Jung resigns as minister

adminonNovember 3, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Former defense minister and current federal labor minister Franz Josef Jung, who has come under prere as a result of the new Kunduz allegations, gives up his post. Jung announced his resignation in Berlin on Friday "after careful consideration". For several defense ministers, their career as head of the Bundeswehr ended in retirement.

"Ejector seat, snake pit, a bag of mines". For example, Manfred Worner (CDU), defense minister from the 4. October 1982 to 18. May 1988, once designated the post of chief of the Bundeswehr. German President Horst Kohler said that the "work at the top of the Bundeswehr is hard". For several defense ministers, their career as head of the Bundeswehr ended in failure.After the founding of the Bundeswehr in 1955, the first Minister of Defense, Theodor Blank (CDU), throws in the towel after 16 months in office because the build-up of the new German armed forces (target: 500,000 troops) cannot be managed as he would have wished. His successor Franz Josef Straub (CSU) is immediately at the center of a debate on nuclear weapons in Germany. In December 1962, Straub falls over the "Spiegel" affair, the search of the Hamburg news magazine after a critical article about the Bundeswehr: "Conditionally ready to defend himself". Kai-Uwe von Hassel (CDU) comes under fire for downing series of "starfighter" fighter jets. In addition, there is a dispute with the Inspector General and the Inspector of the Air Force. Von Hassel holds out, however, until the formation of the Grand Coalition in December 1966. Gerhard Schroder (CDU) feels at home at Bonn's Hardthohe, but falls seriously ill and has trouble handing over the office to his successor. In October 1969, Helmut Schmidt (SPD) was the first Social Democrat to take up his post at Hardthohe. At the beginning of 1972 he collapses exhausted.

George Leber (SPD), since July 1972 "IBuK", holder of command and command authority, is from the beginning very popular with the troops and is called "Father of the Soldiers. In February 1978, "Schorsch" falls over wiretapping operations by the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD). His successor Hans Apel (SPD) – "What do I care what I said yesterday" – comes under heavy criticism in the affair over the exploding costs for the "Tornado" fighter aircraft, but resists all calls for his resignation. Apel leaves his ministerial post with the social-liberal coalition in October 1982.

Manfred Worner (CDU) offers his resignation to Chancellor Helmut Kohl in early 1984 after the early retirement of General Gunter Kiessling because of alleged homosexuality proves to be groundless. Kohl rejects request for resignation. Worner becomes NATO Secretary General in May 1988. Rupert Scholz (CDU) was considered "hapless" and was the Bundeswehr chief with the shortest tenure until April 1989 after only eleven months in office. Gerhard Stoltenberg (CDU) had to end his term of service because of the delivery of tanks to Turkey despite a resolution of the Bundestag to the contrary in March 1992.

Volker Ruhe (CDU) cleaned up thoroughly at Hardthohe. When he took office in April 1992, he made it clear to the generals that he intended to assert the primacy of politics. Ruhe became the longest serving defense minister and longest serving in NATO. Rudolf Scharping (SPD) made many serious "blunders" and was particularly badly noticed in 2001 when he splashed around in a hotel pool in Majorca with his then partner Kristina Countess Pilati while Bundeswehr soldiers were on deployment in the Balkans. Scharping had to leave on 18. July 2002 to resign – following revelations about fees paid to PR consultant Moritz Hunzinger.

Peter Struck (SPD) had been on leave as defense minister from 19. July 2002 to 22. November 2005 highly regarded by soldiers. He always approached them in an almost "buddy-like" manner and took care of their problems in detail. Struck changed the Bundeswehr more than some of his predecessors. Especially the sentence of Struck became famous: "Our security is defended at the Hindu Kush". With the concept for the restructuring of the armed forces, Struck managed to turn the Bundeswehr into a modern army equipped for foreign missions. Struck's successor Franz Josef Jung, who was appointed on 22. When he took office in November 2005, he was said never to have found the "feeling" for the troupe. Young was 14. Minister of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany and was appointed on 28 February. October of this year with a large Zapfenstreich said goodbye. On the same day, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) took office in Berlin's Bendler Block.The CDU politician had come under prere following revelations about the air strike ordered by a German officer in Afghanistan in early September, according to which there were early indications of civilian casualties. Jung had initially ruled out civilian casualties.

So that enlightenment can begin in cologne

Archbishop Stefan Hebe © Lars Berg (KNA)

The Federation of German Catholic Youth in the Archdiocese of Hamburg has called on Archbishop Stefan Hebe to resign from his office in the course of dealing with the abuse. The clarification in Cologne stands now in the foreground.

The Hamburg archbishop should relinquish his episcopal office until the accusations from his tenure as personnel manager in the archdiocese of Cologne have been fully clarified, according to a resolution of the association meeting of the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ) published in Hamburg on Sunday: "Our archbishop must also no longer stand in the way of a publication of the study by the Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl, in order to enable a clarification of the cases of abuse in Cologne," explained BDKJ diocesan chairwoman Joana Duvel.

Hebe would not comment on the BDKJ's demand when asked. The archbishop has already informed the Vatican about the accusations against his person, his spokesman told the Catholic News Agency (KNA) on Monday. The decision on his remaining in office now lies in Rome. Hebe cooperates constructively with the authors of a new expert opinion. Nor, he said, was it true that it would counteract publication of the Munich investigation.

