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For the time being, the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg will no longer deploy soldiers to support its health department in the corona pandemic. District Mayor Monika Herrmann spoke out on Thursday in favor of the Bundeswehr relief effort in her district. She told the Tagesspiegel that she awaited a corresponding decision from the district council meeting (BVV) on Thursday evening.
“Any helping hand would be welcome in this situation and if the district councilors decide to go out tonight, that should be fine with me.” However, BVV did not follow Herrmann’s request.
Herrmann, however, contradicted criticism from Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) that the district was at risk of aggravating the infection situation across Berlin with the prior refusal of aid. “The health department manages its expenses at the current level. We can’t work because we don’t have five soldiers, ”says the mayor of the green district. The defense minister should have familiarized herself with the situation on the ground before her harsh criticism.
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) also criticized the district’s refusal to accept help from the Bundeswehr in the pandemic.
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg is the only district in Berlin that has not yet received help from the Bundeswehr, although the number of new infections there is very high, repeatedly exceeding the critical upper limit of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days.
Most of the BVV had so far opposed the Bundeswehr aid operation, and it remained so on Thursday night. Most of the decrees forward the motions (SPD and CDU) for the deployment of Bundeswehr soldiers in the district to the Social Committee for further discussion.
The decrees do not see the need for soldiers to support the health department in the current situation and the office is well positioned. However, that doesn’t mean it was clear Thursday night that this assessment may change if the infection rate worsens.
Bundeswehr soldiers help with contact tracing
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg had already rejected the use of soldiers in the health department in June. In August, the Berlin state association of the Left Party decided on a request entitled “Bundeswehr outside the health authorities”. A “progressive combination of civilian and military competencies” should be clearly rejected for reasons of democracy preservation and in view of “the experience with German militarism,” he says. The councilor responsible for the health of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Knut Mildner-Spindler, is himself a leftist.
Soldiers are already deployed to eleven Berlin districts, which are often used to follow up the contacts of infected people by phone or IT, or on test kits. 180 will be added to the 60 soldiers so far.
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According to district spokeswoman Sara Lühmann, 71 employees in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg are involved in protecting against infections, 45 of them are involved in following up contacts, “depending on the situation, more.” Since June, when the first five soldiers were working in other districts, the district has been trying to establish an independent team against the pandemic.
For this, 18 temporary positions were created with state and federal funds, these would be increased by four more. Lühmann said that mainly young people, academics, doctors and scientists were recruited. “The deployment is also more effective because, compared to the Bundeswehr, they stay for a whole year and are not constantly exchanged.”
The district’s mayor, Monika Herrmann, told Tagesspiegel that the district’s main problem was not tracking contacts, but very few staff in the district’s regulatory office. “We have big problems in this area and we would need to triple the workforce to do our job,” he said. So far, 40 employees have worked in the field in the district.
Public order offices in Berlin are supposed to monitor compliance with crown rules, but in many districts they can hardly keep up. Employees are completely overwhelmed with the control of illegal parties, rules in restaurants, bars or parks.
After the police initially provided support with these new tasks, most of them have now moved to the districts. “Districts need to be equipped for this: we need staff, rooms, training,” Herrmann said.
Müller: “I think we should also accept the help that is offered to us”
Berlin Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) spoke out on Thursday in favor of accepting the support of the district health authorities by soldiers and Bundeswehr employees in principle.
“I think we should also accept the help that the Bundeswehr offers us,” Müller said in the Berlin House of Representatives, making it clear that “he will continue to be very happy about the support. He was “very grateful when the Bundeswehr helps us better cope with a global crisis,” Müller said, announcing that he would make this attitude clear in a phone call with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) that was scheduled for the day.
In addition to Müller, health senator Dilek Kalayci (SPD) also spoke positively about the support of the health authorities by the Bundeswehr. “Among other things, the Bundeswehr supported us in setting up the Corona Clinic at the fairgrounds and it was very welcome in the past,” explained Kalayci. So far, the commitments have always been straightforward and the districts remain open.
