. D. Thomas Sohst the President for the Professional Council Defense.
structure
The German Armed Forces Association is led by a federal executive committee consisting of 29 voluntary members. These are elected every four years by the delegates at the Annual General Meeting, most recently in November 2017 in Berlin. Since 2013, Lieutenant Colonel André Wüstner has been at the head of the Federal Executive Committee .
The German Federal Armed Forces Association has two federal offices - in Bonn and Berlin - as well as four regional offices, for the regional association north in Neumünster , for the regional association east in Berlin, for the regional association southern Germany in Unterhaching and for the regional association west in Bonn. The four regional associations (LV) consist of a total of 27 districts. At the base, the members are organized in 116 local comradeships, 384 troop comradeships, 123 comradeships of former soldiers / reservists / survivors and 266 independent troop comradeships.
history
1950s
On July 14, 1956, 23 officers, 25 NCOs and 7 crew ranks founded the German Armed Forces Association in the Munster camp in Lower Saxony . The first executive board was headed by Lieutenant Colonel Karl-Theodor Molinari .
Initially, the DBwV and the already existing Association of German Soldiers (VdS) formed a working group in which the DBwV represented the active soldiers and the VdS the inactive soldiers. In October 1956, parts of the office were initially relocated to Bonn and a little later the entire office was relocated to Bonn. At the end of the year, soldiers' meetings of the German Armed Forces Association were allowed in the barracks and even soldiers who volunteered for the association were released for events.
The first general meeting of the association took place in the spring of 1957. In this Molinari was confirmed in his office as chairman.
In 1958, the association complained that the soldiers were treated like civil servants in terms of salary law , but did not receive their back payments in the same way. In order to coordinate association matters at the regional level and to represent the members on site, defense officers were appointed to the service. In November of that year, the DBwV asked the Defense Minister to have Saturdays off duty and Christmas bonuses for all soldiers.
At the beginning of 1959 the association, which now had 50,000 members, moved into its first own office in Bonn and continued to advocate equality between soldiers and civil servants.
1960s
A year later, the DBwV submitted its own list for the election of the main staff council for the first time, and such a list of proposals was also submitted in 1962. In 1961, the association fought to ensure that the parties also put up soldiers as candidates for the Bundestag, but it was initially unsuccessful. On the other hand, he was able to ensure that newly married soldiers also receive separation allowance. From now on, the DBwV was called the “soldiers' union” in the media.
In April 1963 Major i. G. Lothar Domröse briefly took over the official business of Molinari until the 5th general meeting of Colonel i. G. Wolfgang Keilig was elected as the new chairman. Molinari, who has meanwhile been promoted to brigadier general, became honorary chairman. The first local comradeship in the Netherlands was founded in Budel at the end of the year.
In 1964, candidates from the DBwV were elected to the main staff council for the first time. The ÖTV (Union of Public Services, Transport and Traffic) founded a “Specialist Group of Soldiers” competing with the association. The tensions that arose between DBwV and ÖTV increased steadily over the next few years.
After lengthy efforts, an active soldier and DBwV-elected in September 1965 when it became CDU - deputy in the Bundestag elected: Sergeant Hermann Stahlberg , Chairman army.
A big ceremony took place for the tenth anniversary of the DBwV, at which many representatives from politics, society, the military and the church were represented. The association now has 110,000 members. A special issue of "Die Bundeswehr" was published with suggestions for four career groups to improve the personnel structure in the Bundeswehr. In August 1966, trade union events inside barracks were banned, but since the DBwV did not see itself as a trade union and did not use union rights such as tariff eligibility, work in the barracks continued.
In 1967, the 7th general assembly elected Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Volland as the new federal chairman of the DBwV. In the fall, the board appointed a special representative for alumni.
In 1969 each defense area had a contract lawyer of the DBwV, which had grown by a further 20,000 members. In the election of the main staff council, three active soldiers have now been chosen from the list of the DBwV. DBwV candidates also ran for election to the district staff council in six military areas.
In the meantime, the association has been able to report many successes through granting DBwV legal protection. After six years of effort, the military professional service career was introduced into the officer career group. The federal chairman announced that in the future he would not only tackle the material situation of the soldiers, but also the ideal problems. The enactment of the integration law for temporary soldiers in 1969 was another important success of the association. At the same time, the DBwV demanded an adjustment of the wage level for employees in the public service due to considerable increases in the economy. The association reinforced these demands in 1970, when the wage gap was 20 percent, and organized the first open protest.
