Since World War ii, approximately 10 million Germans have served in the military, either as conscripts, temporary soldiers or career professionals. Yet only now has Germany formally recognized their service.

On June 15, Germany held its first-ever Veterans’ Day honoring active and former soldiers who have served in the Bundeswehr since its founding in 1955. After two world wars, the slaughter of millions and the brutal suppression of the opposition at home, many Germans were not proud of their military—but this is now changing, and it has far-reaching implications.

Referring to the members of the Bundeswehr, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius noted at a ceremony in Hamburg: “Their place is at the center of society.” To ensure peace, security, and stability, “we need operational armed forces,” he added.

“The women and men who serve or have served in it deserve our gratitude, our recognition and our respect,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz posted on X. “This service to our country belongs at the heart of our society.”

At an event at the Reichstag, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner lamented that the celebrations were long overdue: “[T]his day creates something that has been missing for a long time: public visibility, recognition and respect for all those who have served in our country’s armed forces.”

Germany has plans to enlist another 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers over the next few years. To this end it is toying with the idea of reestablishing conscription. However, beyond training a combat-ready unit, Germany believes it is paramount to give its soldiers vision. By publicly celebrating their services, Germany is exalting the soldier’s role in society, inspiring others to step into the role of national hero.

This marks a fundamental shift in how Germany views its armed forces. What was once associated with shame and a historical burden is now publicly acknowledged and celebrated across the country.

Following Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, many Germans have recognized the need for a functioning military. Fearing Russian suppression, they are increasingly thankful for soldiers who are willing to give their lives to defend their country.

In his first speech as chancellor on May 14, Merz declared that strengthening the Bundeswehr would be the government’s “top priority.” A statement like this would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, but it is now becoming part of Germans’ day-to-day thinking.

But there is more to it than just a changed security situation: Germany’s military mindset is being strategically revived.

Afghanistan—a Turning Point

The fact that Germany now has a Veterans’ Day “has a lot to do with the Bundeswehr’s deployment in Afghanistan,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote on June 15.

The Bundeswehr has been participating in foreign missions since 1992. In those missions, Germany has lost a total of 119 soldiers, 60 of them in Afghanistan. Many of these soldiers died with little recognition at home. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung explained:

In Afghanistan, German Bundeswehr soldiers were involved in heavy fighting with casualties and fatalities for the first time, including the Good Friday battle on April 2, 2010, near the city of Kunduz, in which three German soldiers were killed and eight seriously wounded in hours of fighting with Taliban fighters. All of the fallen soldiers—a term that was avoided at the time—came from a paratrooper unit based in Seedorf, Lower Saxony. Events like this shaped a generation of Bundeswehr personnel without the public taking much notice.

For the 15-year anniversary of that fatal battle in Afghanistan, the survivors gathered with family members and colleagues from the military and politics to commemorate their fallen comrades. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Germany’s defense minister at the time of the battle, also attended the event. Guttenberg recalled: “It became clear to me what a huge responsibility you have as the person in charge of command and control. … Responsibility has grown out of the memories we carry within us.”

On a popular talk show hosted by Markus Lanz, Guttenberg appeared alongside Afghanistan veteran Maik Mutschke, who was severely wounded in the mission. Asked if the German population’s attitude toward the Bundeswehr had changed since that battle, Mutschke replied:

It has changed positively. … I really have to say yes. You can tell that you’ve had enough of it now. I’ve been in Berlin a lot lately, and even taxi drivers, when you’re on your way from a hotel to the parliament or to some evening event, for example, they ask, “Hey, what’s going on? Why are you wearing your uniform?” And you say, “Hey, first, second, third, that’s what it’s all about,” and then it’s just like in America, “Thank you for your service.” “Thank you for your service, the ride is on the house.” That’s happened a few times now.

Talking to Lanz, Guttenberg added: “Imagine if 10 years ago you had asked your editorial team to invite someone in uniform to your show; there probably would have been a heated discussion.” Many still have a hard time understanding why Germans served in Afghanistan, risking their lives and losing comrades. This has caused much debate over the years.

Even prior to becoming defense minister, Guttenberg advocated expanding the mission. Recounting this history, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in “Guttenberg and a Revived German Militarism”:

In 2007, Der Spiegel wrote about Guttenberg’s first public impact. It revolved around the permanent troop deployment in embattled Afghanistan. At the time, Guttenberg served as the chairman of the Christian Social Union Foreign Policy Committee (2005–2008).

Calls were growing in the Social Democratic parliamentary group in the Bundestag not to extend the Bundeswehr mandate. Then Guttenberg, along with Hans-Ulrich Klose, proposed expanding the mission.

Instead of going along with popular opinion, Guttenberg—then only 35 years old—set out to change the mood in Germany. He didn’t want Germany restrained by its past of starting two world wars and earlier wars. He wanted a new Germany that acted with military confidence. Spiegel called this “a deliberate provocation” and “a breach of taboo.” …

Then he became defense minister. In this position, Guttenberg kept working to build more war thinking in the people.

