ABSTRACT
When searching for information about minorities in the Bundeswehr, one will be puzzled by the fact that, generally, information is available concerning women in the armed forces, but not concerning other minorities. The lack of research on ethnic/cultural and national minorities is first of all due to the fact that, for legal reasons, all the soldiers in the Bundeswehr are German citizens. Moreover, it is rather difficult for foreigners to obtain German citizenship. Finally, in the Bundeswehr people who belong to ethnic or cultural minorities usually function in a rather isolated way and not as groups. That makes it even easier to ignore the few problems they might create. The rare attention paid to the issue of homosexuals in the armed forces, by contrast, is mainly due to the fact that for a long time their presence has been regarded as a taboo, thus making it almost impossible for scientists to gain access to the respective data.
