BERLIN (Agencies): Germany has dismissed a two-star general for reportedly making a rape joke in front of a female British officer.
Maj Gen Hartmut Renk was dismissed from his role deputy commander for Ukraine support in Nato after he was heard saying: “If rape is inevitable, then relax and enjoy.”
According to Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, the comment was reported to the authorities by a British military officer in February, prompting an investigation by the German defence ministry.
Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, has since dismissed Maj Gen Renk from his posting in Wiesbaden, west Germany.
The incident was considered so serious that Mr Pistorius and Carsten Breuer, the head of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, were personally involved in the investigation.
According to Der Spiegel, Maj Gen Renk admitted to making the remark but claimed it was intended as an “ironic and sarcastic” phrase to motivate his team during a meeting.
A number of Nato colleagues from various nations were said to have been present at the meeting. Among them was an unnamed British officer who was disgusted by the remark and lodged a formal complaint.
Maj Gen Renk is the second senior Bundeswehr officer to be dismissed from a top Nato role over an embarrassing scandal. Nato officials learnt last year that a German general stationed in Brussels had taken home classified documents in a serious security breach, and sent the officer back to Germany.
It also follows another security scandal in early 2024 when audio recordings of German Luftwaffe officers discussing the merits of sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine were leaked online by Russia.
Friedrich Merz, the chancellor of Germany, has vowed to transform the Bundeswehr into a more credible fighting force by massively increasing its funding under the slogan “Germany is back”.
The centre-Right CDU leader hopes to reverse a decades-long perception of the German army as woefully ill-equipped, underfunded and lacking in seriousness.
Maj Gen Renk had served in the Bundeswehr since 1982, and was previously deployed to Afghanistan and Kosovo. He has also held other senior positions within Nato, the Bundeswehr and the defence ministry.