Nazi War Criminals as Role Models?  

written by two former German commando leaders hails a Nazi-era elite unit as a role model for the modern German special forces.
Two former commanders of German special forces have been criticized for praising a World War II commando unit as an inspiration for Germany's modern-day elite soldiers.

Former general Reinhard Günzel, head of Germany's KSK elite forces until 2003, wrote in a recently published book "Secret Warriors": "The commando soldiers know exactly where their roots lie." The missions of the Wehrmacht's Brandenburg division had been "legendary" among his troops, writes Günzel, who was fired in 2003 for praising a speech by a conservative member of parliament who had referred to Jews as a "race of perpetrators."

The book's co-author Ulrich Wegener, who founded Germany's GSG9 anti-terrorism unit in the 1970s, writes that comradeship and esprit de corps "could be learned especially from the Brandenburgers."