The scandal comes amid Berlin’s recruitment drive to transform the armed forces into the “strongest conventional army in Europe”
Dozens of soldiers in an elite German army unit are under investigation for abuse, bullying, Nazi salutes, and drug use, according to local media.
Fifty-five suspects in the 26th Parachute Regiment, one of Germany’s top-tier units, are being probed over allegations ranging from sexual misconduct to violent extremist rituals, Der Spiegel and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported last week.
Armed Forces Inspector Christian Freuding visited the regiment’s base in Zweibrucken on Monday, and is due to brief parliament’s defense committee on the investigation later this week.
The allegations surfaced in October after a small local newspaper received an anonymous tip that soldiers there were giving Hitler salutes and photographing colleagues in showers.
The army later confirmed it has been quietly investigating abuse reports at the regiment since early 2025, following complaints from female paratroopers. They described cases when male officers broke into showers and toilets, assaulted and subjected them to vulgar remarks, pornographic jokes, and rape threats. One account said a paratrooper needed emergency surgery after blows to the genitals during training.
Other accounts described far-right rituals, including parties in Nazi-style uniforms with Hitler salutes, reportedly “common” among some of the paratroopers along with anti-Semitic insults such as “Jewish pig.”
Media reports claim the probe also revealed additional offenses, including 16 cases involving hard drugs, mainly cocaine. Around 200 abuse cases have been brought to prosecutors’ attention in total, with dismissal proceedings launched against 19 paratroopers and three reportedly already removed from service.
The scandal has sparked accusations of official inaction and a cover-up. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius only commented publicly late last month, saying he was “appalled” by the “shocking” revelations and giving the impression he had only just learned of the probe.
The reports come amid a major recruitment drive in Germany. Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged to transform the armed forces into the “strongest conventional army in Europe” and make it “war-ready” by 2029, citing an alleged Russian threat. This month, Berlin launched a program to attract 18-year-olds to a new voluntary military service, which critics see as a first step toward reinstating conscription, suspended since 2011.
Moscow has long dismissed claims of a Russian threat as “nonsense” used to justify inflated military budgets. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused German leaders of reviving ambitions to turn Germany into “the main military machine of Europe,” warning of “clear signs of re-nazification.”