Terrorist investigations against Bundeswehr soldiers from 2017

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The terrorist investigations against Bundeswehr soldiers (also known as the Franco A. case ) began on February 3, 2017 with the first arrest of Lieutenant Franco A. at Vienna-Schwechat airport when he tried to smuggle an unauthorized pistol into Germany. The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) then gradually determined that he

  • despite established anti-Semitic , racist and right-wing extremist views, he was accepted into the Bundeswehr and promoted in his master's thesis from 2013,
  • claimed to be a war refugee from Syria in 2015 and successfully applied for asylum ,
  • shared right-wing extremist views with other Bundeswehr soldiers in a closed chat group and discussed attacks on politicians,
  • Ammunition stolen and hidden from armed forces stocks,
  • tries to obtain more weapons and trains with them,
  • Enemy lists and notes on alleged targets are created,
  • the Amadeu Antonio Foundation , one of the listed objects, had spied out in Berlin.

According to media research, he also had contacts to the “Hannibal” network and the Uniter association , some of which were suspected of having illegally owned weapons and planning terrorist attacks.

On April 27, 2017, Franco A. and the student Mathias F. were arrested. On May 2, 2017, the Attorney General took over the investigation. On May 9, 2017, he also had Lieutenant Maximilian T. arrested and justified the arrest warrants with a suspected right-wing terrorist attack plan under a false flag : "The act planned by the three accused should be understood by the population as a radical Islamist act of terrorism by a recognized refugee."

In October 2017, the investigation against Maximilian T. was stopped and he was released. In September 2019 Mathias F. was sentenced to one year probation for violating gun laws.

On December 1, 2017, the Federal Public Prosecutor brought charges against Franco A. for illegal possession of weapons and the preparation of a serious act of violence endangering the state ( Section 89a ). After several opposing judgments by previous court instances, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) admitted this charge on November 19, 2019.

The case sparked a debate about right-wing extremism in the Bundeswehr and its relationship to the traditions of the Wehrmacht . As a result, several right-wing extremist soldiers were exposed and suspended, the traditional Bundeswehr decree was revised, Wehrmacht souvenirs were removed from barracks, and asylum notices issued by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) were checked.

Youth and education

Franco A. was born in Offenbach am Main in 1989 . His father was Italian. He is said to have grown up with his German mother in a quarter of Offenbach with a high proportion of migrants. In his youth he was a recognized and successful competitive athlete in the Offenbach rowing club. There he met Mathias F., who was three years his junior and who later helped him steal ammunition. From 1999 to secondary school in 2005, he attended the Schillerschule Offenbach , an integrated comprehensive school. There he was considered a good to very good student. Then he went to a high school in Frankfurt am Main . According to the memories of his teachers there, he was efficient but inconspicuous and showed no racist or xenophobic tendencies. He said early on that he wanted to join the armed forces.

As a 17-year-old Franco A. began to write a diary. The continuous motive of his entries was his belief in Germanness . From January 2007 he wrote that his national pride was decreasing; The media and state institutions discredited Germany. He considered putting the country back on the right track himself: either in an important position in the media or as a soldier. With his attitude, he saw little chance of development in the media. In contrast, he dared to pursue a career in the military. He considered getting to the top of the German military and then carrying out a military coup . He thought problems with the Americans were likely, since Germany's occupation never ceased. The fact that all the famous people's leaders, namely Napoleon , Ataturk and Adolf Hitler , had based their power on the army speak in favor of a military career . - According to later media reports, these entries are evidence of an early right-wing extremist attitude and overconfidence.

When he graduated from high school in 2008, Franco A. wanted to embark on an officer career. From September 2009 he studied political and social sciences at the Saint-Cyr military school in Brittany . According to a former teacher, he was the only one of his German comrades to advocate military violence.

Racist master's thesis

Franco A's final master's thesis from 2013 on “Political Change and Subversion Strategy” openly contained right-wing extremist, anti-Semitic and racist ideas. Individual chapters had titles such as “Diaspora groups and lobby”, “On migration ”, “ Genocide / autogenocide” and “The decline of cultures”. In it, Franco A. described "diaspora groups" (ethnic-religious minorities) as a danger to the surrounding society, "since they could never be part of a people" and would cause damage to it. So did Jews and Armenians , the US company for a long time "exploited". Only minorities, not the majority society, have an interest in human rights and their dissemination. These rights have an "infectious character". Targeted immigration is a "genocide of the peoples in Western Europe" is underway. He spoke of a self-inflicted "autogenocide" and repeatedly warned against a "mixture of races" and "mixed marriages". For the "deliberately pursued intra-European mixing" of "young, fertile people" who would be brought to a "dissolute life", he made the foreign policy of the USA, media and press agencies, think tanks, non-governmental organizations , pop music, cultural funding such as the Erasmus program responsible for students and others. The emancipation of women endangers the family and is thus also a deliberately brought about weakening of the people.

The main theme was the supposedly destructive migration. The author claimed that the goal of refugees and immigrants was "the dissolution of a people". The influence of foreigners had already brought down ancient civilizations (Egypt, Greece, Rome). For some time now, "the West is on". Western societies are on the way to extinction, the germ of which has already been laid. The “massive immigration” has already led to “an exchange of the population in entire cities ”. It should be "noted" that immigrants could never be part of the people to whose country they came. The naturalization of foreigners is rather the “perversion of the concept of nationality”.

In addition, Franco A. defended the Holocaust denier David Irving : He was a victim of "subversion". Politicians like Jörg Haider and Jürgen Möllemann had been murdered by secret services. The Bible is the foundation of this subversion: It enables the Jews to take action against a stronger opponent and at the same time prevent the latter from defending himself against attacks. If so, the greatest conspiracy in human history is revealed to the readers of his work.

Although Franco A. hardly gave any sources, his main terms probably come from ideologues of the New Right. Alain de Benoist already spoke of “subversion” and also referred to the mass psychologist Gustave Le Bon (1841–1931). The term “autogenocide” (“genocide”) was coined by the new right-wing publicist Günter Maschke with his essay “The Conspiracy of Flak Helpers” (1985). The Identitarian Movement also uses the term. Franco A. may also have developed the expression from the writings of the anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist Nesta Webster , whom he named as a source. Like them, he indicated that behind the subversion stood Jews like the investor George Soros . The "destruction of Europe" had already been announced by the biblical prophet Isaiah . In the main ideas, Franco A's work is compared with the "Manifesto" of the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik , who also interpreted immigration as a targeted means of destroying Europe through a large population exchange and saw behind it a conspiracy of elites and media, which he saw with missionary zeal and more murderous Wanted to expose violence.

The French examiners told Franco A. in January 2014 that he had failed and could not defend the work in an oral exam. They certified him in writing that he was racist and would not be accepted. The French school commander Antoine Windeck warned his contacts in the Bundeswehr: The master's thesis was peppered with racism and conspiracy theories . In France , Franco A. would therefore be dismissed from the military. The Bundeswehr Center for Military History and Social Sciences initially commissioned the historian Jörg Echternkamp to examine the work. After three days, he came to the clear conclusion:

"In terms of type and content, the text is demonstrably not an academic qualification paper, but a radical nationalist, racist appeal that the author tries to support in a pseudo-scientific way with some effort ."

