The Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr (ZMSBw) in Potsdam has had a new commander since March 20: Colonel Frank Hagemann. The outgoing commander, Colonel Sven Lange, will head the NATO Advisory and Liaison Team in Pristina, Kosovo, with the rank of brigadier general from April 1.
Major General Ansgar Meyer, Commander of the Center for Internal Leadership in Koblenz, transferred command of the ZMSBw from Colonel Sven Lange to Colonel Frank Hagemann. The ceremonial roll call on the grounds of Villa Ingenheim was accompanied by the Bundeswehr Staff Music Corps. Colonel Hagemann has been Deputy Dean for Research and the most senior German officer at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen since 2021. The Center is a German-American, security and defense policy study center at university level. In assuming command, Frank Hagemann is the fourth commander of the ZMSBw following the merger of the MGFA (Military History Research Office) and SOWI (Social Science Institute of the Bundeswehr) in 2013.
From Bavaria to Brandenburg
Colonel Hagemann has been a soldier since 1988 and was trained as an officer in the armored infantry. After various troop assignments as a platoon leader and company commander, he was a historian officer at the Military History Research Office (MGFA) in Potsdam and a teaching staff officer for military history at the Army Officer School in Dresden. Born in Meppen, he commanded a company during the Kosovo Forces Operation (KFOR) in 2002/03. After completing the General Staff/Admiral Staff Service International (LGAI) course at the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College in 2006/07, Hagemann was posted to the German Military Representation to the EU and NATO in Brussels. This was followed by two assignments as a consultant in the Armed Forces Command Staff of the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn and Berlin.
From 2015 to 2021, he headed the Education Department at the ZMSBw. The colonel’s areas of expertise range from German military history to European security and defense policy with transatlantic relations. He received his doctorate in modern history from the University of Potsdam in 2001. In 2010, he obtained a Master’s degree in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He received his Magister Artium in History and Social Sciences from the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg in 1995.
Development work in Kosovo
The outgoing commander, Colonel Sven Lange, has led the ZMSBw since 2021. Following his time as commander in Potsdam, he will head the NATO Advisory and Liaison Team (NALT) in Pristina, Kosovo, as Director. The multinational NALT is an independent advisory and liaison team. In addition to securing peace by creating a stable security architecture, the NALT is also involved in reconstruction work, as the soldiers on site support the capability building of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) – from the tactical to the strategic level.
The ZMSBw is a departmental research institute of the Federal Ministry of Defense; it researches, educates and advises on military history, military sociology and security policy: for science, the Bundeswehr and society. According to an evaluation by the German Council of Science and Humanities, the ZMSBw “conducts valuable basic and contract research at a high level on the history and present of the German military in its alliances and provides indispensable transfer services for the Federal Ministry of Defense and the Bundeswehr“.
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