As an independent podcaster and journalist, Ole Nymoen admits that he enjoys freedom of expression and other democratic rights in his country of origin in Germany.
But he wouldn’t want to die for them.
In a book published this week, Why would I never fight for my countryThe 27 -year -old argues that ordinary people should not be sent to combat on behalf of nation states and their leaders – even to repel an invasion. The occupation by a foreign power could lead to a “crappy life,” he told Financial Times. “But I prefer to be occupied only dead.”
Nymoen, a self -proclaimed Marxist, does not pretend to be representative of generation Z in Germany. But its position – and its striking honesty on this subject – draw from a broader question in the face of Europe while it recovers on a scale not seen since the end of the Cold War.
Berlin has paid nearly 100 billion euros into new equipment for the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. The chancellor awaiting Friedrich Merz announced his intention to protect unlimited freedom and peace to finance defense expenses as he had promised to do “everything it takes to protect freedom and peace in Europe.
But, while these funds help connect the gaps into the arms and equipment, one of the greatest remaining problems is the workforce.
The commissioner of the German armed forces, Eva Högl, warned this week that the country was not closer to its objective of having 203,000 active soldiers by 2031, because the overall size of the armed forces decreased slightly last year, partly due to a high number of dropouts. A quarter of the 18,810 men and women who registered in 2023 left the armed forces in the six months.
“This development must be arrested and reversed as an emergency issue,“” Said Högl.
A Bundeswehr spokesman told the FT that the soldiers had taken measures to try to stem the flow of young recruits, including a notice period to avoid “last minute, emotional” decisions.
But a main commander of the army said that members of the Z generation – renowned in the business world for their efforts to reshape the corporate culture – were also in the armed forces with different ideas and perspectives. “People are vulnerable, they cry easily,” he said. “They talk about the balance between professional and private life.”
“I understand that,” added the commander. “They grew up in another period. It is not a bad perspective. But that does not correspond as well to a situation in wartime. »»
As Europe has once again reached it by the fear of an aggressive Russia, political and military leaders on the continent have considerably intensified their language on what they expect from the public.
Last year, a British senior general, Sir Patrick Sanders, told the British people that they were part of a “pre-war generation” who might have to prepare to enter the fight. In Germany, whose 1949 Constitution includes a commitment to promote world peace, the Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, caused the shock by declaring that the nation should be “ready for war”.
Warnings have increased since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January and started pushing Ukraine to accept a cease-fire and threaten to withdraw long-standing American security guarantees for Europe. Last week, Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, said that his country was preparing a “large -scale military training for each adult man”.
Germany did not go so far. The senior officials of Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats, the two parties likely to form the next government, have excluded a revival of traditional conscription. Merz promotes a year of national service which would offer military and non -military options.
However, the question remains to what extent the populations in Europe are ready to accept calls to join the armed forces in much larger numbers.
Sophia Besch, main researcher of Carnegie Endowment for International, based in Washington, said that although the perception of the threat among the European public changes quickly, “the next step [that governments are asking citizens to make] is huge – I want to fight for my country and I want my children to fight for my country. »»
Besch said that nations, including Germany, did not have this deep confidence and the shared understanding of the threat between citizens and the government which had been forged in places such as Finland, which is famous for its decades on preparation for an attack by Russia.
In addition, she added, in the worst case, the young Germans would probably not be invited to fight for their own country but for Latvia or another front line nation. “We must ask ourselves which young Germans would be ready to fight for today. Is it Germany? Is this the European project?
Since the Ukrainian Invasion on a large scale of Russia, Germany has experienced a sharp increase in the number of conscientious objectors (including regular soldiers and part -time reservists). The figure reached 2,998 last year – against 200 in 2021.
Klaus Pfisterer, of the German Peace Society – United War Resisters, a campaign group, said that many of them had done a military service years ago, before conscription was abolished in 2011, and had then been assigned as reservists. In previous years, it did not seem to be a difficult commitment. But today, in the current global context, “they see this decision in a completely different light,” he said.
Christian Mölling, director of Europe at the Bertelsmann Foundation, estimates that the number of German troops must increase from 181,000 today to 270,000 in the coming years to achieve NATO objectives – and fill the gaps if the American forces parked in Europe are withdrawn.
This excludes reserve forces, which are currently at 60,000, but defense officials said it had to reach 260,000.
Mölling said that the Bundeswehr had to considerably improve its recruitment campaigns to participate in a tight and competitive labor market, as well as to modernize the military and make it an attractive employer.
“It cannot be mimicry, where you claim that you are a modern army,” he said. “You have to do it.”
But many young Germans can simply be fundamentally opposed to the idea of registering. The federal elections of last month led to two parties which oppose the armament of Ukraine – the extreme right alternative for Germany and the DIE on the left Linke – claimed almost half of the votes of 18 to 24 years.
While a recent investigation carried out by the Yougov sounder revealed that 58% of Germans would support a return to conscription, only a third of the aged people between 18 and 29 years old looked like the same thing.
Nymoen, himself a voter of Die Linke, is deeply wary of the race of Europe to rearore. Everything was very good for European leaders to seem bellicose, he said. “The fact is that, in the end, it will be me in the trenches.”
Visualization of data by Keith Fray