He tries to restore the "supposed natural law of racial purity" and is recognizable as a supporter of "racist ways of thinking": "In some parts the text reads like instructions for use for racist propaganda". He wrote the work “in ignorance of the historical research on nationalism that has now been going on for decades”. He repeatedly resorts to "explicitly on racist vocabulary" and " biologistic metaphor", represents "his very own understanding of 'people' and 'nation'" and in doing so uses "the well-known racist interpretation of genes" and "crude geodeterminism " approach. He rarely referred to scientific sources and at best used questionable literature such as that of Gustave Le Bon. The "defense against foreign influences" runs like a red thread through the text. By this the author means a " race war ". As such, he interprets the term “subversion”, which is directed against ethnic communities of “grown” states. He explains political developments in the world with the “illegitimate, purposeful and conspiratorial activity of a group of people”, analogous to the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory of “ World Jewry ”.

Franco A. sees "only one reason for the use of force [...]: the protection of one's own identity and one's own people against 'foreign elements'". The work is "therefore not a historical and political science treatise on political change (...), but a call to bring about a political change that adapts the given conditions to the supposed natural law of racist purity." This way of thinking is typical for radical nationalist milieus: The fear of foreign infiltration , combined with “uncertainty due to globalization , as it repeatedly shines through with the author”, is compatible, and that makes it dangerous. The reviewer concluded with the question: "I would be very interested in what the consequences are."

On January 22nd and 27th, 2014, his superiors asked Franco A. about his work. He asserted that he was neither right-wing nor racist. He wrote the work under time pressure and put himself in the role of a right-wing extremist in order to describe his racial theses in detail without sharing them. In the hustle and bustle, he himself erroneously appeared as a representative instead of an observer of these theses. In addition, he was not scientifically accompanied. The legal advisor to the Bundeswehr immediately accepted this declaration and only criticized an "avoidable carelessness". The manager saw "no clue" for Franco A's right-wing extremist attitudes. This only "negligently set the evil appearance of such an attitude". The military disciplinary attorney ruled on January 27, 2014: “Everything indicates that the soldier has become a victim of his own intellectual ability in the portrayal in view of the high intellectuality that is undoubtedly ascribed to him. Due to the personality image gained, doubts about the required attitude to the value system are not only not verifiable, but can be excluded. ”He therefore stopped investigations into disciplinary offenses and left it with a warning. Contrary to the internal regulations, Franco A. received no entry in his personnel file, was allowed to continue working on the weapon and write a second master's thesis.

The reason for this illegal exception was apparently that Franco A. had completed the military part of his officer training as the second best of 150 participants of his class and was therefore considered an elite soldier. In July 2014 he submitted the second work. In July 2015, he was made a professional soldier. In November 2015 he began his lone fighter training in Hammelburg . Most recently he was a lieutenant in the 291 Jäger Battalion , stationed in Illkirch-Graffenstaden in Alsace , the location of the Franco-German Brigade.

Double life as a refugee

When the fingerprints of Franco A's first arrest were compared, the BKA found that he had been registered as a Syrian war refugee under the name David Benjamin since 2015 . The initial reception center in Giessen registered him as an asylum seeker on December 30, 2015 and placed him near Erding . In November 2016, the BAMF Zirndorf branch had scheduled the mandatory hearing. It lasted 80 minutes and was carried out by a Bundeswehr soldier in the presence of an interpreter for Arabic , but mainly in French . According to later information from the interpreter from Morocco , Franco A. answered some questions in German with a French accent without having them translated beforehand.

He stated that his name was David Benjamin and that he was a Syrian Christian , born in 1988 in a small town east of Aleppo, the son of a fruit seller. His family is originally from France and sent him to a French high school in Damascus . That's why he speaks French better than Arabic. He fled because the Assad regime wanted to draft him into military service, jihadists killed his father and the Islamic State terrorist militia threatened him because of his Jewish-sounding name. Although none of these details were correct, he was granted temporary protection as a war refugee and was placed in collective accommodation.

It was previously noticed that he was not staying in his accommodation in Baustarring near Kirchberg (Upper Bavaria) . On October 5, 2016, the BAMF noted that he was still living there, but was “traveling a lot”. The local social welfare office should therefore summon him to October 24, 2016. However, the office sent the instruction back to the BAMF with the comment “Mr. Benjamin has never come to Baustarring”. Nevertheless, he was not asked about his whereabouts at the BAMF hearing on November 7, 2016. The investigators discovered further procedural errors: the interpreter questioned Franco A. in French before she could determine his Arabic accent. The location of his specified school was not checked; this was about 20 kilometers from the alleged place of residence. The alleged injuries caused by shrapnel were not documented, neither by a doctor usually consulted nor a photograph. When he stated that he was afraid of serving in the Syrian army, no request for a written draft was asked. There were also no inquiries about the death of the father, about fleeing ISIS or about an alleged cousin and his fate. The survey did not take place in the phase of most asylum applications, but without time pressure. According to the asylum decision of December 16, 2016, the decision-maker ruled that the applicant had not adequately justified his religious persecution, but that he had given the threat to his life as a civilian in the Syrian civil war. He therefore recognized him as a civil war refugee and granted him subsidiary protection.

The Federal Employment Agency loaned the decision-maker to the BAMF after a four-week short course. He had to decide on 435 asylum applications between May and December 2016 and told inspectors that he could no longer remember the questioning of "David Benjamin". The Bundeswehr soldier who was listening had only been trained for the task for three weeks. The interpreter present had noticed inconsistencies in Franco A's statements, but dared not to say “anything against an Israeli ”. The BAMF stated that its recognition was the result of "several blatant mistakes, a lack of routine and extreme stress on all employees".

Evidence found

Gun find

The investigations began at the end of January 2017 after a loaded pistol was found in the cleaning shaft of a toilet for the disabled at Vienna International Airport. The Austrian police installed an alarm on the gun hideout. When Franco A. wanted to pick up the pistol on February 3, 2017, he triggered the alarm and was arrested. During interrogation he testified that he accidentally found the pistol in a bush on January 21 after the “ officers' ball ” and hid it at the airport the next day shortly before his departure because it would not have passed through the security gate.

Franco A. had traveled with his friend, Lieutenant Maximilian T., and his sister Sophia T., his girlfriend, to the "Officers' Ball". A former comrade from Illkirch had invited her there. Franco A. had photographed the gun hiding place before leaving and then sent the photo to a chat group that Maximilian T. also belonged to. This later confirmed Franco A's presentation of the pistol find.

The pistol was a French Unique Model 17 built between 1928 and 1944 . This model was used by Wehrmacht officers in occupied France as their service weapon. It has a high symbolic value for collectors. That is why Franco A's claim that he picked up the gun to hand it over to the police seemed incredible. The Viennese police noticed Franco A's right-wing extremist attitude, but dismissed him because there was nothing else against him and forwarded his fingerprints and the interrogation protocol to the BKA.

