Harald Kujat

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Harald Kujat (2003)

Harald Kujat (born March 1, 1942 in Mielke , Reichsgau Wartheland ) is a retired German general . D. the Air Force . From 2000 to 2002 he was the 13th General Inspector of the Bundeswehr and from 2002 to 2005 chairman of the NATO military committee . From summer 2019 he was chairman of the supervisory board of the defense company Heckler & Koch for one year until his resignation .

Life

Kujat grew up with his three siblings near Hanover. He went to school in Kiel. After graduating from an evening school , he began training with the Air Force in 1959 . Kujat is married and has three children.

Military career

Training and first uses

On October 29, 1965, Kujat was promoted to the rank of lieutenant . He completed the pre-flight training and became a trainer for NCOs, was platoon leader and deputy company commander , as well as personnel officer ( S 1 ). During this time he was promoted to first lieutenant in April 1968 and finally to captain in January 1971 .

Service as a staff officer

From 1972 to 1975 Kujat was an orderly officer at the Federal Minister of Defense Georg Leber , SPD , in Bonn . In 1974 he was promoted to major . From 1975 to 1977 he completed the 20th general staff course of the Air Force at the command academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg and from 1977 served as an adjutant to Federal Defense Minister Hans Apel in Bonn. In the same year Kujat became head of division (A 3a) Air Force Support Group Command North in Münster . From 1978 to 1980 he was a consultant (operational basics of the air force) in the command staff of the armed forces (FüS) of the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn. On April 1, 1979, he was then promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Another employment in Bonn was as a consultant for security policy and strategy in the Federal Chancellery . In 1985 he took over a troop command again, namely that of the 2nd  Battalion of Air Force Training Regiment  1 in Appen near Pinneberg .

In 1988 Kujat completed the 72nd course at the NATO Defense College in Rome , Italy . He was then promoted to colonel in October 1988 . In 1989 Kujat was appointed Head of Department (NATO Troop Planning, Air Force) at the German Military Representative to the NATO Military Committee in Brussels . One year later, in 1990, he became head of division in the command staff of the armed forces in Bonn, responsible for nuclear and global arms control.

Service in the rank of general

From 1992 to 1995, appointed Brigadier General on September 20, 1992 , Kujat took on the post of Chief of Staff and Deputy German Military Representative in the NATO Military Committee in Brussels, at that time Lieutenant General Jörn Söder .

Back in Germany, Kujat was appointed major general on April 1, 1995 and took over the post of Head of Department III for military policy in the command staff of the armed forces in the Bonn Ministry of Defense. Subsequently, in 1996 he became Head of the IFOR Coordination Center (ICC) at NATO Headquarters (SHAPE) in Mons , Belgium . In October 1996 he finally became Deputy Director of NATO's International Military Staff (IMS) in Brussels.

On November 10, 1998 Kujat was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed by Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping ( SPD ) in January 1999 to head the planning staff of the Federal Minister of Defense . In this function he advised the minister on all questions relating to long-term basic military and defense policy planning. In this position he gave cause for discussion, as he was accused within the Bundeswehr that the planning staff was Rudolf Scharping's "kitchen cabinet" and was used to make important plans (especially with regard to conscription and the future design of the Bundeswehr) of the minor To carry out resistance because of the actual military leadership and to dismantle the Inspector General. After the resignation of Inspector General Hans-Peter von Kirchbach , Kujat was appointed Inspector General of the Bundeswehr himself on June 1, 2000 and thus became the highest-ranking German soldier. In July 2000, he was promoted to general . With the re-election of Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) in 2002, Peter Struck (SPD) became the new Defense Minister and Kujat was replaced as General Inspector by General Wolfgang Schneiderhan , who had previously also headed the planning staff. In 2002 he took over the post of Chairman of the NATO Military Committee in Brussels . On June 16, 2005, Kujat was finally retired in Berlin with a big tattoo by Defense Minister Struck.

Activities in retirement

After his retirement, Kujat appeared for years as a critic and expert on security policy in public and was a frequent guest in the media. Kujat is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (as of mid-2016). He is also a member of the executive committee of the International Economic Senate. Since July 2016 Kujat Supervisory Board member of the Institute "dialogue of civilizations", one of Vladimir Yakunin and his wife conducted and usually as friendly russia classified here think tank .

At the annual general meeting on July 13, 2019, Kujat was elected to the supervisory board of the weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch and was then appointed chairman of the company's supervisory board. A year later he announced his resignation. He will remain in office until the Annual General Meeting on August 27, 2020.

Orders and decorations

Harald Kujat is awarded the Legion of Merit by Richard Myers .

His orders and decorations include u. a .: the Great Federal Cross of Merit , the Cross of Honor of the Bundeswehr in gold, the Medal of Merit of the Hamburg Senate, the Commander's Cross of the French Legion of Honor , the NATO Meritorious Service Medal, the Legion of Merit ( USA ), as well as high awards from Belgium, Malta, Poland, Russia and Hungary. In 1962 he was awarded a medal from the Senate of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg for his work during the flood disaster in the Hanseatic city.

Political positions

Kujat is a frequent, sometimes highly controversial guest on talk shows and interviewees on security and defense issues.

