Neither Too Hard, nor Too Soft: Hellmuth Heye, the Quick Controversy and West Germany’s ‘Citizens in Uniform’*

The introduction of the office of the Bundestag’s military ombudsman through a 1957 amendment to West Germany's Basic Law was and remains today an important manifestation of the Bundeswehr’s Innere Führung. This reform concept was aimed at transforming the new military into a force that respected the individual rights of the ‘citizen in uniform’ and the rule of law in the young democratic state. The ombudsman was to be an independent check on whether these goals were being met. His office, therefore, held practical and symbolic value as a tool for parliamentary oversight of the military and therein the extension and protection of democratic values and practices in the Federal Republic. In the summer of 1964, the current ombudsman, Hellmuth Heye, released a series of three articles in the illustrated magazine Quick claiming that Innere Führung was under threat and with it Germany’s democracy. Reaction to the articles was swift and vociferous. While officials in Bonn universally disavowed the criticism, the West German public supported Heye in thousands of letters to the media. The article examines this controversy and argues that while concern was widespread, there was little consensus about a solution. Military training that was too ‘hard’ harkened back to the dark days of the Wehrmacht. Training that was too ‘soft’ created weak, selfish men. The welfare-supported, consumption-driven society was seen as much at fault as an unreformed military. Ultimately, the article examines the quest for a healthy male who could serve as both a democratic citizen and a soldier.