At the beginning of February 2017, Franco A. asked the military disciplinary attorney, who had asked him about his master's thesis in January 2014, to examine his written statement to the Vienna police. According to his own statements on April 28, 2017 (after Franco A's arrest), the lawyer warned him that the violation of the gun law would result in an “internal disciplinary reaction”. This will be "manageable" for him because of Franco A's explanation of the pistol find, especially since his "performance profile and his career" speak for him. However, as an investigator, he would have “doubts about the description” and would assume that the pistol was his own weapon. Since the lawyer deleted the email dialogue, his information could not be checked.

Forensic technicians from the BKA later examined the pistol and found it perfectly clean. Inside, they found Franco A's fingerprints. This made the bushes as the alleged location and his intention to hand over the pistol even less likely.

Racist chats

Franco A. exchanged over 36,000 WhatsApp messages with student Mathias F., two comrades from his barracks and a Bundeswehr reservist in Vienna , including racist slogans, photos and messages relating to the Wehrmacht.

On February 17, 2017, the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt am Main opened an investigation against Franco A. for the preparation of a state-endangering act of violence. He was watched and his phone calls were monitored. The suspicion of a right-wing extremist attitude was confirmed: In the WhatsApp chat group, he is said to have exchanged hate speech about foreigners. On April 19, the MAD asked Franco A. about it. In doing so, he avoided questions about his convictions and repeated his statements about a pistol that he discovered by chance.

Ammunition theft

During searches of 16 objects in Austria, Germany and France, 90 investigators found, among other things, explosives and other indications of a suspected attack plan, so that they arrested Franco A. and Mathias F. on April 27, 2017. Investigators confiscated a large amount of evidence, mainly cell phones, laptops and written documents.

In a cupboard in Mathias F.'s student room in Friedberg (Hesse) , BKA investigators found a total of 1,083 cartridges of various calibres, including 885 rounds for the HK G36 assault rifle and the MP7 submachine gun and tracer bullets. They also found fuses and other parts of hand grenades, as well as flare and smoke ammunition, mostly from the Bundeswehr. Mathias F. stated that Franco A. had given him all of this material. He received the ammunition from him before Easter 2017. The investigators suspected that he could have stolen the cartridges during firing exercises by the Bundeswehr by manipulating the quantities of ammunition fired. This did not match the pistol that Franco A. had hidden in Vienna.

Franco A. had also stored ammunition and weapons in his mother's cellar, supposedly in case of war. Shortly before his arrest, he gave Mathias F. 167 cartridges for the G36, which were subject to the War Weapons Control Act, and a further 885 cartridges, which were subject to the Weapons Act. In addition to the ammunition, the investigators confiscated a total of 51 training hand grenades, smoke and smoke grenades from him and Mathias F., which he is said to have stolen from the Bundeswehr during target practice. He had also noted down information about the production of Molotov cocktails , hand grenades and the Darknet .

Hitler worship

In personal notes from his youth, Franco A. wrote, for example: "Whoever makes Adolf Hitler bad is a liar". Hitler is "one of the most important German people's leaders". Anyone who directs streams of refugees to Germany is guilty of "racial extermination". He owned Hitler's “ Mein Kampf ” and several CDs with National Socialist songs. In his notes there were sentences like "Hitler is above everything". A “politically effective act” is required because people will not accept “the greatest truth” if it is not connected to a “triggering event”.

In Franco A's parlor at the Bundeswehr there was a poster with a Wehrmacht soldier on the wall, decorated with a replica of a historical weapon from the Second World War . He had scratched a swastika into the handguard of his G36 rifle in the Bundeswehr . The engraved insignia "HH" (possibly for "Heil Hitler" ) or "H ... J" were also found on the handle of the rifle . One found in his belongings a framed roll of parchment showing a Wehrmacht soldier and two quotations. How many soldiers had seen these messages but not reported them remained open.

During a police check during his military service , Franco A. wore combat boots, a bomber jacket and had a business card with a picture of Hitler. In his apartment he stacked leaflets from the NPD and tapes from the neo-Nazi bands Wotan , Schuka and Martyrer . Although the police informed his superiors about it, it had no consequences for him.

Violence

In dozens of audio files, Franco A. had recorded hours of self-reflections, among other things, which, according to investigators, show his constant willingness to use violence. He had saved the work “ Total Resistance ” from Switzerland of the 1950s, which was popular with neo-Nazis, on other data carriers . It describes resistance methods against an occupying army and has been indexed in Germany since 1988. Franco A. had also downloaded the “ Mujahideen Explosives Handbook” from the Internet. It provides guidance on building simple bombs and has been used as a textbook by Islamist terror groups since the 1990s . It was suspected that he wanted to commit an attack with such bombs and thus direct suspicion of Islamists.

Weapons procurement

In 2016 Franco A. bought gun parts from a dealer in Vohenstrauß (Upper Palatinate), for which you don't need a gun license, and trained shooting with the local rifle club. He used a lot of different accounts. In October 2016 he attended a “Rangeday” of the “German Rifle Association” near the border with the Czech Republic . During his visits to the Upper Palatinate, witnesses observed him with several firearms, including an HK G3 high-speed rifle with a mounted telescopic sight and two pistols. He also tried to get unregistered weapons. Investigators did not find the witnessed weapons until December 2017, but did find 167 hard core bullets and cartridge cases for the HK G3, ​​which are subject to the Act on the Control of War Weapons . He is said to have stolen some of them in Hammelburg. In addition, Franco A. had listed various types of rifles and their prices on the black market in his papers.

environment

After Franco A's arrest, Bundeswehr soldiers testified that there had been a “right-wing radical network” there in Donaueschingen and Hammelburg from 2010 to 2013 since the establishment of the Franco-German unit in Illkirch . NCOs and crew soldiers had openly shown their right sentiments, for example with slogans, and soldiers of Eastern European origin humiliated in front of comrades as "canister heads". The site managers remained inactive despite complaints from the troops.

According to research by the taz , strangers strewed a swastika on the floor of the Illkirch barracks in 2012. Two soldiers stationed there showed Hitler salutes and were therefore released in 2013. Others sent a swastika to a chat group and furnished a common room with Wehrmacht devotional items. Franco A. and Maximilian T. had been part of that chat group since 2013 and were known to their Illkirch superiors because of right-wing incidents. Maximilian T. invited Franco A. to family visits to Strasbourg and Hesse. His sister became Franco A's girlfriend.

In June 2014 Maximilian T. took part in a target practice in Grafenwoehr , during which an HK P8 pistol disappeared. In September 2015, a witness reported to the MAD that Maximilian T. had complained about German asylum policy while visiting a discotheque in Magdeburg and was looking for fellow soldiers among soldiers in order to organize himself. During an interrogation by the MAD, Maximilian T. denied the meeting and the testimony. Because he had no previous convictions and those involved are said to have been drunk, the MAD closed the investigation into the incident in 2016. When Franco A. had to travel to Erding to attend official appointments as "David Benjamin", Maximilian T. apologized to superiors in Jägerbataillon 291 and invented excuses for his absence. So he helped cover up Franco A's dual role as a refugee.

