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Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) reacted in disbelief to the fact that the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg categorically rejects the help of the Bundeswehr to trace crown contacts despite the rapid increase in the number of infections. This carries the risk of aggravating the situation for the whole of Berlin, the CDU leader told Tagesspiegel. The help of soldiers is gratefully accepted everywhere.
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) also criticized the district’s refusal. In the health authorities, with an increasing number of infections, employees would at some point reach their limits. “That is why we also support the federal government, for example with soldiers from the Bundeswehr, for example from the Robert Koch Institute,” Spahn told the ARD “Extra” program about the situation in the crown on Wednesday night. “By the way, it is surprising when a health department here in Berlin-Friedrichshain does not want any help from the Bundeswehr for ideological reasons amid the pandemic.”
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“I don’t understand at all that red-red-green is more likely to risk rapidly increasing infections, that infection chains cannot be traced or contained, than to seek help from the Bundeswehr,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer. “And that’s solely for ideological reasons.” Whoever decides this “must also answer if patients can no longer be treated because, for example, there are no ventilation places in hospitals, if children cannot go to school and their parents may lose their jobs.”
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.
Only Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg does not want to resort to it, although the number of new infections there is very high, repeatedly scraping the critical upper limit of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days.
Left: “Bundeswehr outside the health authorities”
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.
[290.000 Leute, 1 Newsletter: Den Tagesspiegel-Newsletter für Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg gibt’s hier – voller Debatten, Ideen, Tipps und Terminen: leute.tagesspiegel.de]
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg shows that health authorities can do their job without the military. The district refused to support the first wave of infection. However, since the cancellation came too late, initially five soldiers showed up and wanted to start their service. They then moved to the Mitte district office.
15,000 soldiers deployed in Corona
Kramp-Karrenbauer emphasized: “The Bundeswehr has established a crown contingent with a total of 15,000 men. As long as we are required and this is compatible with our legal situation, we help.” The Bundeswehr also assists with fever clinics and tests, as in the case of Corona Outbreak at the Tönnies meat factory.
The Defense Minister emphasized: “We do not impose our aid.” But people in Berlin certainly hoped that those responsible would make sure that the civilian forces came from other administrative offices in Berlin immediately. “Just to say: we don’t care, that’s not enough,” Kramp-Karrenbauer emphasized.
The SPD parliamentary group at the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district assembly submitted an urgent request for the next meeting on Thursday to allow aid. “The administrative units that deal with containment measures have been working at the limit of their capacities for months,” says the application.
If the Bundeswehr ban is upheld, people would have to be removed from other units. The consequences would be “new gaps” in service to citizens elsewhere.