1970s
At the end of 1970, the association moved its office to Bonn's Südstrasse, where it will be located until it is completely relocated to Berlin in 2019.
Since the ÖTV continued to insist on being put on an equal footing with the DBwV, general meetings of both soldiers' representatives were allowed to meet in the barracks from 1971.
In 1972 the DBwV founded the European interest group EUROMIL, which initially represented more than a million military personnel from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. The number of members was now 140,000. The association also dealt with the 1970 White Paper and in the following years demanded that soldiers help to shape the service law. At the end of 1973 the DBwV chairman was appointed to the committee for political education and only a few months later the association saw its legal position as the leading organization for soldiers significantly strengthened in accordance with a draft law to amend the Soldiers Act . The opinion of the now 175,000 member association was from now on published in the Bundestag printed matter dealing with military law issues. In addition, he has now also been heard in parliamentary interior committee meetings.
The DBwV reacted with sharp criticism and many initiatives in 1975 to the savings and tax decisions of the federal government and was finally heard in the Ministry of the Interior on the issues of salaries and austerity measures. On October 1, 1975, the first female medical officers became members of the DBwV.
The year 1976 began with the analysis of the latest white paper, which, according to DBwV, sometimes too superficially presented the problems and personnel situation in the Bundeswehr. Saving proposals are put forward in order to protect the soldiers from the encroachments on the social acquis under the Budget Structure Act, which led to partial successes. The inadequate integration of the regular soldiers into the public service was also criticized.
On February 8, 1977, the Förderungsgesellschaft (FöG) was founded as a self-help institution of the association. The DBwV was involved in social issues, security issues and service law matters for soldiers and was in constant contact with the Federal Ministry of Defense. Among other things, he called on the federal government to develop a concept for overall defense and advocated military justice , A9 positions , pay, community service and examination procedures. Top talks followed with various associations and unions. According to a survey among the members, the German Armed Forces Association was perceived as "strictly neutral in terms of party politics" and had "medium socio-political significance".
1980s
In 1980, the Bundestag decided on an allowance for individual armed forces occupational groups, which was a significant success for the association, which had been fighting for years for improvements in terms of career and salary structure. The DBwV had also campaigned for years to increase the military pay, which was successfully implemented in 1981. A year later, the association prevailed and managed to ensure that no reduction in the initial basic salaries and local bonuses, as originally planned, was carried out. For the first time in the history of the Bundeswehr, a central protest meeting was called under the leadership of the DBwV, as the period of service was to be shortened, but the tasks and number of personnel were to remain unchanged. As a result, the remuneration for peak hours was increased. The position as the leading representation of interests of the soldiers was also strengthened by the renewed election to the main staff council with 70 percent of all votes. Long-term demands of the association were partly stipulated in the resolution on the 1983 budget: increase in funds for service time compensation, additional posts for (sub) officers, sergeant major, realization of a new top service level. In addition, from now on events of the association were no longer subject to the uniform ban. In addition, he was given the right to participate in the preparation of legal regulations relating to the civil service relationship. At the end of 1984 a hard-won legislative proposal to improve the personnel structure in the armed forces was launched and thus set a milestone on the subject of the Bundeswehr's personnel situation.
During the 12th Annual General Meeting in October 1985, Colonel a. D. Heinz Volland resigned his office as federal chairman and Lieutenant Colonel Rolf Wenzel was elected as his successor.
At a press conference in 1986, the association announced a constitutional complaint about the lack of a service time regulation for soldiers. By the end of the following year, the association was able to show further new successes: The amendment of the Maintenance Assurance Act was resolved and with it the increase or adjustment of the financial benefits for family members of married basic military service providers as well as rent allowances and compensation for loss of earnings for military practitioners to the current salaries for the first time in eight years.
The German Bundestag passed a law by which the hours of service were regulated and leisure time was made more plannable, and compensation claims for soldiers during peak hours are appropriate. The association had fought hard for this in recent years. In December, the Karl-Theodor-Molinari-Stiftung eV was founded as an educational institution of the DBwV to carry out educational and seminar work.
