24.-28.10.2023: Study and Lecture Trip of the Chair of War Studies to Lithuania
From October 24 to 28, 2023 the Chair of War Studies, travelled to Vilnius and Rukla in the framework of a study trip of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s (KAS) group of scholarship-holders at UP. Objective of the journey was a visit Lithuanian government and German actors in Vilnius – and especially the German contingent that is part of the forward defense of NATO in Rukla.
During the trip, Professor Sönke Neitzel gave several interviews to local media and held presentations on the successes and failures of the “Zeitenwende” at the Christian democratic party institute opposite the vice defense minister Zilvinas Tomkus, as well asat the German contingent in Rukla in front of several hundred officers and NCOs. A series of talks with local experts and Lithuania’s first president Vytautas Landsbergis completed the trip.
The study trip began with talks in the foreign office, the ministry of defense, the German Embassy, as well as with the chairpersons of the foreign, European and defense committees of the Lithuanian Parliament. All of these debates dealt with the German contributions to Lithuanian defense, during which all Lithuanian actors thanked Germany for what it has already done but still pushed for a more robust engagement. Finally, on October 27, the group visited the German contingent in Rukla. Some 1.200 German soldiers as well as a multinational element are stationed here, who will become the core of the new brigade that the Federal Republic is building up in Lithuania to defend NATO’s eastern flank. Here, the group was given an opportunity to see weapons systems and to talk to soldiers.
At the KAS country office for Belarus before the end of the trip, Christian E. Rieck debated with Belarussian exiles about the German “Zeitenwende” that is not geared against Belarus, but might still have unintended consequences, such as the closing of ranks between Minsk and Moscow. As after the other talks, this presentation was also followed by a lively discussion, showing how much interest the German engagement in Lithuania generates. It is impressions such as these that made this journey a great success. We are very grateful to the Potsdam group of KAS scholarship-holders and the KAS country office for Lithuania for the excellent organization of the trip – as well as to the commander of the German contingent, Colonel Klaus-Peter Berger, for the exciting insights into the daily routine of the forces stationed at NATO’s eastern flank.
