Mix of genres. A German BFA soldier suspected of planning a racist attack

(B2) The case caused a stir in Germany (and oddly enough in France). A German officer from the 291st Battalion of Chasseurs (Jägerbattalion 291) – which is part of the Franco-German brigade –, based in Illkirch (near Strasbourg) (1), is suspected of having wanted to prepare an attack.

Soldier by day, refugee by night

Aged 28, Lieutenant Franco A led a double life. By day he was a soldier. At night and during his periods of leave, he was David Benjamin (!), Christian from Syria, refugee in Germany, living in a migrant home in Hesse... His status as an asylum seeker had been recognized in January 2016. A relatively extraordinary feat since according to the German press, he does not speak a word of Arabic. During the steps to benefit from the right of asylum, to avoid speaking German, he spoke in French. A language learned in France, at the school of Saint Cyr Coëtquidan, where he studied (see below).

A survey conducted in Austria, Germany and France

For many months, Franco A. led his double life without arousing suspicion. It was not until the beginning of February (the 3rd) that he was spotted by the… Austrian police. He was trying to recover a loaded 7,65 mm caliber firearm, hidden a few days earlier in the toilet pipes at Wien-Schwechat airport (Austria). Weapon for which he had no weapon port. Arrested for control, he was then released but placed under surveillance. The German public prosecutor's office then took over, carrying out an investigation into the suspicion of violent subversive action. The investigation - involving the police of three countries (Germany, Austria, France) - led to searches in 16 homes in total in the three countries and then to two arrests. Franco A was arrested last Wednesday (April 26) in Hammelburg (Bavaria) where he was undergoing military training, at the same time as a 24-year-old student in Offenbach am Main accused of being involved.

A memoir supporting racist theses supported in Saint Cyr

The investigators have also (re) discovered the project of his master's thesis, defended at Saint Cyr in 2014. A text which will be refused at the time and - according to the center of sciences of the military and social history of the Bundeswehr (ZMSBw) who re-read it carefully – is not clearly not a work of academic qualification but proceeds from a radical nationalist, appeal to racism, which the author tries to support in a pseudo-scientific effort ».

A far-right network within the army?

According to our colleague Thomas Wiegold, of Augergeradeaus, the ongoing investigation seems to reveal that it is not an individual drift. Up to five soldiers would be involved and identified. Weapons (Glock G36) were discovered during the investigation, with swastikas.

A minister under fire from critics

Minister Von Der Leyen, who had so far managed a flawless run, is under fire from critics. She wanted, in turn, carried the blow involving the staff of the German army. On the ZDF, she made very harsh remarks. " La Bundeswehr an attitude problem. And she obviously has leadership weakness on different levels. » – mixing cases of harassment, sexual degradation. This Thursday (May 4), the various military officials are also summoned to Berlin – according to my colleague Thomas Wiegold – to discuss the consequences of the incidents accumulated by the Bundeswehr for several months. In the meantime, the minister has decided to cancel a planned visit to the United States and to make an official visit to France, to Illkirch, to the very place where the young officer was working...

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

To be continued: the report by my colleague Leonor Hubaut who follows Minister Von Der Leyen in Illkirch

(1) It is the only German unit stationed on French territory. Strangely enough, this fact has received very little comment. While the individual followed part of his schooling in France, with writings that were not very republican to say the least, lived in France, the French authorities walled themselves in almost total discretion, leaving the German minister to manage with her nationals.