Tank affair

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tank affair in 1991 was an affair of the German Federal Intelligence Service , the Bundeswehr and the Israeli Mossad over armaments of the NVA , which were to be transported to Israel or which were inspected by Israeli officials.

prehistory

During the Gulf War , Israel tried to get NVA equipment through various requests. The Federal Security allowed February 27, 1991 only the export of NBC protective material. The Israeli government tried to get ZSU-23-4 and SA-6 with accessories and forklifts through the Federal Ministry of Defense . With reference to the decision of the Federal Security Council, it was decided on March 11, 1991 to only deliver forklifts.

Exposure

The affair was discovered by the Hamburg waterway police on the night of October 26, 1991 in the port of Hamburg when they checked containers on the Israeli ship Palmah II . The ship allegedly loaded agricultural equipment, but in fact it was armaments. The cargo was loaded during the night by the Wehrtechnischen Dienststelle 91 in Meppen . The armaments consisted of two ZSU-23-4 , SA-6 , a radar vehicle and four bridge-laying trucks. In order not to endanger the transport, the procurement department I of the BND had informed the customs in Hamburg, the traffic police and the port administration of the Port of Hamburg that something was on the way. However, the water police should normally have been informed, but this was not done. On October 28, 1991, press agencies reported the first reports. Lutz Stavenhagen , at that time responsible for the control of the secret services, made the statement in front of the Bundestag on October 30th : “The question of how to control intelligence services, which are somewhat different authorities, is a question that has moved me for a long time. “From a legal point of view, the Hamburg Public Prosecutor Rüdiger Bagge initiated an investigation.

There were also other incidents that came out of the affair. On the airfield Ingolstadt / Manching one was MiG-29 load testing. In addition to US and British experts, Israeli experts were also involved in these tests, which is not permitted under NATO regulations. In addition, a MiG-29 radar system was loaned to the Israelis. However, it was no longer complete after the handover. As of October 31, 1991, the Bundeswehr had listed the following surrender of NVA equipment by air freight:

  • on October 16, 1990 two ship-to-ship missiles (FK) of the type P-21 / P-22 ,
  • on October 31, 1990 seven Ch-25 / Ch-29 / Ch-58 air-to-surface missiles ,
  • on December 6, 1990 a ship-to-ship missile P-15 ,
  • on February 8, 1991 two missile seekers P21 / 22,
  • on July 19, 1991 two Saet-40 torpedoes .

Legal consequences

When the investigation began in 1991, the public prosecutor in Hamburg decided to bring charges against BND employees Alexander Weber and Dieter Seibt for violating the War Weapons Control Act . The first day of the trial was May 22, 1995, and the entire process was to take a total of 10 days. At the request of the defense, the public was excluded.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The device does what it wants. In: DER SPIEGEL 45/1991. November 4, 1991. Retrieved October 10, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Hoffmann: Swords for plowshares. How the BND turned tanks into agricultural machines. In: ZEIT ONLINE. ZEIT ONLINE GmbH, November 1, 1991, accessed October 10, 2015 .
  3. Jump up ↑ tanks and torpedoes. In: DER SPIEGEL 47/1991. November 18, 1991, accessed October 10, 2015 .
  4. ↑ PHILIP ALSEN: Hamburg "Panzer Affair" in court. The order for the BND arms trade with Israel is said to have been placed by the Bundeswehr. In: THE WORLD. May 23, 1995, accessed October 10, 2015 .