Former GDR top brass slam US-NATO policy, anti-Russian rhetoric in open letter
Former top military commanders of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) penned an open letter on the eve of WWII Victory Day celebrations calling for the US and NATO to refrain from Cold War policies and cooperate with Russia to solve the Ukrainian crisis.
More than 100 top brass of the ex-GDR, which dissolved after the
fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, slammed American and North
Atlantic alliance leaders for using military power in the
resolution of conflicts. Titled “Soldiers for Peace,” the open
letter was presented in Berlin on Tuesday.
“We witness War becoming a permanent companion of humanity
once again. The new world order that the USA and their allies
have been trying to establish has recently led to nothing but new
wars – in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, in Iraq, Yemen and Sudan,
in Libya and Somalia. These wars claimed the lives of more than
two million people and forced even more out of their homes,”
the letter said.
Former German generals pointed to NATO’s “intensive
militarization of Europe” saying that war “has
returned” to the continent.
“The United States as well as the other NATO members have
recently returned to the policy of the Cold War and they justify
it by imaginary Russian aggression,” said former GDR defense
minister Theodor Hoffmann during the presentation of the open
letter on Tuesday.
"For decades we ensured peace together with our brothers in arms in the Warsaw Pact, and we are proud that we managed to keep the peace this time, only to see it dismantled," said Manfred Graetz, former Deputy Minister of Defense to RT.
“The aim of the American strategy consists in defeating Russia as a competitor to the US as well as in weakening the EU. The US hopes to isolate Russia and to corrode its ties to Europe and particularly to Germany by admitting Ukraine to NATO,” the letter reads.
"They are surrounding Russia from all sides - even today there are already bases just several hundred kilometers from Moscow and St.Petersburg," Manfred Volland, Lieutenant-General in GDR armed forces told RT.
"Ukraine will be the launching ground for the complete encirclement," said Graetz.
The East German commanders also blamed the US and their allies
for launching an “unprecedented media campaign,” which
aims to “to win the trust of people in western countries over
to their cause.”
“And those taking part in this campaign are just irredeemable
politicians and corrupt journalists that stir up hostility,
hatred and war hysteria,” the letter states.
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“We are set against military power becoming a key instrument
in modern international politics. We are absolutely sure that
urgent political problems cannot be resolved by military
means.”
Among the signatories are two former GDR defense ministers, three
former Chiefs of Staff of the National People’s Army (NPA), 19
lieutenant generals, 61 major generals and several admirals.
“Most signatories of our plea fought at the fronts of WWII
and know exactly that war can by no means be a political
instrument,” Hoffmann said.
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He pointed out that any “participation of the modern German
army in conflicts and wars waged by the West, even if it is just
a sort of logistical support, runs counter to an agreement
between the former Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl and the then
East Germany leader Erich Honecker [signed on September 8, 1987],
which provided that no war would be ever launched by
Germany.”
The letter also stated that a new war in Europe will inevitably
lead to unprecedented damage due to the destructive power of the
modern arms, even turning the continent into a “lifeless
wasteland.”
“Have the numerous victims of the Second World War already
been forgotten? Do modern Europeans no longer remember the
devastation, the many refugees and unending suffering of the
people engendered by WWII? Have the latest US and NATO wars not
claimed enough people’s lives?” the letter says.
READ MORE: 872 days of cold, hunger & death: Leningrad siege survivors share memories with RT
The former top brass emphasize in their statement that it was the
Soviet army and the Soviet people that “carried the heaviest
burden in defeating fascism” and “now, on the 70th
anniversary of the Victory in Europe day, we should express our
gratitude to them.”
The West needs to cooperate with Moscow to solve international
issues, the letter stressed, urging for a “peaceful dialogue
and not combative rhetoric.” It also points out that the EU
shouldn’t depend on the US in issues of military security.
“Instead of the NATO ‘Rapid Deployment force’ near the
Russian border we need more tourist and youth exchanges as well
as peace conferences between us and our eastern neighbor,”
it adds.
There are plans to distribute the letter among members of the German parliament as well send it to the embassies of NATO countries in Germany. The organizers of the campaign also plan to send the text to Russia, so leaflets can be handled out at the Red Square parade marking the 70th V-Day anniversary on May 9 in Moscow.