“Our engagement in Afghanistan has for years been a combat operation,” he told Bild on Nov. 2, 2009. “But the feeling is—and not just among our troops—that the Taliban is waging a war against the soldiers of the international community.” This statement marked a turning point in Germany’s understanding of its military. No longer was it merely a defense force ready to confront an invasion. It was engaged in warfare abroad.

In February 2010, shortly after Guttenberg called Germany’s involvement in Afghanistan a war, Mr. Flurry wrote: “Baron Guttenberg calls war and terrorism what they really are—not vague or deceptive ‘euphemisms.’ That makes the German military ecstatic. At the same time, he is swinging the German population into a military mindset. That has to be extremely disturbing to those people who understand Germany’s history.”

This, Mr. Flurry wrote, “signals a dangerous turn in Germany’s foreign policy! And the whole world is going to be greatly impacted by that new direction. … Watch Baron Guttenberg!”

This is some critical history. Germany is not only honoring those who served in the defense of their country but is also subtly reintroducing militaristic thinking into the public consciousness.

Who Should Be Honored?

For decades Germany has struggled with recognizing its history and military involvements.

In 1965, Spiegel reported that the publisher Helmut Cramer was accused of glorifying the “active leaders inspired by political fanaticism” of the Waffen-SS in several books. To his defense, Cramer sited former Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and former Defense Minister Franz-Josef Strauss as witnesses to the fact that the Waffen-SS was a “troop like any other.”

In a March 1957 letter to the Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit, an organization of former Waffen-SS members, Strauss wrote: “I think you know how I personally think about the front line units of the Waffen-SS. They are included in my admiration for the German soldiers of the last world war.”

Adenauer told party colleagues in 1953: “The men of the Waffen-SS were soldiers like any others. … Make it clear to other countries that the Waffen-SS had nothing to do with the security service and the Gestapo! Make it clear to people that the Waffen-SS did not shoot Jews, but were feared most by the Soviets as outstanding soldiers.”

Concerning the Waffen SS, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states: “The Waffen-SS was the military branch of the SS. Units of the Waffen-SS took part in most of the major military campaigns of World War ii. They were heavily involved in the commission of the Holocaust through their participation in mass shootings, anti-partisan warfare and in supplying guards for Nazi concentration camps They were also responsible for many other war crimes.”

It is not a surprise that postwar Germany was unable to honor these soldiers in any public fashion and that any attempts to do so were greatly criticized. Yet recently, some have called to change that.

In 2017, then leader of the Alternative für Deutschland Andreas Gauland said: “If the French are rightly proud of their emperor and the Britons of Nelson and Churchill, we have the right to be proud of the achievements of the German soldiers in two world wars.”

The media, mainstream politicians and society in general strongly rejected this statement. However, the newly established Veterans’ Day now also celebrates some of them, because the newly founded Bundeswehr in 1955 consisted of many who served under Adolf Hitler. For example, the first inspector general of the Bundeswehr was Adolf Heusinger, who served as the chief of the general staff of the Army during World War ii. According to German historian Johannes Hürter, Heusinger was one of Hitler’s “most important military advisers.”

The vast majority of Nazis who served in the Bundeswehr have died by now, but it raises the question: Can an army with such dark roots be celebrated today?

Also consider that Germany’s longest and second-most deadly mission (after Afghanistan) was in the Balkans. This is another mission that had nothing to do with German national defense. In fact, as Mr. Flurry thoroughly proves in Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans, Germany used this mission to ensure control over an area that it struggled to occupy in both world wars. Should its involvement in such missions be honored?

Further, many of the Nazis who built up the Bundeswehr did so in preparation for the “third round.” In 1996, the U.S. government declassified a document that exposed a vast network of underground operations to restore German military might after the war.

The average German veteran may not know it, but the Nazis’ goals of World War ii are being worked out even today!

That’s why the introduction of Veterans’ Day in Germany is so serious.

Recruiting Soldiers for World War III

Only Bible prophecy can reveal where we are heading. “Germany’s leaders are preparing their countrymen for very dark days ahead, when they will once again fight for the fatherland,” wrote Mr. Flurry. “This is indeed ‘a first since the Second World War’!”

End-time prophecies in Daniel and Revelation speak of the rise of an overarching strongman in Europe who will lead Germany and other key European countries into warfare. Read Mr. Flurry’s article “Guttenberg and a Revived German Militarism” for a detailed explanation.

“And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space” (Revelation 17:10). The “one is” in this prophecy refers to Adolf Hitler, who was on the scene when God revealed this prophecy to the late Herbert W. Armstrong (request a free copy of our booklet He Was Right). Because of this prophecy, we watch for German militarism to revive and another strongman to come on the scene.

A parallel prophecy in Daniel 8:23-24 warns: “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.”

Germany is being prepared for the rise of this military leader, and it is prophesied to lead the nation to war. The Trumpet proclaims God’s prophecies to give our world and the German people a chance to repent and avoid this crisis.