SCHMIDT IS A MASTER OF SCANDAL: Approved banned pesticides, attempted to rehabilitate Nazis

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Although it is evident that behind the curtain there are pressures on the High Representative Christian Schmidt himself to impose amendments to the FBiH Constitution and the Election Law, it is quite clear that, in the event of imposition, the greatest responsibility would lie with him personally.

We have already reported that even the former High Representative Valentin Inzko was pressured by the international community not to impose the law criminalising the denial of genocide, but, in the end, the decision was his, writes Istraga.ba

For more than a decade, there have been strong voices in the international community for the closure of the OHR, and their key argument would be that „now even Bosniaks are against the OHR“, which would pave the way for the end of this institution.

Imposing the election law would probably be Schmidt's last move in BiH, which would mark his mandate, just as Inzko's mandate was marked by the imposition banning the denial of genocide.

Given that Schmidt's amendments to the Election Law are based on accommodating the demands of the HDZ, his legacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina would be remembered as cementing ethnic divisions.

Schmidt's political career was marked by scandals. His opponents recalled that he lost his position as Minister of Agriculture due to a scandal involving the approval of pesticide use, but the biggest scandal, which was later hushed up, was in 2007, when, as State Secretary for Defence, he attempted to rehabilitate Nazi pilot Werner Mölders.

As reported by the German magazine Kontraste, German Defence Minister Peter Struck (SPD) banned in 2005, following public criticism, the naming of an air force unit after Mölders.

Two years later, Christian Schmidt initiated a move to rehabilitate this Luftwaffe pilot.

Mölders, as the German magazine Kontraste writes, was one of the well-known figures of the Third Reich, among other things due to his very close ties with Hermann Göring, the head of the Nazi air force and one of Hitler's first associates.

Mölders, Kontraste states, fought on the side of the Nazis in World War II, as well as earlier in the Spanish Civil War as a volunteer. He was a member of the infamous Condor Legion, during whose bombings thousands of civilians were killed. Hitler himself awarded him the highest decorations, and after his death he was declared a „hero of National Socialism“.

Despite this, the German magazine wrote, Schmidt defended Mölders, saying on television that this Nazi pilot „has no brown stains on his vest“.

The German public reacted fiercely at the time, reminding that the Condor Legion, to which Mölders belonged, participated in crimes.

In his rush to defend Mölders, Schmidt, as the magazine Kontraste wrote, violated a Bundestag resolution stating that decorations would not be awarded to members of the Condor Legion.

Among others, historian Detlef Bald reacted, emphasising that Mölders built his career as a faithful link in the National Socialist chain, and that as a pilot he participated in the Nazi bombing of London and Dunkirk.

Schmidt claimed that Mölders had nothing to do with Nazi ideology, which was denied by historian Bald, saying that Schmidt's claims were inaccurate and very dangerous, because Mölders was an active propagator of National Socialism, and that he never distanced himself from the project of exterminating Jews.

The magazine Kontraste then recalled Mölders' elation at the sight of burning Dunkirk, as well as his views that it was a „wonderful feeling for Germans to fight in [this] war“.

This German media outlet then assessed that it was very dangerous that Schmidt, on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, was attempting to rehabilitate a Nazi pilot and an icon of right-wing extremists in the Bundeswehr.

Fifteen years later, Schmidt did not see fit to engage in the fight against discrimination against Jews and Roma in the political system of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Instead, he decided to use the Bonn powers to deepen ethnic segregation and cement the HDZ's position in power, a party that cherishes the legacy of the Herzeg-Bosnian Mölderses.

If the imposition of the Election Law occurs, the Bosnian and international public will remember Christian Schmidt for this: after attempting to rehabilitate Nazi hero Werner Mölders, he enabled the HDZ to cherish the legacy of Dario Kordić and other war criminals that this party takes as its political role models.