On May 9, 2017, the police arrested Maximilian T. for alleged involvement in Franco A's attack plans and help with the registration as a Syrian war refugee. According to investigators, he had previously deleted all personal data on his smartphone.

At the beginning of September 2017 it turned out that he is a member of the AfD , which had previously denied this. In April 2018, the AfD member of the Bundestag Jan Nolte , a member of the Defense Committee of the German Bundestag , hired Maximilian T. to work in his Bundestag office. This also gave him access to information and documents from the committee dealing with his case.

In May 2017, the investigators counted at least seven people to Franco A's close friends who knew and shared his right-wing extremist views, including a man in Strasbourg, a reserve lieutenant in Vienna and two other first lieutenants in the Bundeswehr. Josef R. in Illkirch took part in a chat group for right-wing radical soldiers. According to witnesses, Ralf G. in Augustdorf had often made statements such as “ Königsberg was German, is German and will always remain German!” Or “If the refugees at the border at least had weapons, then we could shoot them”. He also boasted: "In Illkirch there is a group of violent officers who collect weapons and ammunition in order to fight on the right side in the event of a civil war." He is said to have known Maximilian T. He probably also knew Franco A., as he also completed a lone fighter training in Hammelburg until April 2017. The Bundeswehr suspended him from duty until May 12, 2017 and forbade him to wear a uniform.

Notes on possible targets

Maximilian T. found two A4 sheets with handwritten lists of politicians, public figures and organizations under the heading “Politics and Media”, including Bundestag Vice-President Claudia Roth , Ex-Federal President Joachim Gauck , Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas , Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow , the artist Philipp Ruch from the Center for Political Beauty , Anetta Kahane from the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, the Central Council of Jews in Germany , the Central Council of Muslims and various anti-fascist activists, according to MP Anne Helm (Die Linke).

In Franco A.'s pocket calendar from 2015, there was a folded piece of paper with the same name as on Maximilian T.'s notes, combined with handwritten comments. For example, he wrote about Claudia Roth: “People like you suck our people out of us, you have to pay for that.” One should therefore localize Roth and watch her social media accounts on Twitter or Instagram.

Other agencies named alleged targets, such as the “Rothschild stone demolition in Frankfurt”. This was possibly the goods stone erected in 1818 by the Jewish banker Amschel Mayer von Rothschild in Rothschild Park in Frankfurt am Main. He also wrote: “Group Antifa : throw grenade asylum seeker, film. […] Listen to the police radio. ”It was therefore assumed that he was planning a false flag attack that he wanted to accuse asylum seekers. Regarding the Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck , who is glorified as a dissident in the right-wing extremist scene, he noted: "If Ms. Haverbeck goes to prison, then liberation action." Ursula Haverbeck had been sentenced to prison several times for sedition , which she did not have to serve until 2017 . He commented on the Turkish rocker group Ottoman Germania BC : “Fighting the Ottomans. Nothing else than an infiltrated army controlled by Turkey. "

The 25 or so entries in the list were divided into categories from A to D, possibly according to the priority of the attack target. Category A included Maas and Gauck, among others. The entry for Maas included his place of birth and the addresses of the Ministry of Justice in Berlin and Bonn. Franco A. wrote down detailed information about Kahane, as well as the addresses of other prominent advocates of a liberal refugee policy. On July 22, 2016, his cell phone contained photographs of four parked cars, their vehicle types, colors and license plates. The vehicles were in an underground car park on Novalisstrasse in Berlin-Mitte and belonged to employees of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, whose office is located in the building. He also had sketches of the surroundings and the premises of the building. On a piece of paper related to Kahane, he is said to have written that you cannot yet act as you would like. From this, the public prosecutor concluded that he had scouted the foundation and, above all, had targeted Anetta Kahane as the target of an attack. You and the foundation had been the target of right-wing extremist hate attacks on the Internet for years.

In Franco A's notes, the BKA found indications of a route planned for 2015: He wanted to drive from his place of residence Offenbach to Berlin and back on a motorcycle registered for him, then to Alsace and from there to Erding and Bayreuth in Bavaria . He also noted down information on three French carbine rifles, one of which was a shotgun. An accomplice was supposed to bring them to Berlin. The BKA also found in Franco A's notes information on the purchase of a shotgun and a film camera as well as notes on the name "Xavier". The investigators suspected that he was planning an assassination attempt on Anetta Kahane in Berlin , filming it (similar to Brenton Tarrant during the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch , March 2019) and underlaying it with music by the singer Xavier Naidoo, who is popular in the right-wing scene , then to Erding wanted to drive and leave his mark in the asylum seekers residence there.

References to the "Hannibal" network

After about a year of research by the taz, Franco A. was an active member of one of the chat groups that former officer and trainer in the Special Forces Command (KSK) André S. founded in 2015 under the network code name "Hannibal" and supplied with internal information. The Hannibal network was divided into districts north, south, east and west, analogous to the defense areas; Franco A. belonged to the largest of these chat groups, the southern group, which André S. administered directly. He knew the administrator personally, visited him once at home and took part in a conspiratorial meeting at a rifle club in Albstadt . He recruited new members for the southern group, including the gun parts dealer, from whom he had previously bought accessories and paid for in cash. He informed the dealer that the southern group was a special group within the Bundeswehr.

After the allegations against Franco A. became known, André S. had all chats in his network deleted immediately. In the later interrogation, he stated that he wanted to protect the judges, officials and soldiers in the chat groups from the loss of image that they would face if they were brought into contact with Franco A. In addition, the southern group determined an unknown number of safe meeting points and accommodation ("Safe-Houses") in southern Germany in their chats, where one could meet on "Day X". Such meeting points were agreed at least in Nuremberg , Ulm , Lenggries , Bad Tölz and Calw at the KSK location.

Franco A's contact with André S. revealed his network and connections to preppers throughout Germany, including the Uniter veterans and reservists' association , which he himself co-founded . Franco A. owned a patch of this club and recommended it to his arms dealer. The meeting in Albstadt, to which he drove with Andre S., was a paramilitary exercise by club members. They all left their cell phones in their cars so that they couldn't be tapped. However, the association denied that Franco A. was formally a member. Furthermore, the investigators discovered about the contact information of André S. group Nordkreuz . It included other Bundeswehr soldiers, police officers, lawyers, local politicians and others. Its founders and leaders, for their part, kept lists of enemies and, according to witness statements, planned to collect and murder listed people on a "day X".

