Waffen-SS: European Crusade against Communism

Dutch Recruiting Poster

Scandinavian Recruiting Poster

The recruiting posters displayed the Waffen-SS as a Western-European force and slogans like 'We fight for the culture and freedom of Europe' and 'Joint front against Communism' were common. Left image: Dutch recruiting poster from 1941, the Hamburg-born German artist and professor of the Nordische Kunsthochschule SS-Hauptsturmführer Ottomar Anton (1895-1976) used later SS-Obersturmbannführer Klemens Behler (1921-1998) as model. Behler was at the time only a recruit but went on to win the prestigious Knight's Cross on March 17 1945 as commander of SS-Artillerie-Regiment 54 (23.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nederland). After the war ended, Anton continued to work successfully as a commercial artist for numerous companies, and Behler went on to serve as Oberstleutnant in the West German Bundeswehr. Right image: a Scandinavian recruiting poster by the famous Bremen-born Norweigian artist Harald Damsleth (1906-1971). Damsleth did a number of outstanding recruitment posters for the Waffen-SS. He was sentenced to five years of hard labor for treason at the end of World War II but was pardoned after two years served. Nevertheless, he continued to have a successful graphic design career throughout his life. SS marschiert in Feindesland also known as Teufelslied was a marching song of the Waffen-SS. Its lyrics openly declared that the SS would destroy the "Red plague". The song with the same melody was adopted by foreign volunteers of the Waffen-SS and appears in slightly different versions from the original German recordings depending on language used. For an example, when performed in other European languages it does not mention neither Adolf Hitler nor the German Reich. After the end of World War II, this anti-communist song found its way into the French Foreign Legion and is still sung today in a version with slightly different and translated lyrics. In modern Germany, the public singing or performing of songs associated with Nazi Germany is illegal. Images in the Public domain.