Danish Christian Frederik von Schalburg was born in Zmeinogorsk, Tomskaja Gubernija in the Russian Empire on April 15 1906. Still a boy C.F. von Schalburg received a military education in the Tsar's cadet corps and lived in Russia until the October Revolution of 1917 when he fled with his family to Denmark. These dramatic events caused him to feel a burning hate of communists. In September 1940 with the consent of the Royal Danish Life Guards and the king, C.F. von Schalburg joined the Waffen-SS and served with
SS-Division Wiking as a SS-Hauptsturmführer. He was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross while serving with the Wiking in Ukraine. On March 1 1942, now ranked SS-Sturmbannführer, he was given command of the Danish Volunteer Corps
Frikorps Danmark and was soon flown by Junkers Ju 52 with parts of the corps into the Demyansk Pocket. On June 2 1942, C.F. von Schalburg initiated the first offensive operation of the Danish SS Corps. In an attempt to monitor the progress of the battle, he advanced towards the front line, but stepped on a mine and was moments later killed by shrapnel from a Soviet artillery shell. The subsequent rescue of his corpse where he fell at the age of 36 revealed extensive injuries including a leg torn off at the hip and a missing foot. Credit:
The Unknown Eastern Front. Left image: SS-Sturmbannführer Christian Frederik von Schalburg with his son Aleksander. The photo was taken a few months before he fell near Demyansk. It was taken by the then SS-Unterscharführer
Søren Kam, later recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. C.F. von Schalburg was posthumously promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer. Right image: Danish Free Corps making an oath at the Waffen-SS barracks at Langenhorn in Hamburg in 1941. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Weill. Credit: Jaris Almazani. Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (NAC), Warszawa, Poland. Both photos in the Public domain.
Schalburg's memory continues to be highly controversial in Denmark. For details about his life and career, I highly recommend the Danish book: Schalburg – en patriotisk landsforræder (A Patriotic Traitor) by Mikkel Kirkebæk.
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