Court decisions

On July 5, 2017, the BGH overturned the arrest warrant against Maximilian T. because he considered his involvement in the suspected attack plan to be unlikely. Against the allegation that T. had traveled to Vienna with Franco A. to get that pistol, his lawyers pointed out that he had already passed through the security gate at Vienna Airport before Franco A. hid the weapon. The list of names found on him did not contain any evidence that he wanted to carry out attacks on the named people. The lifting of the arrest warrant for T. also endangered the charges against Franco A. and heightened doubts as to whether the three prisoners were actually planning a joint attack or whether Franco A. pretended to be asylum seekers for other reasons and obtained weapons and ammunition. The BGH did not see the fact that Maximilian T. could have helped Franco A.'s asylum fraud as invalid. He is said to have apologized to his friend to the armed forces superiors if he stayed away from work in order to collect his state services as an asylum seeker in Bavaria. On January 18, 2016, Maximilian T. is said to have justified Franco A.'s absence with a "car breakdown". In October 2018, the federal prosecutor closed the preliminary investigation against Maximilian T. without bringing charges.

Mathias F.'s pre-trial detention was suspended until September 2017 because he had given extensive testimony and the federal prosecutor's office saw no risk of escape or blackout in him. He was also facing at least one charge for violating the War Weapons Control Act and the Weapons Act. The presumption of a “right-wing terrorist cell” in the Bundeswehr could not be substantiated enough by then. The Special Structural Organization (BAO) "Alias" evaluated thousands of chat messages, photos, cell phone videos and documents from the three suspects and other chat participants. According to media reports, they did not find any concrete attack plans, but they did find the Swiss manual for guerrilla tactics, the Islamist bomb-building instructions and those notes with references to possible attack scenarios and potential target persons. The Attorney General continued the proceedings.

On November 29, 2017, the BGH also overturned the arrest warrant against Franco A. and ordered his release from prison: Despite the incriminating results of the investigation, an urgent suspicion of an assassination attempt on a public figure is not likely enough. There is no evidence that his lists of names and addresses should prepare such an attack and that he then wanted to direct the suspicion to asylum seekers. The fact that he had to give his fingerprints when he was arrested in Vienna in February 2017 speaks against it.

On December 12, 2017, the Federal Prosecutor's office nevertheless filed charges for the preparation of a serious act of violence endangering the state, violations of the Weapons Act and fraud. The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court (OLG) refused to open main proceedings before the State Security Senate because the evidence presented was not sufficient and referred the case to the Darmstadt Regional Court on other charges. The OLG considered it largely probable that A. had procured and kept two pistols, two rifles and 51 explosive devices, but not that he was already determined to commit a serious criminal offense. He had been in possession of weapons and explosives since July 2016, had specified possible victims and spied on a conceivable crime scene, but still never carried out an attack. Since nothing objectively prevented him from doing so, he was probably not yet firmly determined to do so. A main hearing does not allow any further knowledge to be expected. The Federal Prosecutor's office immediately lodged a complaint with the BGH.

On September 16, 2019, the regional court in Giessen sentenced Mathias F. to a one-year suspended sentence and a fine of 2500 euros for a refugee aid organization. There was evidence that he owned two wooden boxes with Bundeswehr imprints, a paint bucket with cartridge belts and parts of explosives, several hundred rounds of ammunition and detonators, thereby violating the Weapons Act, the Explosives Act and the War Weapons Control Act. During the trial, it was proven beyond doubt that the ammunition came from the armed forces and had been stolen from exercises in which Franco A. and two other officers had participated. The court did not believe that Mathias F. did not have an overview of the origin, as he said, because the boxes said "Bundeswehr". How these were stolen and unobserved from the barracks to Mathias F. could not be explained. It was proven that Mathias F. had expressed himself racist and anti-Semitic in chats with Franco A. and that he had warned him to be careful about possible surveillance. Mathias F. also knew about the allegations of the police in Vienna, about Franco A's double existence as a Syrian refugee and about his possession of a rifle and a pistol. He had also spoken to him about a “carbon bike” that he would like to try out. What was meant was a bow weapon. Mathias F. said in another chat that this would remain hidden until the war broke out. However, it could not be proven that both spoke about attack plans. The court saw no connection between the theft of ammunition and the racist chats and terrorist plans in Mathias F. However, the judge declared: "Whoever announces such inhuman, racist things, precisely in the knowledge that no one else will notice, may also announce what he really thinks."

On November 19, 2019, the BGH finally decided that the OLG must accept the indictment against Franco A. under Section 89a of the Criminal Code. Decisive for this was further evidence of Franco A's “nationalist / ethnic, anti-Semitic and ultimately right-wing extremist attitudes” and possible preparations for an attack, including the spying on the Amadeu Antonio Foundation and the telescopic sight that he mounted on one of his rifles. The BGH did not find any new evidence that he wanted to blame a refugee for an attack and posed as an asylum seeker. Nevertheless, he now concluded from the overall findings that Franco A. could have already been “determined” when he was arrested, and therefore allowed the prosecutor general to be charged.

Reactions

Bundeswehr leadership

On April 29, 2017, the Federal Ministry of Defense told the parliamentary control committee of the Bundestag: The soldier Franco A. had not previously been noticed as a right-wing extremist, and nothing was known about his political background. The following day, the Bundeswehr leadership admitted that he had already attracted attention in 2014 because of his right-wing extremist master's thesis.

After learning of this, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) said on April 30, 2017: The Bundeswehr had “an attitude problem” and “obviously weak leadership at various levels.” In addition, there was a “misunderstood corps spirit ”. The repeated incidents in the troop would be glossed over and people looked the other way. She also referred to sexual assaults at various Bundeswehr locations that she had investigated. She invited representatives of the parliamentary groups to the Ministry of Defense to brief them on the case. According to observers, she wanted to keep the political damage within limits.

Von der Leyen's criticism provoked violent reactions in the Bundeswehr. André Wüstner , Chairman of the Federal Armed Forces Association , reported on many insecure, angry or incomprehensible questions. Many soldiers referred to the leadership responsibility of their boss. You urgently need to disclose how you came to your criticism. This was often perceived as an unjustified general suspicion. The former German NATO General Egon Ramms partially agreed with the minister and demanded that Franco A.'s superiors be meticulously checked. Ramms had previously criticized the personnel selection in the army: This promotes more "yes-sayings" than the critical citizen in uniform.

On May 2, Ursula von der Leyen canceled a visit to the USA in order to devote herself entirely to investigating the Franco A. case. She visited the regiment in Illkirch with the inspector general of the Bundeswehr Volker Wieker and set up a meeting with a hundred senior military leaders to discuss the consequences of this and other Bundeswehr scandals at the time. On May 2, 2017, the Bundeswehr set up an internal rapid investigation team on their behalf. The very next day they presented the first indications for a supporter network of Franco A. She discovered that Franco A. had possibly stolen German armed forces ammunition during a target drill he was leading. Volker Wieker left it open how many comrades had covered and supported him; some names are now known.

