Well, I think part of the problem is that the kind of people that were in the german army after the war were Nazis in the literal sense, and the kind of people

Well, I think part of the problem is that the kind of people that were in the german army after the war were Nazis in the literal sense, and the kind of people that prospered in the environment these Nazis created were Nazis in the contemporary sense. This is amply illustrated by the endless slew of scandals that come out of the Bundeswehr around this issue[0]. I imagine these days it's a little better, but it's still a bit of a magnet for the hard right in germany, for all the obvious reasons. [0] https://ctc.usma.edu/the-insider-threat-far-right-extremism-in-the-german-military-and-police/ https://ctc.usma.edu/the-insider-threat-far-right-extremism-... PS: I think in general it's germany's ongoing far-right problem that makes nationalist-adjacent careers and institutions far less attractive to normal people, so it's sort of a vicious circle.