Josef Dieter Blotz (born 22 November 1956) is a retired German Army major general and the incumbent Grand Hospitaller and Sovereign Councillor of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
Early life and education Blotz was born in Hadamar, Hesse, and completed his Abitur at the Fürst-Johann-Ludwig-Schule.
He joined the Bundeswehr on 1 July 1975 as an officer candidate in the 3rd Company of Jäger Battalion 42 in Kassel, attended the officer candidate course at the Infantry School in Hammelburg in 1976, and from 1976 to 1979 studied at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, graduating as a Diplom-Pädagoge. He was commissioned as a lieutenant on 1 October 1977.
From 2004 to 2005 he studied at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., earning a Master of Science. In 2022 he received a doctorate from the Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus.
Military career From 1980 to 1987 Blotz served as a platoon leader and company commander in Panzergrenadier Battalion 152.
After German reunification he served from 1991 to 1993 as operations officer (G3) of Home Defence Brigade 37 in Dresden, and from 1993 to 1995 as a staff officer at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium.
He commanded Jäger Battalion 581 (renamed Jäger Battalion 1 in 1997) in Berlin from 1995 to 1997, then returned to the Army Staff in Bonn.
From June to December 1998 he was military assistant to the chief of staff of SFOR in Sarajevo. Subsequent posts included head of training and exercises at NATO's Joint Headquarters Southwest in Madrid (1999–2000), G3 operations group leader at the Army Command in Koblenz (2000–2002), and branch chief in the Army Staff in Bonn (2002–2004).
Blotz commanded Panzergrenadier Brigade 30 in Ellwangen from January 2006 to September 2007, succeeding Hans-Christoph Ammon and handing over to Joachim Pollok, and was promoted to brigadier general on 1 December 2006. From February to July 2007 he was Regional Commander North of ISAF in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, and commander of the 13th German contingent. From 5 October 2007 to 13 April 2010 he commanded the Infantry School in Hammelburg, holding the appointment of General der Infanterie; he succeeded Johann Berger and was followed by Hans Günter Engel.
From April 2010 to June 2011 he served as spokesman for ISAF in Kabul under Generals Stanley McChrystal and David Petraeus, and was succeeded by Carsten Jacobson. In October 2011 he became head of the military policy division of the German delegation to NATO in Brussels. He was promoted to major general on 1 July 2013 and appointed Director of the Operations Division of NATO's International Military Staff.
From July 2016 to May 2018 he headed the operations department of the Joint Support Service command. From March 2018 to February 2019 he was Senior Military Adviser to the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), serving under Special Representative Ghassan Salamé. His final appointment, from 5 September 2019, was Deputy Commanding General of the Eurocorps in Strasbourg, France, succeeding Belgian major general Pierre Gérard. He handed over to Spanish major general Rafael Colomer Martínez del Peral in September 2021 and retired after 46 years of service.
Order of Malta Blotz joined the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1992 as a Knight of Magistral Grace. In January 2023 he was elected to the Order's Sovereign Council by the Extraordinary Chapter General.
Following the resignation of Fra' Alessandro de Franciscis on 17 February 2025, the Sovereign Council appointed Blotz Grand Hospitaller.
Personal life Blotz is married with two children and lives in Adendorf in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis. He is a Roman Catholic.
Honours Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (4 July 2018)
Publications Denkmäler für den Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024. "Soldat und Christ – Wie passt das zusammen?" (2019), in an edited volume on Christian faith and resistance.
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