Soldier Relief Organization of the Bundeswehr
The soldiers' relief organization of the Bundeswehr eV (SHWBw) was founded on October 18, 1957 as a consequence of the Iller disaster .
In the Iller disaster on June 3, 1957, 15 recruits were driven away by the raging river and drowned while attempting to cross the 50 meter wide Iller near Hirschdorf ( Kempten (Allgäu) ). The last body was not found until 16 days later on June 19.
The airborne hunter battalion 19 in Kempten then received large donations from fellow group of recruits and from the public. The divisional staff formed a commission to decide on the amount and distribution of the funds to the relatives of the casualties. But there were delays in reimbursements for funeral expenses. In order to counter the public anger, the then general inspector of the Bundeswehr , General Adolf Heusinger and the inspector of the army , General Hans Röttiger , founded the "Hilfsaktion Iller" and then a general aid fund at the suggestion of the press spokesman for the Ministry of Defense , then Major Gerd Schmückle . In the event of disasters and accidents, according to the motto “If you help quickly, you help twice!”, Affected soldiers and their families should receive benefits.
As the successor to this aid fund, the " Bundeswehr Soldiers' Aid" was finally founded on October 18, 1957 . The then Federal Minister of Defense Franz Josef Strauss took over the chairmanship . The chairman and deputy act on a voluntary basis and are supported by three full-time board members. Strauss handed over his office to General Heusinger in the summer of 1958.
The Bundeswehr Soldier Relief Organization has been cooperating since 1995. V. with the von Rohdich'schen Legatenfonds .
Until the summer of 2012, it was tradition for the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr to hold the chair. Today the SHW is under the patronage of the General Inspector and his deputy. The chairman has been General Doctor Schoeps since 2012 .
Since 1957, the soldiers' relief organization has been able to help in more than 34,000 cases. In 2012, 165 applications for support for soldiers in need through no fault of their own and in some cases for their relatives or surviving dependents were submitted and decided. Over 300,000 euros were used for this in 2012.
Web links
- Website of the soldiers' relief organization
- Description of the Iller accident and the founding of the soldiers' relief organization
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich Wilhelm von Rohdich on the website of the von Rohdich'sche Legatenfonds (vRLF) ; www.legatenfonds.de (accessed on March 10, 2017)