Germany is rearming, but what about its veterans?

Euronews

15-06-2025

Germany will mark its first-ever Veterans' Day on 15 June. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) said it was about "recognising those who are willing to go the extra mile for others, and who risk life and limb for our country".
Getting to this point has taken years, though. "We've been campaigning for this Veterans' Day for nearly 15 years," said Andreas Eggert, Secretary General of the German Veterans' Association, Bund Deutscher EinsatzVeteranen e.V, speaking to Euronews.
Germany needed a day that properly acknowledges the service of its veterans. But before that could happen, the association had to reintroduce and redefine the very concept of a veteran. The word itself was long burdened by its associations with the Second World War, added David Hallbauer, the association's Deputy Federal Chairman.
The goal, he explains, was to establish a new understanding – that the Bundeswehr had developed its own, modern tradition, from which a distinct veteran identity could emerge.
When the Association of German Veterans was founded in 2010, it faced significant opposition. "People dismissed us as outdated," Hallbauer recalled. "We first had to explain that we were talking about individuals who had rendered a special service to Germany through their time in the Bundeswehr."
For the Association of German Veterans, it's not just about recognition and appreciation, but also about supporting those who were injured in service.
A National Veterans' Day can serve as a platform to highlight these issues and shine a light on the shortcomings that still need to be addressed.
This includes mental health support, particularly for soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many wait years for help. According to Eggert, the longest known case he's aware of took 13 years before support was granted.
"We have a real problem with bureaucracy dragging everything out," Hallbauer explained, adding that for those affected, it feels like a war after the war.
"These delays could be avoided by speeding up the decision-making process. If someone has to wait twelve years to be recognised, that's clearly not in anyone's interest," he said.
Before a case is approved, authorities must establish a direct link between a deployment and the resulting illness. "You first have to prove that you were even deployed," Hallbauer explained. "As someone who's been injured, you're expected to demonstrate that you were on the ground – and that the experience you had there damaged your health."
Eggert adds that in Germany, there's an additional hurdle: the traumatic event itself must meet strict criteria before any therapy or treatment is approved.
As part of what's known as the military service compensation process, the extent of an individual's injury is assessed – which then determines any potential pension entitlements.
"The process often seems designed more to fend off claims than to support those affected," said Eggert. "That's why all cases are treated in the same rigid manner at first." Personal history, including childhood experiences, is also taken into account – something the Veterans' Association sees as misguided. "Instead of focusing on individual background factors unrelated to trauma, the process should centre on the incident that occurred during deployment and the resulting physical or psychological strain," Eggert concluded.
According to him, a shift in the burden of proof would mark real progress. "It shouldn't be up to the injured person to prove that deployment made them ill, the Bundeswehr should have to prove that it didn't. That kind of reversal is exactly what's been missing so far. It appears there's no political will to change that", he told Euronews.
"It should be possible for a soldier to go on deployment with peace of mind, knowing that if they're injured, they'll be properly looked after," Hallbauer.
This sense of security, he continued, simply doesn't exist in Germany today.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, defence has returned to the political agendaacross much of Europe.
Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) declared a "Zeitenwende" – a turning point, after Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Defence spending has since increased, with the stated aim of making Germany "fit for war" once again.
But if a country is to be made fit for defence, the initial focus is naturally on rearmament, said Eggert. "We're facing shortages in both equipment and personnel. That's where a large portion of the money is going. But it would have been good if even just 10 million of the 100-billion-euro special fund had been set aside to properly care for those who are injured, wounded, or fall ill during deployment."
Thousands of pride parade attendees took to the streets in Vienna, Warsaw, Rome and Athens on Saturday, waving rainbow flags and holding up signs of protest as they celebrated pride month, while also demanding political and social equality for the LGBTQ+ community in their respective countries.
Warsaw's pride parade went through the city centre and headed through the Old Town. The "Equality Parade" began on Saturday afternoon, and was attended by thousands of demonstrators.
Under the slogan "Love is the answer", the event's organisers expressed the hope that they could help others to express their LGBTQ+ identity openly and without fear.
"We don't want to talk about such matters somewhere underground, we don't want to hide in basements - we come to the surface to talk about it," said Rafał Dembe, president of the Equality Volunteering Foundation at a press conference ahead of the march.
During the conference, the organisers said that the demonstration in Warsaw is the largest of its kind in the country.
Among the most notable attendees of the parade were mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski, who recently found himself on the losing side of the country's presidential election, member of the European Parliament Robert Biedroń and Minister of Equality Katarzyna Kotula.
Four days earlier, Kotula submitted a bill to parliament to introduce civil partnerships, including for same-sex couples.
Speaking to the crowd at the start of the parade, Trzaskowski said "Remember that I have been saying for many years that together we are building Warsaw, which is an open and tolerant city, where these values ​​are not only appreciated but also promoted."
Braving the scorching hot 35 degree weather, thousands of people walked the city of Rome from Piazza della Repubblica to Via Cavour to participate in the Italian capital's pride march. Three motorcyclists with roaring engines kicked off the parade. Right behind them was the leader of the parade, holding a large banner with the word "Outlaw", written on it. The banner is in protest of what organisers see as the conservative incumbent government's lack of support for LGBTQ+ rights.
Among those taking part in the demonstration were the spokesperson of the Capitoline parade, Mario Colamarino, and the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri.
''We are here for the rights of all, to have a more inclusive and equal Italy, better than the one we have now. 'Outlaws' is what we are in this country today, we must fight and we must be many," said Colamarino.
The event in Rome was held not only to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride, but also to protest the ongoing conflict in Gaza, for which a one-minute silence was held. Many Palestinian flags and banners were waved alongside rainbow flags, as people chanted slogans for free love and equality. Along with house and pop music, the Italian partisan anthem "Bella Ciao" was also sung by the demonstrators.
A float satirically depicting Hungarian Prime Miniser Viktor Orban - whose government was last week denied a request to hold a pride march in Budapest - was also rolled out, an initiative by the Italian +Europa party.
"Today, more than ever, it is important to attend pride at a time when in the world there are autocracies, illiberal democracies, fundamentalist regimes that attack civil rights and individual freedoms in Hungary, as well as in Russia and Trump's United States, where some words, such as 'gay', are banned on institutional websites", said the party's secretary, Riccardo Magi.
2025 marks the 20th year since the first Athens Pride was held, and this year's slogan is "We Count". This has a double meaning in Greek - the phrase can either mean "we matter", but can also mean to take stock of something. The latter is in reference to recollecting everything that has happened since June 2005, when the first Athens pride parade was held.
According to the organisers, this includes joy, such as the pride and liberation of the first years, losses due to hate and homophobic attacks, victories such as same-sex civic union and marriage, but also disappointment such as the stigma that remains, as well as the fight for visibility and rights.
"Now, more than ever, the global context shows us that no acquis (law) can be taken for granted. Instead, our rights and our very existence are being challenged every day. The rise of the far right and the normalisation of hate speech in political and media discourse are a threat to all of us. The exclusion of LGBTQ+ refugees and migrants is intensifying, leading to the exclusion of people on the basis of racist, sexist, homophobic and/or transphobic motives," the organisers say on their website.
"For all this, our presence in the public space will continue to be our undeniable right, a historical duty and an act of resistance against a public discourse of abuse that seeks to erase us. The struggle for equality is ongoing and remains unabated. We are and will be here to keep them going," the organisers say on their website.
Pride month is celebrated in Athens with a variety of cultural events, screenings, performances, parties, shows, panel discussions, workshops and seminars, many of point to the now 20-year history of pride in the Greek capital, with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives also taking centre stage.