The European Council on Foreign Relations

Benghazi, Kosovo and Auschwitz

Date: 21st March 2011  |  Author: Hans Kundnani,

Categories: Middle East and North Africa, Germany in Europe, Security and Defence,

Germany's attitude to military intervention in Libya provides a striking contrast to its attitude to military intervention in Kosovo in 1999. The decision to send German Tornados on bombing missions as part of Operation Allied Force - the first time German troops had taken part in major combat missions since World War II - was a momentous one, which was preceded by a tortuous debate about German identity after Auschwitz that centred on perceived parallels between ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and the Holocaust. At times, the debate seemed somewhat narcissistic. But at the end of it, the centre-left "red-green" government of Gerhard Schröder and Joscka Fischer not only supported the military intervention but committed German troops as part of a humanitarian intervention even though it did not have a mandate from the United Nations Security Council.

Twelve years later, the

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