Rape and “blind shooting” – German soldier reports to Lanz from Ukraine “Did you deserve that?”: How Tina Turner went viral with the answer to this question

On Wednesday evening, moderator and namesake of the show, Markus Lanz, will discuss Germany’s current problems with his guests for the first time: the much-discussed new heating law and the turbulence in the German government coalition alone would provide more than enough topics for an entire show. Among the guests are the politician Lars Klingbeil, an economics expert and a journalist.

But because SPD leader Lars Klingbeil is, according to Lanz, the son of a professional soldier, the fourth guest also fits in the group: Jonas Kratzenberg. The former Bundeswehr soldier voluntarily joined the Ukrainian army shortly after the outbreak of war. Kratzenberg fought Russian soldiers himself until he was seriously injured in a drone strike. He then wrote a book about this time: “Schützenhilfe”.

His statements probably left none of the guests and spectators cold.

Here’s what Jonas Kratzenberg reports on…

… the Russian violence

Markus Lanz first discusses the readiness for violence in Russia, which is deeply rooted in society. One trail leads to families: “Every 40 to 60 minutes a woman is beaten to death in Russia,” says Lanz. The other track leads to Russian prisons: every third Russian man is in prison or has been there before.

Lanz asks Kratzenberg how he experienced it himself. “That fits well with what I have noticed myself,” said the former soldier, who also fought in Afghanistan. There you would have had support from Armenia and Georgia, countries “that also stem from the Soviet military tradition”. In Afghanistan, when there was a “conditional change”, it was common “for the new, fresh soldiers to be raped by the old veterans”.

… his motivation to go to war

It was only when he arrived at the door with his suitcases packed that he informed those around him about his plans to go to the Ukraine. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have had a quiet minute,” says Kratzenberg.

The decision to actually fight had two components: on the one hand, as hard as it is to imagine, he also wanted to apply what he had learned as a soldier. On the other hand, he was struck by the suffering in Ukraine and the injustice of the offensive war. “But I was also very touched by the lack of support from the West and especially from Germany at the time,” says Kratzenberg.

Then he reported to the Ukrainian consulate. This would have given him a cell phone number and gas station to go there. “They didn’t care about my papers, I could have been anyone.”

… the battles

“Any thoughts you have about the war or anything else disappear from the moment the first bullet flies,” the ex-soldier describes his experiences. “Then you’re just there and it works.”

When the drone attacked him, which exploded “a hand’s breadth” next to him, he initially felt nothing. Only in the hospital did he find out that he had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, which most probably would not have survived.

The worst part of the war for him was the sight of dead civilians. “It’s even worse than seeing dead soldiers on the battlefield,” says Kratzenberg. The latter is a necessity when one is at war. Violence against civilians, which he also saw in Bucha, is something completely different.

Lanz von Kratzenberg wants to know if he had to kill people himself. His response: “I’m not talking about that.” It is so personal that he only talks about this subject with his comrades, who were also there.

… his company

There were no Ukrainians in his volunteer unit. The soldiers had come from all over: many from Israel, Georgia and Belarus, but also Germans, Poles, British and Americans had fought. “But also people from South America, Japan and South Korea,” says Kratzenberg.

Lanz wants to know how much he has earned. On paper you get the same amount as the Ukrainian soldiers, Kratzenberg replies. «In my ten to eleven months in Ukraine, I received about 12,000 euros. I would have come through much better in Germany.”

… the Russian strategy

It shocked him how incompetent and destructive the Russians acted. “Completely unreasonable attacks are launched, which are then rectified by artillery – at any cost.”

In Irpin, Kratzenberg and his company had been shelled by artillery for days without ever seeing a Russian. Also in this city people walked over countless corpses of men, women, cats and dogs. “The first body I saw there was an old woman who had just come to fetch water. She was lying there next to her walker and the water bottles were scattered on the street, “reports the ex-serviceman. “It was just blind artillery.”

… Ukrainian war crimes

Whatever he experienced on the Ukrainian side was one of the reasons why he wrote a book about his mission. “I have experienced things that are less present in Germany,” says Kratzenberg. Protective symbols at the Red Cross had been abused and prisoners of war had been shot. Ukrainian soldiers went into a forest with Russian prisoners of war, “then only the three Ukrainians came back,” said the ex-soldier.

…the city of Bakhmut

Kratzenberg was in Bachmut in the summer of 2022. At that time the city was still inhabited and largely intact. “Bachmut got his importance when Ukraine’s counter-offensive had not yet started,” the ex-soldier said. At that time, Bakhmut – the target of Ukraine – would have been the gateway to the Donbass. However, the city would have lost its strategic importance due to the counter-offensive. “Bachmut was then a positive example of the Russian conquest, also for the Russian public,” says Kratzenberg. The city has thus become a political target.

By the way, you can watch the whole show here in the ZDF media library.