Altmark military training area

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Location of the military training area in the north of Saxony-Anhalt
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The Altmark military training area (also: Combat training center Altmark , abbreviated GÜZ ) is a military training area of ​​the Bundeswehr in the Colbitz-Letzlinger Heide in the north of Saxony-Anhalt . It is located about 40 kilometers north of Magdeburg between Haldensleben , Gardelegen and Stendal . With an area of ​​around 232 square kilometers, it is the third largest military training area in Germany and is considered the most modern military training area in Europe.

Since 2012, anti-militarists have been protesting regularly on site against the GÜZ and the military concepts practiced there.

history

From 1934, among other things, a 30-kilometer-long artillery firing range for the Hillersleben Army Research Center was laid on this site. From 1936 the Wehrmacht tested artillery weapons there and later also heavy weapons such as the Dora gun . By April 1945, the Wehrmacht continued to build the infrastructure and the technical equipment for shooting tests there to the maximum level at that time.

From July 1945, the Group of the Soviet Armed Forces in Germany (GSSD) used the barracks in the south and north of the site as stationing sites and converted the area into a pure combat firing range. For the major maneuver "Brotherhood of Arms 80" (1980), large forest areas were cleared in order to increase the usable target areas. The practice area was given its present-day outline. At times the Soviet Army stationed up to 20,000 soldiers on this westernmost training area.

From 1990 to 1994 the Soviet troops were withdrawn from the area of ​​the former GDR . By 1997 the Bundeswehr built a new combat training center on the site, using the infrastructure of the barracks in Planken. In 2001 the newly built barracks in Letzlingen was handed over to the German Armed Forces.

In 2004 the new state government, led by the CDU and FDP, broke the " heath compromise " of 1997, according to which the southern half of the area should be used for civilian purposes, and allowed military use beyond 2006. Until 2007, ammunition was cleared industrially from the site. The southern part was structurally connected by 2009. In 2010 an approximately 1,700 m long temporary runway was completed in the northern part. In 2011, the extensive disposal of contaminated sites began on the former decontamination site of the GSSD in the southern part.

Since then, the entire area has been used for military exercises, especially for training on missions abroad. In 2011, 12,750 soldiers took part. The Bundeswehr has been building the “ Schnöggersburg ” practice town and a military airport there since 2012 .

Current usage

Today, the Army Combat Training Center (GefÜbZH) of the Bundeswehr uses the site for simulation-based training and various options for training a combat group in high-intensity combat or a task force in low to medium-intensity operations. From battles in cities to battles by tank groups, military interventions by air and ground military troops are simulated here. The 23 training and exercise facilities include the Altmark barracks east of Letzlingen, the Born (Westheide) , Hottendorf and Planken troop camps and the center for the disposal of found ammunition (MLZB Hottendorf) in the far north.

The industrial operator " Rheinmetall Service Center Altmark" is the service provider and administrator of the entire technology and logistics and does the preparatory work for the military analyzes. For 2014 to 2018, Rheinmetall will receive 70 million euros from the Bundeswehr for this. In July 2014 the federal government stopped the export of a similar plant to Russia. The tank pioneer battalion 803 and the command and support battalion 382 are stationed in Havelberg north of the GÜZ.

By 2012, the GÜZ had 1,200 jobs, including 500 civilian jobs, in areas such as the soldiers' canteen, maintenance, the plant fire brigade and at the operator Rheinmetall Defense. This is the main reason why many residents and local politicians in the area support the GÜZ and the construction of Schnöggersburg.

Schnöggersburg

In the training town of Schnöggersburg , soldiers are supposed to train counter-insurgency in cities. More than 500 buildings are to be built on an area of ​​two by three kilometers. Including a high-rise estate, a subway station, a stadium and an airport and up to 1,500 soldiers at the same time enable training for operations in crisis areas. According to the initial planning, costs of 100 million euros were assumed. As of 2018, 118 million euros were spent on the construction. In 2017 the first parts of the practice town were officially handed over. The complete completion and commissioning of the plant is planned for 2021.

traffic

The 1142 district road runs through the grounds of the military training area in a west-east direction from Hütten to the vicinity of Colbitz . It is occasionally suspended for military exercises. In addition, a freight siding from the Haldensleben – Gardelegen railway ends here .

Protests

After Germany's reunification in 1990, protests began against the military use of the heath, from which Magdeburg draws its groundwater. From September 2012, the campaign alliance War starts here - let's end it here called for a protest camp for the first time. The city of Gardelegen initially offered the organizers places in an industrial area 20 kilometers away. In contrast, there was a permanent vigil on the Gardelegen market square. After a call to block military operations at the GÜZ, the authorities in Saxony-Anhalt banned all rallies in the area for one week on September 8, 2012. The demonstration ban affected the largest area in the history of the Federal Republic. The action alliance reacted with legal steps.