Accusation: cover-up of abuse cases

According to media reports, the previously unpublished study commissioned by the Archdiocese of Cologne accuses Hebe of covering up cases of abuse during his time as head of personnel in Cologne. Hebe had always denied the accusations since they became known in September.

Shortly before the planned publication of the study, he had drawn the attention of the Archdiocese of Cologne to a possible violation of his personal rights and had not ruled out legal action. Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Cologne has commissioned a new report on how to deal with sexual abuse, which is due by 18. March is to be present. Hebe has been archbishop of Hamburg since 2015 and was previously head of personnel from 2006 and vicar general in the archdiocese of Cologne from 2012 to 2015.

Call to all bishops

The BDKJ Hamburg demanded all catholic bishops to confess their guilt clearly and to take personal responsibility. "To date, no German bishop has drawn consequences because of the abuse scandal," Duvel criticized. "We can only renew our church when our ministers finally face up to their responsibility."

From the archdiocese of Hamburg, the youth organization demanded to enable a comprehensive clarification of the abuse cases and to create the legal conditions for the opening of the church archives analogous to the Stasi records law. The archdiocese should lobby the German Bishops' Conference and the German Conference of Superiors of Religious Orders for an opening of all relevant archives in all German dioceses and religious orders, said the BDKJ Hamburg, which is the umbrella organization of Catholic youth associations in the archdiocese.

Wave of protests against vilification of john paul ii.

Scandal over play with statue of John Paul II. © N.N. (CBA)

Scandal on a Warsaw stage: In the play "The Curse," a woman performs oral sex on a statute of the former pope. Prosecutors are investigating for hurting religious feelings.

It has been a long time since Warsaw has seen such a provocative play. An actress from the "Teatr Powszechny" simulates oral sex with a statue of the canonized Pope John Paul II for about a minute in one scene. (1978-2005), who is revered in his native Poland. Another is about what a hitman should be paid to assassinate the leader of the ruling national conservative party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Feelings of Catholics hurt

At first it looked like Poland's bishops didn't want to stir up the ie. At first, they only sent forward the press officer of the episcopate, who called for prayers for an end to the "blasphemy," but did not speak up themselves. Finally, on Thursday, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the former secretary of John Paul II, also condemned the performance., "the disgusting disparagement of the person of St. John Paul II". It was a "gross injustice" to accuse the former head of the church of bad things. "Sadly, I must state that in the name of the alleged freedom of art, the feelings of Catholics are deliberately hurt," complained the former archbishop of Krakow.

The head of the church's John Paul II.-Center in Krakow, Jan Kabzinski, started a collection of signatures against the play. "I demand that the financing of the theater with public money be ended and the theater director be recalled," the petition appeals to Warsaw's liberal mayor, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. "Particularly scandalous" is the fact that the capital maintains such a theater. "There is no doubt that this kind of provocation, namely pornography, blasphemous scenes, mockery of the Church – and for this purpose the abuse of a figure of St. John Paul II. – as well as incitement to political hatred, should not be allowed to take place."

For an end to "blasphemy"

Signatures are to be collected on Sunday after each Mass at Krakow's St. John Paul II Church.-Kabzinski announced that the collection would be collected at the sanctuary. In addition, he said, prayers are being offered at church services for an end to "blasphemy". Poland's Catholic Action lay movement also insists that the theater remove the play from its repertoire. "The performance is nothing more than a deliberate provocation with clear characteristics of hate speech," their spokesman said. "Both the director and the actors have crossed the line of common sense."

Theater invokes artistic freedom

The "Teatr Powszechny" (General Theater) in a first statement invoked the freedom of art guaranteed by Poland's constitution. "Everything we do in the theater is fiction.

Fiction can hurt and wound feelings in a society. But it continues to be fiction." Thursday night was to be the fourth performance of the play since Saturday's premiere to a sold-out crowd. The theater is one of Poland's most prestigious theaters, receiving two million euros in taxpayer funding annually.

In the production of the Croatian director Oliver Frljic (40) the church is denounced among other things for sexual child abuse. In one scene, the statue of the Pope is hung on a rope and the sign "Defender of Pedophiles" is attached to it. The performance of "The Curse" clearly deviates from the original by Polish playwright Stanislaw Wyspianski, who is also famous for the stained glass windows he designed in Krakow's Franciscan Church.

Public prosecutor's office starts investigation

The city of Warsaw is not yet thinking of dismissing the head of the theater or otherwise intervening, its spokesman said. Whether the theater makers had hurt religious feelings would be for a court alone to decide. The prosecutor's office had begun investigations into the play on Wednesday.

Earlier, a politician from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party announced criminal charges. The play incites hatred, calls for murder and desecrates Christian symbols, said the deputy Dominik Tarczynski. "No one would dare to treat Muslims or Jews in this way."A party colleague and the right-wing populist Kukiz movement condemned the stage's use of public funds to desecrate Christian symbols.

Liberal opposition MP Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, however, liked the play so much that she immediately watched it a second time. For them it is art and not a crime.

The Minister of Culture, Piotr Glinski, has so far refrained from saying anything about the scandal. In November 2015 – shortly after taking office – he had taken action against the performance of Elfriede Jelinek's "Death and the Maiden" at a theater in Wroclaw. Reason was alleged sexual acts on stage. In Glinski's view, the staging violated "principles of social coexistence". But the stage held on to the play with success.

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