When von der Leyens and Wiekers visited Illkirch, numerous Wehrmacht devotional items were discovered in a soldiers' leisure room. Others were found in a barracks in Donaueschingen. On May 5th, the Inspector General therefore ordered all inspectors and presidents of the Bundeswehr to investigate compliance with the rules for understanding tradition in relation to National Socialism and the Wehrmacht. On May 7th he ordered all official Bundeswehr buildings to be searched for Wehrmacht souvenirs and an interim report to be submitted to him by May 9th and the results by May 16th. On May 7, the defense minister demanded courageous support from all soldiers "from general to recruits" in coming to terms with the incidents. It is about the "reputation of our Bundeswehr". Because these people train on the weapon, they rightly apply stricter standards: “Keeping it up is out of the question.” At the meeting of the executives, she explained that in view of the current cases of degradation, harassment and unequivocal right-wing extremism, it could only be about complete clarification and far-reaching consequences. At the same time, she recognized that rule violations were correctly punished every day in the Bundeswehr.

According to von der Leyens, the search until May 12th found 41 Wehrmacht souvenirs, including murals and coins with Wehrmacht motifs, also from the Nazi era. A logistics battalion had commemorative coins with questionable motifs specially minted and awarded them on official occasions. Only in Illkirch, however, was a room decorated with Wehrmacht helmets and country portraits. - According to media reports, a Wehrmacht photo of former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD), a Red Cross flag from the Second World War from 1945 and pictures of Wehrmacht soldiers who were grandfathers of today's soldiers were also taken down during the review . It was presumed that many Wehrmacht souvenirs were hidden before the investigation began and that harmless souvenirs affected by the decree were deliberately reported to the local press. The meaning and proportionality of the action, which von der Leyen called the “cleansing process”, remained controversial. A revision of the traditional Bundeswehr decree was also announced.

By the end of May 2017, inspectors found around 400 military devotional items in Bundeswehr barracks during unannounced visits. The list of finds requested by the Bundestag included helmets, uniforms, rifles, tank models, sabers and swords. some of which were provided with swastikas and other Wehrmacht references and fell under the applicable traditional ban. They have been removed and disciplinary action has been taken. Other finds were taken over in military history collections, returned to owners or hung up again after examination. The list did not show which barracks had been searched; this information should be submitted to the Bundestag at a later date.

On May 14, 2017, the Defense Minister proposed renaming the barracks named after Wehrmacht officers. The Bundeswehr should separate itself more clearly from the Wehrmacht tradition both internally and externally. She took up an initiative of her predecessor Thomas de Maizière , which had no consequences, and moved away from her previous line: Until then, she had retained the traditional decree, which had been in force since 1982, unchanged and had repeatedly called for the renaming of all barracks with namesake from the First and Second World War rejected. Because of the Franco A. case, she wanted to set up a new program “Inner Guidance Today” and have the traditional decree revised. The head of the German Resistance Memorial Center Johannes Tuchel welcomed the initiative as "overdue": Bundeswehr barracks should "rather be named after soldiers who were in the resistance " against National Socialism or Hitler.

In mid-May 2017, the Defense Minister initiated investigations and disciplinary proceedings against Major General Werner Weisenburger , the head of the Armed Forces Office, and his then legal advisor Stephan Hedrich. The legal advisor and the then superior of Franco A. had closed his files in 2014 despite Windeck and Echternkamp's advice and did not inform the responsible Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD) about him. Volker Wieker criticized this behavior as a “pattern of looking the other way” in the Bundeswehr towards alleged right-wing extremist soldiers. The MAD said in June that if a report were made, Franco A. would have been classified as an extremist and investigated by the intelligence services.

In January 2018, however, the Ministry of Defense suspended the disciplinary proceedings: The charge of a culpable breach of duty was not confirmed. Weisenburger had retired by then, and his legal advisor had been transferred.

Since his release, Franco A. has been receiving reduced military pay because the Bundeswehr released him from duty, but did not fire him. Maximilian T. continues to work in the Bundeswehr, meanwhile at the Altmark military training area in the Army combat training center .

Military counterintelligence

Before the Franco A. case, the MAD received an average of 400 reports of extremists in the Bundeswehr, almost all of them right-wing extremists. He only initiated proceedings against a small number of them and usually only released a few each year. In 2015, nine right-wing extremist soldiers and one Islamist were released. By the end of April 2017, the MAD had tracked 280 right-wing extremist suspected cases, around 100 of them from 2017. Most of the information came from other soldiers. In his eight-year career in the army, there was not a single reference to Franco A. It was only after his arrest that a witness from Franco A's 2014 officer course made his right-wing extremist master's thesis known. It is therefore believed that his superiors covered him for years despite knowing his views. The MAD found nothing about him even after two usual security checks. There was nothing against him in the databases of the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Nevertheless, since then the MAD has been allowed to check all applicants in the Bundeswehr and to query databases from other security authorities.

During the investigation into Franco A's environment, the MAD checked the theft of weapons in the Bundeswehr, including the theft of two G36 assault rifles and several pistols from a tank in January 2017 and the theft of two G36 assault rifles and a P8 pistol from a transport tank in February 2017 In the latter case, according to MAD, a student from the Bundeswehr University in Munich was present who was in contact with Franco A. by telephone. The MAD observed him and three other Munich students because of possible contacts with the right-wing extremist " identities ", who represent an ideology similar to Franco A. in his master's thesis. According to the MAD, another eleven soldiers had contacts with the fraternity of Danubia, which tended to be right-wing extremists .

From the end of April to the end of May 2017, the MAD received 57 reports of alleged right-wing extremist incidents in the Bundeswehr. Some are said to have taken place years before the Franco A. case. The MAD suspected a right-wing extremist network among the around 3,000 students at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. After examining a number of reports, the university dismissed two officer candidates without notice at the end of May 2017. At the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017 they had been noticed with anti-Jewish and xenophobic sayings and Nazi slogans such as "Heil Hitler". One of them had contact via Facebook with another soldier who knew Franco A. and Maximilian T. well.

By the end of 2017, 379 new right-wing extremist suspicions were reported to the MAD, including the display of anti-constitutional symbols, racist statements and membership in banned organizations. In 2017, the MAD rated six people as right-wing extremists and interpreted the increase in reports not as an indication of more right-wing extremist soldiers, but as an expression of increased awareness of the problem. According to the MAD, an average of 600 right-wing extremist suspected cases were reported per year before the suspension of compulsory military service (2011), followed by 300. Of these, an average of 4 per year would have been confirmed, but in recent years 40 per year. The MAD has been reviewing all Bundeswehr applicants since July 2017. Of the 7,400 people checked, four have so far been rejected.

As a result of Franco As's contacts with right-wing preppers in the KSK, the MAD founded a working group in the summer of 2019 to investigate reports on right-wing extremism in the KSK and unmask supporters of the prepper scene. In September 2019, this group identified 24 suspected cases at the KSK. By December 2019, the MAD had exposed at least two right-wing extremist KSK officers who were suspended after a press report. One was involved in several missions abroad as a long-time sergeant. A staff officer is said to have shown the Hitler salute at a private party of the sergeant. Another staff officer present at the ceremony is considered a suspected case. The MAD also wanted to check whether the right-wing extremist convictions of the officers had previously been noticed but not reported.

