Image via video screenshot
By Susann Witt-Stahl, junge Welt, February 24, 2025. Translation and notes by Helmut-Harry Loewen.*
For the first time in eighty years, a Nazi combat unit of a regular armed forces is operating on German soil. The 12th Special Brigade Azov of the Ukrainian National Guard recently quartered its “international battalion” in Diedersdorf Castle in Brandenburg, south of Berlin. The unit is looking for “supporters,” for example for the financing of armoured vehicles, according to the uniformed Azov non-commissioned officer Peter R. in an interview with Julian Röpcke, the BILD-Zeitung’s “military expert" [1]. In the video report, R. says that they “came to Berlin as a unit."
The Azov International Battalion, which is under enormous pressure to recruit, was only founded a few weeks ago [2]. In addition to Peter R., a former Bundeswehr soldier [3], there are volunteers from Portugal and the USA, among other countries. A US American in a promotional clip for the battalion asserts that “If I signed up for the army to fight for America's freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan, then why shouldn't I come to Ukraine?”, adding that he is motivated solely by “ethical values.” And Peter R. warns that “the defence of my country doesn't just start at the Polish border. Russia will not stop in Ukraine.” This is something he learned in the Bundeswehr. Battalion members say they simply want to “present themselves as an elite unit that defends a country without political motivation.”
Accordingly, Peter R. denies links to historical forefathers who also felt a strong urge for the “Drang nach Osten” [the Nazis' “eastward expansion”]. “Such accusations are clearly Russian propaganda,” claims Peter R. in the BILD video. In Azov, “all National Socialist symbols have been officially banned.”
The images shown in the background of the video prove Peter R. wrong. They show fighters from his brigade with the Wolfsangel symbol, which was originally used as a troop insignia by the SS armoured division “Das Reich.” It is “in principle a prohibited symbol within the meaning of Section 86a of the German Criminal Code (use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations)” in cases where there is a “recognizable reference to National Socialism,” as confirmed in an expert report by the Bundestag's Research Services in 2022.
Azov adopted the symbol from its core organization, "Patriot of Ukraine," when the unit was founded in 2014: the paramilitary wing of the Nazi alliance Social-National Assembly, which fights for a “racially pure Ukraine.” Its leader was the current commander of the Azov assault brigade in the Ukrainian army, Andriy Biletsky. The video also shows members of the 12th Special Brigade giving the “Azov salute.” This also comes from “Patriot of Ukraine” and is often celebrated together with the “Prayer of a Ukrainian Nationalist.” The ritual pays homage to Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych and other Hitler collaborators of the fascist Organization Ukrainian Nationalists.
It is still unclear whether the Azov Nazi battalion was in Germany at the invitation of the German government and the state of Brandenburg, what exactly its mission entailed, and who financed it. Last but not least, the question of whether the Azov unit displayed banned symbols of the Hitler state and committed other crimes during its stay, possibly with the connivance of the German security authorities, remains unanswered.
Notes:
[1] The video report on Azov training and recruitment near Berlin, “Ukrainische Brigade sucht Unterstützung bei Berlin” (19 February 2025), is in the BILD Lagezentrum series with reporter Julian Röpcke:
BILD-Zeitung is the most widely-read daily newspaper in Germany. The tabloid is part of the publishing and media conglomerate Axel-Springer-Verlag, which was founded by Axel Cäsar Springer in West Berlin (US Occupation Zone) in 1946. BILD began publishing in 1952. In 1934 Springer joined the paramilitary National Socialist Motorist Corps {NSKK), whose members included many Nazis who would go on to prominent positions in the postwar Federal Republic, including Franz Burda, Springer’s later publishing rival; Franz Josef Strauss, leader of Bavaria’s ruling party, the Christian Social Union; and the Christian Democrat Kurt Georg Kiesigner, West Germany’s third Chancellor.
[2] Video announcing the creation of the Azov International Battalion:
See also:
[3] Identified only as Peter R., the Azov spokesman in the video report is a former Bundeswehr soldier who has been fighting in Ukraine since May 2022. He is an Azov non-commissioned officer (Unteroffizier). R. notes that recruits for the international battalion are first and foremost infantry soldiers with specialities in various aspects of warfare.
(Note that the first part of the article's German title has been changed for the English translation, and that the article has been very lightly edited.)
* Originally published in German as: "In der Bundeswehr gelernt. Auf der Suche nach »Unterstützern«: Ableger der faschistischen »Asow«-Brigade in Deutschland unterwegs," Susann Witt-Stahl, junge Welt, 24.02.2025.