Germany has sacked a top NATO general after he reportedly made a rape joke in front of a female British army officer.
Major General Hartmut Renk, 62, was dismissed from his role as deputy commander for Ukraine support in the alliance after he was heard saying: ‘If rape is inevitable, then relax and enjoy,’ during a meeting.
The offensive comment reportedly sparked outrage in the room, where a number of NATO colleagues were said to be present.
The British military officer then lodged a formal complaint, prompting an urgent investigation by Germany’s defence ministry.
According to German news website Der Spiegel, Renk admitted to making the remark, claiming it was meant as ‘ironic and sarcastic’ motivation – a defence that failed to prevent his dismissal from his posting in Wiesbaden, west Germany.
The scandal reached the highest levels of Germany’s military and government with Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Carsten Breuer, the head of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, becoming personally involved in reviewing the case.
Pistorius later confirmed that Renk had been dismissed from his critical role due to the gravity of the incident.
According to Spiegel Renk’s NATO career is now effectively over. A planned promotion to a different posting to NATO’s Norfolk command base in the US has been scrapped over the rape comments, and his early departure from Wiesbaden has already been initiated.
Major General Hartmut Renk was dismissed from his role as deputy commander for Ukraine support in the alliance after he was heard saying: ‘If rape is inevitable, then relax and enjoy,’ during a meeting
The scandal reached the highest levels of Germany’s military and government with Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (pictured) and Carsten Breuer, the head of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, becoming personally involved in reviewing the case
Renk is now to be temporarily retired in the autumn.
The general, who joined the Bundeswehr in 1982 and previously served in Afghanistan and Kosovo, has become the second high-ranking German officer in a year to be pulled from a top NATO post.
Last year, a separate officer was recalled to Germany after being caught taking classified documents home from NATO headquarters in Brussels.
But the incident is another blow to Germany’s efforts to reshape its armed forces under Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ambitious slogan ‘Germany is back’.
The centre-right leader has pledged a massive funding boost and structural reform of the Bundeswehr to address its reputation for being underfunded, disorganised, and underprepared for modern conflict.
A string of recent scandals, including the infamous 2024 leak of a secret call among Luftwaffe officers discussing the delivery of Taurus missiles to Ukraine, has cast doubts over the Bundeswehr’s internal discipline and NATO reliability.
Germany’s defence minister has refused to comment further on the Renk case, citing confidentiality over personal matters.
A spokeswoman told The Times: ‘For reasons of data protection and personal rights, we are generally unable to make any statements on personal issues, regardless of the facts requested or persons mentioned.
She added: ‘Irrespective of your specific inquiry and as a matter of principle, there is no room for sexualised misconduct in the Bundeswehr and appropriate measures will be initiated and implemented without exception and consistently, regardless of the individual, if possible cases become known.’
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