Bundestag

For the Armed Forces Commissioner of the Bundestag Hans-Peter Bartels (SPD), the Bundeswehr is "structurally more vulnerable" to right-wing extremists than other areas of society. "Hierarchies, weapons, uniform - that attracts some applicants whom the Bundeswehr cannot want," he explained. From June 2017, all new recruits would be subjected to a security check by the MAD in order to identify Islamist or right-wing extremist backgrounds.

However, the examination had already been decided before the suspected legal terrorism case. In the debate about right-wing extremists in the Bundeswehr, he saw von der Leyen as responsible: “The Bundeswehr has a lot of problems [...], but if Ms. von der Leyen says there is a leadership problem, then of course you have to say: leadership begins at the top. "

The defense policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group , Rainer Arnold , said: "With everything negative: The positive is that he has been caught." If there is no report, the SPD will ask the Defense Committee for information.

BAMF

Because of the wrong decision on Franco A., from May 2017, the BAMF had positive asylum notifications on Syrians and Afghans checked on a random basis from January 2016 to April 27, 2017, as well as all procedures in which the listener, the interpreter and the decision-maker in the Franco A case . were involved.

The examiners of these cases judged 295 of 1,600 decisions on Syrians and 185 of 400 decisions on Afghans as "implausible". In around a third of these cases, the files did not show whether the applicants' nationality or ethnicity had been adequately clarified. The BAMF named the shortened training of many newly hired employees with the simultaneous high pressure to get things done as the cause of these errors. According to Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, safety standards were not violated in the procedures examined. However, he let the already planned examination of around 80,000 to 100,000 positive asylum decisions be brought forward because of the other deficiencies found.

Behavior of the main suspect

Since his release at the end of November 2017, Franco A. has appeared in public several times. At the turn of the year 2018/2019 he sought contact with various political groups in Berlin, including a discussion group of the “ Nachdenkseiten ” and a district group of the “ Die Linke ” party. People he met found him "manipulative" and "engaging". - In April 2019, his relatives (brother, mother and girlfriend) gave journalists a detailed interview, which the Neue Zürcher Zeitung published as a three-part personal portrait and which reproduced his own image. - On September 8, 2019, he attended the “Day of Insights and Outlooks” in the Bundestag and talked to members of several parliamentary groups until he was recognized and questioned by the Bundestag police. According to the new right Junge Freiheit , his former friend Maximilian T. recognized him and reported him. His superior Jan Nolte (AfD-MdB) then celebrated this on Facebook as a success of his employee. On September 13, 2019, Franco A. attended the criminal trial against Mathias F. in Gießen as a spectator. When the defendant's attorney discovered him, he left the room. Mathias F. stated that he had not had any contact with Franco A. since the arrest.

literature

  • Matthias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (eds.): Extreme security. Right-wing extremists in the police, the protection of the constitution, the armed forces and the judiciary. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2019, ISBN 3-451-38561-9 , pp. 246-259.
  • Andrea Röpke, Julian Feldmann: Use inside: Secret right-wing circles in the police and armed forces. In: Andrea Röpke (Ed.): 2018: Yearbook Rights Violence. Chronicle of hatred. Knaur, Munich 2018, ISBN 3-426-78913-2 , pp. 221–241.
  • Dierk Spreen: Right-wing populism and the Bundeswehr. An inventory with risk analysis. In: Angelika Dörfler-Dierken (Ed.): Look! Gender, right-wing populism, rituals: systemic problems or individual misconduct? Miles-Verlag, 2018, ISBN 3-945861-83-7 , pp. 97-136 .

Web links

Documents from the Attorney General:

