Eastern European Volunteers in the Waffen-SS

Ukrainian 14.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Galizien

Baltic Waffen-SS Volunteer in Sinimäe

Up to 50,000 ethnic Magyars served in the Waffen-SS, along with tens of thousands of Hungarian ethnic Germans. The divisions and National Legions raised from non-Germanics were in the Waffen-SS only by organizational association, and had no relation to the pre-war elite. The volunteers received SS privileges but were not considered true Waffen-SS men. They wore the uniform of the Waffen-SS but with additional national insignia. Freiwilligen – in a unit´s title implies foreign status (indicating that the preponderance of enlisted men were not of German nationality). Waffen – in a unit´s title implies non-Germanic origins (indicating that the preponderance of enlisted men were not of German, ethnic German, or related Nordic ancestry). From 1943 and onward large proportions of Slavic manpower was placed under SS administration and became formally part of the Waffen-SS. Hungarian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Galacian, Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Volga and Crimean Tartars contributed over 230,000 men to the ranks of the Waffen-SS, though their contributions were usually of far less significance than those of German and Germanic Waffen-SS units. Left image: Waffen-Hauptscharführer der SS Jaroslav Kunitsky was one of the 2000 Ukrainian NCOs who were sent to Germany in 1943 to be trained. This shot clearly shows the rampant lion collar patch. Kunitsky died in 2009 in Toronto, Canada aged 83. Public domain. Right image: a Baltic volunteer pictured in a reversible parka in Eichenlaubmuster camouflage during the battles held on the Narva River and in the Blue Hills in Estonia in 1944. These battles are often referred to as the Battles of the European SS because the majority of the defenders were European Waffen-SS volunteers. Credit: Rindeleht. Public domain.