1990s
After the reunification of Germany , the Association of Professional Soldiers of the National People's Army (VBS) was founded, with which the DBwV initially held joint events. With 520 delegates from all areas of the NVA, the VBS advocated the common pursuit of social interests.
After protective measures for radar victims were defined for the first time in 1991, the DBwV granted injured members legal protection for procedures for the recognition of military service damage. Up to this point in time there were no protection zones around radar devices, so that especially former NVA soldiers were exposed to high levels of radiation unprotected due to their work on certain weapon systems and their health was damaged. By next year, the association called for a general adjustment of salaries to the western level. A new regional association with a regional office in Berlin was founded for the new federal states.
1993 Colonel Bernhard Gertz was elected as the new federal chairman. In 1994, the DBwV questioned ten-month basic military service and demanded more military pay for those doing basic military service as well as greater attractiveness for compulsory service. A year later, the association presented the “Brussels Declaration” to the European Parliament . This contained goals such as the right of association for all soldiers in Europe and recognition as a citizen in uniform with all basic rights.
In 1997, the three-year negotiations on the 1st SBG Amendment Act for more rights of participation for soldiers began. In addition, the regional associations for North, West and South Germany were founded. In Moscow the DBwV promoted the training and further education of former Russian soldiers and the model of the citizen in uniform in the Eastern European armed forces.
The association has been on the Internet since September 1998.
2000s
The case that had been going on for years around Tanja Kreil , who sued DBwV lawyers for recruitment into a career in troop service, was successful. The verdict was made in 2000 and from January 1, 2001, women may be employed for all positions in the Bundeswehr.
The Equal Opportunities Act came into effect in November 2001 (initially DGleiG, from 2015 BGleiG). In 2002 the DBwV demanded the Emergency Supply Act and two years later this was passed in the Bundestag and Council. The law guarantees better care services in the event of serious injuries in the field.
By the end of 2005, 31 family care centers for soldiers and their relatives had been set up, to which the DBwV made significant contributions. When several hundred soldiers were sent to the Congo in 2006, the interest group expressed its doubts about the usefulness of the operation and accused the EU of making mistakes in its preparation. The association also celebrated its 50th anniversary. In his jubilee year, he mainly campaigned for the improvement of the Bundeswehr barracks, the increase of the military salary as well as for better future prospects in careers and the company pension scheme for temporary soldiers. The compatibility of work and family has always been a major issue for the association. In 2006 additional posts for NCOs (A9 and A8 mA) were set up, for which the DBwV had fought for a long time. The year ended with a major survey among members on the soldiers' job satisfaction. The evaluation took place publicly in February 2007. The results were partly devastating.
The white paper published in 2006 received severe criticism from the association's board in early 2007, stating that it was sketchy, superficial and vague. But there was a success: the law on the continued use of operations. The DBwV had long fought for the professional future of injured parties. The first draft of the Service Law Reform Act was rejected by the association and the service law reform was also heavily criticized.
In 2008 the DBwV achieved several successes: The payment of the separation accommodation allowance was extended and can also be applied for in the case of instructions for courses from abroad to Germany; the daily military salary rate was increased by two euros, and the 2008 defense budget increased the budget for the renovation of barracks considerably. In addition, the Defense Law Amendment Act came into force that year, which contained significant improvements for all soldiers.
The Service Law Reform Act (DNeuG) was passed at the end of 2008: Too many inconsistencies and stumbling blocks, which were not immediately obvious even to experts, had led to the fact that almost all points that the association had demanded as requiring improvement met with the approval of the MPs .
At the 2009 Annual General Meeting, Colonel Ulrich Kirsch was elected as the new federal chairman of the association. After the association had launched its website eleven years earlier, it has now also become active on YouTube. This year the DBwV campaigned more for PTSD victims and called for better care for those affected on site. A catalog of requirements was drawn up, which includes suggestions for improvement for the government across the board, including on the topics of permanent positions, working time regulation, legal protection, reconciliation of family and service, allowance and bonus system, pension equalization, pension benefits for temporary soldiers, maintenance of conscription and increasing the Attractiveness, included. During the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, the DBwV campaigned for better equipment, better protection and better training for soldiers.
