Bundeswehr United Nations Training Centre Celebrates 25th Anniversary

For 25 years, the Bundeswehr United Nations Training Centre has been pursuing its core mission of providing the best possible training for German military personnel as well as international partners and allies. On 21 September 2024, many guests and former members of the centre gathered at Saaleck Barracks in Hammelburg, Bavaria, to celebrate this anniversary.

Peace missions have been important for decades and will continue to be important for managing crises and maintaining peace all over the world. According to international studies, UNUnited Nations peacekeeping is the most effective way of preventing violence from breaking out. It therefore plays a key role in international crisis and conflict management.

At a formal ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the training centre in Hammelburg, Winfried Nachtwei, a former member of the German Bundestag, stressed how crucial UNUnited Nations peace missions still remain. According to Nachtwei, they are especially important right now as the geopolitical situation is increasingly marked by hostilities.

Requirements-driven and practice-oriented, with modern technology

The employment of military observers plays a crucial role in safeguarding these missions. 
Due to their special requirements profile and the predominantly remote locations in which they are deployed, a high standard of quality is essential in training them. The German training centre is internationally renowned for the high quality and pragmatic focus of its training, with its emphasis on practical activities and realistic interactive scenarios.

The mission of military observers is also unique in that they often take on a conciliatory and mediating role between the parties to the conflict. They are usually unarmed in the process, to underscore their impartiality. Former Federal President Joachim Gauck referred to this during his visit to the training centre in 2016: “The word is your weapon”.

The Bundeswehr UNUnited Nations Training Centre past and present

Back in 1993, the Infantry School ran its first training courses to prepare the UNUnited Nations contingent for deployment in Somalia. The training centre was established on 27 October 1999, based on experiences with the armed conflicts in the Balkans. At that time, it was still part of the Infantry School.

In 2015, when the German Army’s training facilities underwent their last major reorganisation, the centre finally became an independent agency; since then, it has been assigned directly to the Army Training Command in Leipzig.