The citizens' initiative Open Heide demonstrated since 2012 every first Sunday of the month for civilian use and tourist development of the area in order to create an independent military jobs. From September 12, Wendland residents supported the protests with tractors, caravans and tents on the market square of Letzlingen. The local administration then banned parking on all access roads, except for police vehicles. The protestors' vehicles were not allowed to leave the market. A ban mile was imposed around the entire GÜZ. A farmer near Potzehne made a meadow available for the protest camp. The participants wanted to disregard the ban on demonstrations if necessary; some announced that they would advance to the military training area and disrupt training. The Bundeswehr there increased the alertness and the number of military police. According to the police, around 1000 police officers carried out 700 personal checks, 137 evictions, 24 arrests and 64 reports against participants who tried to get into the military area in small groups. Some of them sprayed paint on a tank and threw paint bags filled with broken glass at a building. Others temporarily blocked the B 71 with a spontaneous sitting blockade. Around 100 people took part in the only permitted demonstration.

In 2013 a court lifted the renewed ban on demonstrations. As a result, around 30 residents demonstrated in Letzlingen for the Bundeswehr. The police deployed up to 600 officers against protests and publicly suspected camp participants as perpetrators of an arson attack on a Bundeswehr vehicle depot in Havelberg 90 km away. The organizers of the camp emphasized the non-violence of their actions and rejected the suspicion as an attempt at criminalization, but also welcomed actions against military equipment that do not harm people on their website: “In our eyes, it is understandable when people choose sabotage as an antimilitarist means and Take disarmament into your own hands. ”According to the police, 250 people took part in the camp. 58 criminal proceedings were initiated, mostly due to property damage to train tracks, signs and a war memorial.

Regular rallies against the GÜZ continue to take place from Potzehne. At the annual summer camp in August 2014, around 300 people protested against 500 police officers who were supposed to protect the specially expanded security area. According to the police, there was minor damage to property and graffiti , and according to the camp participants, there were also arrests. The mayor of Letzlingen prevented a demonstration by registering a family day in the market square on the same day. A spokesman for the camp said the training in Schnöggersburg shows a realignment of security policy and blurring the lines between police and military. The house and street fighting trained there not only serves for foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr, such as the one in Afghanistan, but could also prepare a future counterinsurgency in Europe. The European Union is already expecting social unrest and has therefore allowed member states' armies to be deployed in other EU countries. That is why one advocates conditions “which do not even produce war. Ultimately, war is always an expression of competition between states - and thus of capitalism . "Bundeswehr opponents occasionally entered the site, pitched tents and hung up banners. Most of them left voluntarily when the police arrived. The evacuation of the rest was peaceful. All received a six-day expulsion for a belt up to seven kilometers wide around the GÜZ.

In 2016 the camp took up the current debate on migration and displacement; a well-founded appeal was entitled “War. Power. Escape. ”Speakers from South Sudan, Nigeria and Tunisia gave lectures in the camp on the connection between the causes of flight, economic interests, war and violence. The action alliance invited the residents of the surrounding villages to the camp for a coffee afternoon and a concert. On July 30th, the annual “day of action” with four registered vigils took place in the surrounding towns. Occasional inspections of the military training area were also expected. Between 85 and 150 people took part. The protests were peaceful.

Web links

Commons : Altmark military training area  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Christian Jakob (taz, August 24, 2014): Protests on the practice area
  2. ↑ a b Thomas Gerlach (taz, July 29, 2013): Schnöggersburg ghost town
  3. ↑ a b c Streitkräftebasis.de: Altmark military training area: Chronicle (pdf)
  4. ↑ Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, September 30, 2004: Defense of the amended heath compromise wrapped up
  5. ↑ a b Anja Maier (taz, September 6, 2012): Schnöggersburg under fire
  6. ↑ Radio Utopie, May 11, 2012: Construction of a city for counterinsurgency training by special units of the Bundeswehr
  7. ^ A b Rochus Görgen (MZ, July 27, 2013): Havelberg: Damage millions in an arson attack on the Bundeswehr
  8. ^ A b Hendrik Kranert-Rydzy (MZ, September 12, 2012): War and Peace Training Area - State of Emergency in Letzlingen
  9. ↑ a b Bundeswehr is building a huge ghost town in the middle of Germany , Vorarlberg Online, from September 27, 2017, accessed August 12, 2019
  10. ↑ Parts of Schnöggersburg handed over , accessed on August 12, 2019
  11. ↑ Description of Born in elbe-heide.de, accessed on August 9, 2017
  12. ^ Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (MZ), September 8, 2012: Altmark: Protests against Bundeswehr exercise center prohibited
  13. ↑ MZ, September 10, 2012: Training area: vigil heralds protests
  14. ^ Katrin Löwe (MZ, September 16, 2012): Bundeswehr: Katz und Maus in the Altmark
  15. ↑ Jan-Ole Prasse (MZ, July 29, 2013): Attack on barracks Does a trace lead to the protest camp?
  16. ^ MZ, August 19, 2014: Colbitz-Letzlinger Heide: Police clear occupied military training area
  17. ^ Altmark Zeitung, July 27, 2016: Protest in Potzehne against the Bundeswehr ; War starts here (2017): War. Power. Escape.
  18. ^ Altmark Zeitung, August 1, 2016: Military protests: Hardly any incidents

Coordinates: 52 ° 25 ′ 48 ″  N , 11 ° 34 ′ 12 ″  E