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How does it feel to risk your life for a peace mission that experts have long considered a failure? The filmmakers Johannes Koch and Marco Schulze show authentically and up close what it means to leave family and friends behind to fulfill a military mission. The documentary "Deployment Order Mali - North German Soldiers on a Dangerous Mission" accompanies soldiers of the Lower Saxony Brigade for a year. In addition, experts and defense politicians from all parliamentary groups in the Bundestag classify the origins, course and end of the foreign mission in Mali, which ended in December 2023 after 10 years. Among them are the former Federal Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) and the incumbent Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD), who exclusively describes how military coups and the premature end of the mission repeatedly influenced the withdrawal. The NDR documentary builds a bridge between the military task and the private lives of the soldiers. The focus is always on the global political decisions that significantly shaped the course of this foreign mission. Among the soldiers is the contingent leader Colonel Heiko Bohnsack, who will be the last German soldier to leave the crisis-ridden country. Mali is his fifth foreign mission, and the first with so much responsibility. For Tim M. and Vivian T., it is the first foreign mission in their Bundeswehr careers. They all experience a foreign mission that turns out completely differently than expected. The NDR documentary also sheds light on how differently the meaning of the peace mission in Mali can be assessed. The military engagement in the West African country was considered the Bundeswehr's most dangerous mission after Afghanistan. More on this: https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/Einsatzb... First broadcast: January 15, 2024 #bundeswehr #politik #doku