Documents of the BGH:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andrea Röpke, Julian Feldmann: Use inside. In: Andrea Röpke (Hrsg.): 2018: Yearbook Rights Violence , Munich 2018, p. 226
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Jörg Diehl, Matthias Gebauer, Fidelius Schmid: Terror charges against Franco A .: Shooting training in the Upper Palatinate. Spiegel online, December 12, 2017
  3. ↑ a b c d Benedict Neff, Joana Kelén: The Franco A. case, first part: "My son was public enemy number 1". NZZ, April 16, 2019
  4. ↑ a b Andrea Röpke, Julian Feldmann: Einsatz im Innern , in: Andrea Röpke (Hrsg.): 2018: Yearbook Rights Violence , Munich 2018, pp. 228-230
  5. ↑ a b c d e Florian Flade: Bundeswehr Scandal: The völkisch-racist master's thesis by Franco A. Welt online, May 3, 2017
  6. ↑ a b c d e Maik Baumgärtner et al .: Bundeswehr: Die Eisprinzessin. Spiegel, May 6, 2017
  7. ↑ a b c d Matthias Gebauer: Right-wing extremist Bundeswehr Lieutenant: The racist world of thoughts of Franco A. Spiegel online, May 3, 2017
  8. ↑ Jan Stich: The right-wing extremist terrorist cell in the Bundeswehr: The Breivik prevented. Jungle World, May 11, 2017
  9. ↑ a b c Bastian Brauns, Astrid Geisler, Karsten Polke-Majewski: Bundeswehr: Three suspects and a right dark field. Time online, May 10, 2017
  10. ↑ a b Andrea Röpke, Julian Feldmann: Use inside. In: Andrea Röpke (Ed.): 2018: Yearbook Rights Violence. Munich 2018, p. 223f.
  11. ↑ a b Failure of the authorities: Franco A. spoke German in an asylum hearing. Spiegel online, June 16, 2017
  12. ↑ Soldier disguises himself as Syrian: Blatant failure at Bamf. Nürnberger Nachrichten, April 29, 2017
  13. ↑ Jörg Diehl, Matthias Gebauer, Ansgar Siemens: Bundeswehr soldier under suspicion of terrorism: How Franco A. became a Syrian refugee. Spiegel online, April 28, 2017
  14. ^ A b Bundeswehr officer as an alleged refugee: the interpreter found Franco A. suspicious. Spiegel online, June 3, 2017
  15. ↑ a b Andrea Röpke, Julian Feldmann: Use inside. In: Andrea Röpke (Ed.): 2018: Yearbook Rights Violence. Munich 2018, p. 222f.
  16. ^ A b c d Sebastian Erb, Christina Schmidt: taz research on right network: Risk in the Reichstag. taz, October 26, 2019
  17. ↑ a b c Florian Flade: Where did the pistol come from? What were 1000 rounds of ammunition intended for? Welt online, September 6, 2017
  18. ↑ Jörg Diehl, Matthias Gebauer: Suspected terrorism: Refugee and soldier - the double life of Lieutenant Franco A. Spiegel, April 27, 2017
  19. ^ Bundeswehr: Soldier arrested on suspicion of terrorism. Spiegel online, April 27, 2017
  20. ^ Bundeswehr: Soldier arrested on suspicion of terrorism. Time April 27, 2017
  21. ↑ a b c Florian Flade: The Franco A case: Lists of names, pistol and grenades - and yet not a terrorist? Welt online, July 9, 2018
  22. ↑ a b Trial on Suspicion of Terrorism: Franco A. owned Hitler's Mein Kampf. FAZ, November 21, 2019
  23. ↑ Lorenz Hemicker: Franco A case: We didn't know anything! FAZ, May 3, 2017
  24. ↑ WELT news broadcaster: Ursula von der Leyen: "The Wehrmacht is in no way traditional for the Bundeswehr". Retrieved September 7, 2020 .
  25. ^ A b Matthias Bartsch et al .: Right-wing extremists in the Bundeswehr: Franco and his friends. Spiegel online, May 12, 2017
  26. ^ Matthias Gebauer, Fidelius Schmid: Case Franco A .: Investigators find instructions for bomb construction. Spiegel online, May 12, 2017
  27. ↑ a b c Jörg Diehl, Matthias Gebauer, Fidelius Schmid: Right network in the Bundeswehr: Franco A. Spiegel's brown comrades online, May 9, 2017
  28. ↑ Matthias Gebauer, Fidelius Schmid: Right-wing extremist cell: Franco A.'s accomplice possibly stole the Bundeswehr pistol. Spiegel online, May 12, 2017
  29. ↑ Christoph Hickmann, Georg Mascolo: Right-wing extremism in the Bundeswehr: Detained soldiers have already been investigated. Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 9, 2017
  30. ↑ Franco A.'s accomplice arrested. Tagesschau.de, May 9, 2017
  31. ↑ Suspicion of terror in the Bundeswehr: Alleged accomplice of Franco A. is an AfD member. Spiegel online, September 2, 2017
  32. ↑ Kai Biermann, Astrid Geisler, Tilman Steffen: Franco A case: Terror suspect works for AfD members of the Bundestag. Time April 19, 2018
  33. ↑ Soldier suspected of terrorism: Further inconsistencies in the case of Franco A. Zeit online, April 30, 2017
  34. ↑ a b Hate Notes in the Pocket Calendar. Welt online, May 4, 2017; Florian Flade: Bundeswehr scandal: This is in Franco A. Welt's hate notes online, May 3, 2017
  35. ↑ a b Jörg Köpke: RND exclusive: Attack in Berlin - the perfidious plan by Franco A. RND, September 5, 2019
  36. ^ Jörg Köpke: Bundeswehr: New note: BKA burdens former Bundeswehr officer Franco A. heavily. Frankfurter Rundschau, September 5, 2019
  37. ↑ Martin Kaul, Christina Schmidt: Right network in the Bundeswehr: Hannibal's shadow army. taz, November 16, 2018
  38. ↑ Martin Kaul, Christina Schmidt, Sebastian Erb, Alexander Nabert: Hannibals Netz. In: Matthias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (eds.): Extreme security. Freiburg 2019, pp. 246–259, here pp. 251–254.
  39. ↑ Matthias Gebauer, Fidelius Schmid: BGH cancels arrest warrant for accomplices of Franco A. Spiegel online, July 5, 2017; Federal Court of Justice revokes arrest warrant against Bundeswehr officer , Federal Court of Justice, press release No. 106/2017, July 5, 2017.
  40. ↑ a b What happened to the Franco A. case? Welt online, September 4, 2017
  41. ↑ Investigations against alleged helpers of Franco A. stopped. AFP / Yahoo News , October 12, 2018
  42. ↑ Suspicion of terror in the Bundeswehr: Federal Court of Justice revokes arrest warrant against Franco A. Spiegel online, November 29, 2017
  43. ^ German officer charged with planning an attack. Tages-Anzeiger , December 12, 2017
  44. ↑ Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt: No sufficient suspicion against Franco A. Zeit online, June 7, 2018
  45. ↑ Right-wing extremist soldier: OLG sees no suspicion of terrorism in Franco A. SZ, June 7, 2018
  46. ^ Right-wing extremism: Federal Prosecutor's Office files a complaint in the Franco A. case. Frankfurter Rundschau, June 20, 2018
  47. ↑ Christina Schmidt: Stolen Bundeswehr ammunition: First judgment in the Franco A. taz complex , September 16, 2019
  48. ↑ Ursula von der Leyen: "The Bundeswehr has a posture problem". Time online, April 30, 2017
  49. ↑ Investigations in the troops: Von der Leyen cancels trip to the USA. Westfalenpost, May 2, 2017
  50. ↑ a b Bundeswehr soldier under suspicion of terrorism: Federal Prosecutor's Office is investigating the case of Franco A. Spiegel online, May 2, 2017
  51. ^ Bundeswehr: General Inspector orders a search of all barracks. Time online, May 7, 2017
  52. ↑ a b Thorsten Jungholt: Raids at the Bundeswehr: 41 souvenirs of the Wehrmacht found - and now? Welt online, May 17, 2017
  53. ↑ Extremism: The Bundeswehr's traditional decree is to be revised by autumn. Welt online, May 10, 2017
  54. ^ Bundeswehr: 400 military devotional items found in barracks. Time online, May 31, 2017
  55. ^ Names of Wehrmacht officers: Von der Leyen wants to rename barracks. Spiegel online, May 14, 2017
  56. ^ Matthias Gebauer: Franco A case: Bundeswehr takes action against superiors. Spiegel online, May 17, 2017
  57. ↑ Matthias Gebauer: General Inspector on the Franco A case: "The mistakes have happened, we are all responsible". Spiegel online, May 13, 2017
  58. ↑ Thorsten Jungholt: Franco A case: Another setback for Ursula von der Leyen. Welt online, January 12, 2018 (fee required)
  59. ↑ Florian Flade, Thorsten Jungholt: This is how Franco A. slipped through the gaps in the system. Welt online, April 30, 2017
  60. ↑ Matthias Gebauer: Franco A case: Investigators check evidence of gun theft in the Bundeswehr. Spiegel online, May 20, 2017
  61. ↑ Matthias Gebauer: Extremism at the Bundeswehr University: Two right-wing officer candidates dismissed without notice. Spiegel online, May 31, 2017
  62. ↑ Suspicion of terrorism: facts and questions about the Franco A. Deutsche Welle case, April 25, 2018
  63. ↑ Special Forces Command: Military Intelligence Unmask right-wing extremist Bundeswehr soldiers. Spiegel, December 1, 2019
  64. ↑ Tobias Heimbach, Daniel F. Sturm: Right-wing extremists in the Bundeswehr: "Hierarchies, weapons, uniform - that attracts some applicants". Welt online, April 30, 2017
  65. ↑ Armed Forces Commissioner from von der Leyen: "Leadership begins above". Spiegel online, May 2, 2017
  66. ↑ Markus Decker, Danijel Majic: Bundeswehr: Terror in Camouflage. Frankfurter Rundschau, April 27, 2017
  67. ↑ The BAMF is drawn to the Franco A. Deutsche Welle case, May 5, 2017
  68. ↑ Consequences of the Franco A case: Bamf is supposed to examine tens of thousands of asylum notices. Spiegel online, May 31, 2017
  69. ↑ Simone Rafael: Franco A .: The alleged right-wing terrorist appears in the Bundestag and in the court. Bell Tower, September 18, 2019