A general refuses to obey a “sham government”? Nonsense.

Some memes pop up over and over again. Still, that doesn't make it any truer.

There he is again, Lieutenant General Hans-Werner Fritz, who allegedly refuses to obey Merkel. Who allegedly opposes the government and does not want to be used as an instrument when it comes to putting down popular uprisings at home. We can only speculate as to why this meme has emerged from obscurity; it probably has something to do with the incidents in Chemnitz.

Unfortunately, this meme has absolutely nothing to do with Chemnitz. We already explained in October 2015 that we were taken in by a BILD headline that did not correspond to the wording of the lieutenant general. Because: NO ONE refuses to obey here.

In this illustration, which looks like it was taken from a newspaper column, the clatext reads:

“Lieutenant General of the Bundeswehr, Hans-Werner Fritz, refuses the order of Defense Minister Ursula von der Layen to deploy German military against the expected popular uprisings in the Federal Republic of Germany. Under the pretext of using the Bundeswehr to deport refugees, Merkel and von der Layen tried to use the Bundeswehr to bloodily suppress expected popular uprisings. Merkel and her friends sense that things are simmering everywhere in the country and that popular uprisings could easily break out. However, Lieutenant General Fritz, the commander of the Bundeswehr's operational command, refused this civil war order in advance. He said: “ In the past we have always strictly separated the tasks of the police and the Bundeswehr. And I am very much in favor of it remaining that way in the future. I rule out the possibility that the Bundeswehr will be deployed more domestically in the future because of the refugee crisis.” That worked. And then the general said: “Afghanistan’s youth should stay at home . He also threatened Merkel that the German soldiers should no longer bleed to death for these lousy cowards from Afghanistan, far from home, just because these cowardly Afghan parasites want to be fed here for refusing to do military service.

Who is Hans Werner Fritz?

Yes, the gentleman is a lieutenant general in the Bundeswehr. At least this statement in the text is true. But that was almost it, because the rest was very jumbled together. Let's take this apart one by one.

German military against popular uprisings?

The first claim is that Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen gave the order to deploy the Bundeswehr against expected popular uprisings.
But is that even possible? No. Domestically, the Bundeswehr may only provide official and disaster assistance . Disaster assistance is provided, for example, in the event of floods, and administrative assistance is provided, for example, when the Bundeswehr, in cooperation with the police, protects civilian objects or regulates traffic. The Bundeswehr is only allowed to take military action domestically if there is a so-called “ internal emergency ” in accordance with Article 87a Paragraph 4 of the Basic Law, i.e. if the free, democratic basic order is in danger. In this case, the Bundeswehr may be used to combat organized and militarily armed insurgents with the consent of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.

Don't we already have this situation?

No. We have demonstrations that are permitted within the framework of freedom of demonstration. The police are responsible for any escalations associated with this; this cannot be called a “popular uprising”. Those demonstrators are also not armed militarily. Things would look different if, for example, organized IS fighters actually appeared and spread terror armed with military weapons. Then the Bundeswehr would definitely be deployed. However, this situation has not yet materialized, although the Honigmann and other sites had already predicted it for the end of September. Not even close.

What about Fritz's statements?

“In the past, we have always strictly separated the tasks of the police and the Bundeswehr. And I am very much in favor of it remaining that way in the future. I rule out the possibility that the Bundeswehr will be deployed more domestically in the future because of the refugee crisis.”

Yes, Hans-Werner Fritz actually said that to the BILD newspaper, and other media reported on it. However, it was about planned border protection and deportation of refugees with the support of the Bundeswehr. Fritz finally rejected this with the words: “Our mission is clearly defined and limited by the Basic Law.”

Moment! But in the picture he says something different at the end!

“Afghanistan’s youth should stay at home”

And that's where the honey sticks. Fritz never said that. What has been pasted together here is a real quote from Fritz with a headline from the BILD newspaper .

We know BILD. The headlines have to be a little pithy so that people can get excited about them straight away.

 

Specifically, the article is about the deployment of the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan and the conditions there. Due to the threat from the Taliban, refugees from Afghanistan could also come to Europe. Fritz says this verbatim:

“I would really like young Afghans in particular to have more confidence in their country. We have created the conditions for Afghanistan to develop. With better education, better healthcare, better roads.”

That sounds less cold and barking than “They should stay at home!” Afghanistan is still under construction and the Bundeswehr will not be withdrawing there in the next few years, as Fritz said, as there is still a lot to do. It's no secret that the threat from the Taliban is far from averted there.

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