RantCrush Top 5: May 11, 2017

The German military is seeing an increase in soldiers with far-right extremist views. There are currently 275 cases of racism or discriminatory behavior that are being investigated, and although that is a small percentage of the 180,000 soldiers, 70 percent of these cases arose during the past year and a half.

During searches of barracks, investigators discovered Nazi-era memorabilia and some soldiers have reportedly shouted “Sieg heil” and “Heil Hitler.” One soldier put a Nazi-era flag on his car and drove past a refugee shelter while making a cutting gesture with his hand across his throat. Germany has long struggled to distance itself from its past, but it’s also struggling to get enough recruits to serve in the military, and the public has criticized the army for not doing enough.

Inspections have been ordered at every German army barracks, after Nazi-era memorabilia was found at two of them.https://t.co/JcoWJod9ia

— Alfons López Tena (@alfonslopeztena) May 7, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.