2010s
Before Christmas 2010, the so-called postcard campaign aroused great interest in the media. More than 120,000 letters of complaint were collected from DBwV members due to the continued reduction in special payments (" Christmas bonus ") and delivered personally to the Bundestag by the board members. The decision to cut was then withdrawn.
A Facebook account was set up in 2011, through which active communication with members is possible. The 2011 attractiveness agenda was rated as the main focus of the year, a catalog of demands on topics such as the social framework, the attractiveness of the service and the further development of participation rights. Regarding the upcoming Bundeswehr reform, the Federal Chairman wrote an open letter to the Defense Minister, demanding that a transitional arrangement for voluntary military service be found and that the Bundeswehr be made more attractive. This was followed by the passage of the Emergency Supply Improvement Act, which guarantees more financial security for the soldiers. The BMVg's accompanying reform program was also a partial success for the DBwV. Some remuneration rates were doubled and to support the reconciliation of family and service, the structural decree was extended by a further three years, so that on the one hand there was still a free choice between separation allowance and relocation allowance and the use was limited to a maximum of three years in the event of a transfer.
The Federation for the Support of Radar Victims has been supported by the association since its foundation, members of the DBwV receive legal protection. In 2011 a so-called hardship foundation was set up by the BMVg with the federal chairman Colonel Bernhard Gertz as ombudsman.
2012 was the year of the realignment of the Bundeswehr. The minister's reform accompanying program was rated as “a step in the right direction, but improvement required”. It was broken down into measures to reduce or reorganize staff and measures to increase the attractiveness of the Bundeswehr as an employer. After the association had campaigned for an accident regulation for a long time, it came into force in 2012. It states that the damage to previously healthy soldiers who return from a mission and have PTSD or other mental illnesses is due to the mission.
With the round table “Solidarity with soldiers”, the joint campaign “Yellow Ribbons” was launched in 2013. As a sign of solidarity for the soldiers in action, politicians signed yellow ribbons that were sent to the soldiers in the deployment areas, who were unable to be with their families, especially over Christmas and New Year's Eve. In November 2013, Lieutenant Colonel André Wüstner became the new Federal Chairman. In addition to the existing Facebook presence, the association has now also set up a Twitter account.
In April 2014, the association published the "Powerful Bundeswehr 2020. Start attractiveness offensive!". It should give a holistic picture of what still needs to be done for a sustainable Bundeswehr by 2020. The pillars “framework conditions” and “perspectives” were taken up again and formulated in detail in terms of infrastructure, appropriate accommodation, personal equipment as well as deployment-related equipment and training as concrete requirements for improvement. The association also called for a more family-friendly armed forces and prospects across all careers, for example.
Members' magazine "The Bundeswehr"
The Bundeswehr is the association magazine of the German Federal Armed Forces Association. It appears monthly and is the largest German soldiers' magazine with a circulation of around 155,000. The first edition appeared on December 1, 1956. In the mid-1960s, the membership magazine had a circulation of 125,000. At the beginning of the 1990s it was distributed for the first time in all federal states.
Current
The DBwV rates the Article Act to Increase Attractiveness , which was passed by the German Bundestag at the end of February 2015, as the most recent and one of the greatest association successes . The article law not only contained numerous improvements in the areas of salaries and provisions, it also took into account what was perceived as arbitrary differentiation between foreign assignments. The uniform cut-off date for emergency supply is now November 1, 1991. The DBwV played a key role in drafting the new White Book passed by the Federal Cabinet on July 13, 2016 .
Chair of the DBwV
- Karl-Theodor Molinari 1956–1963
- Lothar Domröse 1963 (acting)
- Wolfgang Keilig 1963–1967
- Heinz Volland 1967–1985
- Rolf Wenzel 1985-1993
- Bernhard Gertz 1993-2008
- Ulrich Kirsch 2009–2013
- André Wüstner since 2013
literature
- Rüdiger Andel: 50 years of the German Armed Forces Association. Lensing, Dortmund 2007.
- German Armed Forces Association
Web links
- Homepage of the German Federal Armed Forces Association (DBwV)
- Homepage of the promotion company of the DBwV (FöG)
- Homepage of the Karl-Theodor-Molinari-Stiftung - Bildungswerk des DBwV
- Homepage of the European Organization of Military Associations
- Homepage of the Association of Trade Unions and Associations of Europe