NATO and the Ukraine crisis

In Kujat's opinion, NATO failed in the 2013/14 Ukraine crisis and “made absolutely no contribution to de-escalation before the Crimean crisis.” “NATO should have negotiated with Russia from the start, because it has a strategic partnership with Russia He said. According to the basic treaty, the NATO-Russia Council should have been convened. There is great readiness for negotiations in Moscow. These could be a success if the West made it clear that Ukraine would not become a NATO member.

Afghanistan

After the Taliban's conquest of Kunduz in October 2015, Kujat considered the continued deployment of NATO troops to be essential. “Only another massive combat mission by NATO could clear up the situation,” Kujat told the newspapers of the Funke media group . But the international community is not ready for this. "It is becoming apparent that it is only a matter of time before the Taliban take power in the country."

Syria conflict

In contrast to most media reports, Kujat praised Russia's actions in Syria in 2015 and 2016 : Syria had stood still until September 2015. Neither the Americans nor the Europeans had a strategy for a peaceful Syria. They were also not ready to get involved massively. "The Russians did it and opened a window for a political solution." Without Russia's intervention, "Syria would have collapsed and IS would have taken over the country." According to Kujat, the next destination would have been Lebanon and the next but one Israel. “That would have had far-reaching consequences for us too.” Kujat also defended the attacks on Aleppo in January and February 2016, which the West had condemned as a necessary part of a strategy against IS: “ Putin's goal is the advance of Syrian troops towards IS territory to support. Aleppo has so far been like a locking bar on this path because the city was held by the Syrian opposition. ”The German government reacted irritably to Kujat's presentation. In the case of Anne Will , on October 9, 2016, he described the Al-Nusra Front as an ally of the United States. The former US ambassador to Germany John Kornblum (1997-2001) then called him a "Soviet General". In fact, in 2016 Kujat was one of the founding staff of a Putin-related think tank. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote in July 2016 that Kujat praised "the Russian Syria military intervention as a contribution to peace in Syria", was "of course excellently suited to qualify for a position on the supervisory board at Jakunin's headquarters in Berlin".

Fonts (selection)

literature

  • Dermot Bradley , Heinz-Peter Würzenthal, Hansgeorg Model (eds.): The Generals and Admirals of the Bundeswehr (1955-1999). The military careers (= Germany's generals and admirals. Part 6b). Volume 2. 2: Hoffmann - Kusserow. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 2000, ISBN 3-7648-2370-4 , p. 804.

Web links

Commons : Harald Kujat  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Economy, Trade & Finance: ROUNDUP / After change of ownership: Ex-General Kujat gives up at Heckler & Koch. Accessed July 31, 2020 .
  2. ^ A b c Peter Carstens: General in the supervisory board of Heckler & Koch. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . July 14, 2019, accessed July 14, 2019 .
  3. ↑ ncoic.org
  4. ↑ IWS. In: Marjorie Wiki. Retrieved January 19, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Wladimir Jakunin founds an institute in Berlin. In: Der Tagesspiegel . May 7, 2016, Retrieved October 10, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Sabine Adler: Russian Think Tank in Berlin - Peace Instrument or Propaganda Tool? In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. February 13, 2017, accessed December 2, 2018 .
  7. ↑ The Council of the Fund. Dialogue of Civilizations - DofC, October 10, 2016, accessed October 10, 2016 .
  8. ↑ without receipt, but here in the right place
  9. ↑ Ex-Inspector General Kujat - Suddenly he is doing propaganda for Putin. Retrieved November 3, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Propagandists like Harald Kujat as "critical experts". Retrieved November 3, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Julian Reichelt: Ex-Inspector General Kujat is officially invited by @AnneWillTalk as a supporter of Russian war crimes. Retrieved November 3, 2016 .
  12. ↑ NATO failed in the Ukraine crisis. In: welt.de . April 16, 2014, accessed February 12, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Taliban attacks: Ex-Inspector General Kujat calls for military action in Afghanistan. In: Spiegel Online . October 1, 2015, accessed February 12, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Kujat praises Russia's role in the Syria conflict. Deutsche Welle , February 11, 2016, accessed on February 12, 2016 .
  15. ^ Civil war: Ex-Bundeswehr general praises Russia's role in Syria. In: Spiegel Online . February 12, 2016, accessed February 12, 2016 .
  16. ↑ War in Syria: Ex-Bundeswehr General's praise for Russia irritates Berlin. In: Spiegel Online . February 12, 2016, accessed February 12, 2016 .
  17. ↑ bild.de
  18. ^ New think tank in Berlin: Thinking on the Russian side . In: taz , June 29, 2016
  19. ↑ doc-research.org
  20. ↑ Jörg Himmelreich: Putin's fight for Berlin. In: nzz.ch. July 11, 2016, accessed December 2, 2018 .
predecessor Office successor
Vice Admiral Ulrich Weisser Head of the Planning Staff of the Federal Minister of Defense
1999–2000 		Lieutenant General Wolfgang Schneiderhan
predecessor Office successor
Guido Venturoni Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
2002–2005 		Raymond Henault
personal data
SURNAME Kujat, Harald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German general
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Mielke