Waffen-SS: A European History

Ehrengarde of the Leibstandarte SS – the forerunner of the Waffen-SS

SS and foreign personnel Non-Commissioned Officer School

Waffen-SS Recruiting Office in Amsterdam

The creation of the multinational European front line combat organization Waffen-SS was a unique event in history. Their racial aspects and implications were especially unique. Men of many nations joined together in the military establishment of a foreign country. Its members hoped to eventually see all Germanic nations united into a single entity. The pan-European theme and the anti-Communist struggle became the strongest single element of the Waffen-SS recruitment message to the non-Germans. To become a member, the candidate had to satisfy the following conditions, among others: Aryan descent proven to the year 1800 (1750 for officers), no dishonorable criminal convictions, physically healthy, confirmed by medical examination and pledge of unconditional loyalty to all superiors. A thorough series of physical and genealogical examinations and investigations were made on each applicant. Only after these were successfully concluded did the candidate officially become an Waffen-SS Anwärter. Once the war commenced, the physical requirements were no longer strictly enforced. Non-Germanic units were not considered to be part of the SS, which maintained its racial criteria throughout the war, but rather considered to be foreign nationals serving under the command of the SS. Top image: honor guard of the Leibstandarte SS lined up at the Königsplatz in München on November 9 1935 in commemoration of the failed coup d'état of 1923, known as the Beer Hall Putsch or the Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch. Standing far left is the then SS-Hauptsturmführer Theodor Wisch, who would become a great role model for his comrades in the future Waffen-SS. Rising through the ranks with the formation Teddy Wisch became SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS in 1944. Photo by Adolf Hitler's official photographer, the Nazi politician Heinrich Hoffmann. U.S. National Archives. Middle image: a German instructor from SS-Regiment Germania with a French Waffen-SS volunteer at Sennheim in Alsace-Lorraine in 1943. Scan: Signal Magazine. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: Dutch Waffen-SS media presentations and recruiting center on Dam Square in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, today a Swedish H&M store. Public domain.

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.

European Waffen-SS Service Records

Waffen-SS officer candidates at Bad Tölz

SS-Schule Tölz – Frikorps Danmark

SS-Schule Tölz – Nordland

During World War II, the Waffen-SS recruited significant numbers of non-Germans, both as volunteers and conscripts. Over 125,000 non-German West Europeans volunteered for the elite Waffen-SS. Enlistment rolls show that more than 60,000 men from the Germanic nations were accepted and fought with distinction within its ranks. Another 21,000 men from the Latin nations joined the Waffen-SS. It is obvious that these volunteers felt that they were justified in their fight. These men enlisted voluntarily for many different reasons. The majority of the Western European Volunteers were idealists, with a strong pan-European identity. The vast majority of the Eastern Europeans who joined the Waffen-SS did so primarily to defend their own homelands against Soviet occupation. Nearly 310,000 foreign volunteers from no less than 16 countries served in its ranks between 1940 and 1945. A total of 950,000 men (German and foreigners) fought in the multinational Waffen-SS at some point during World War II. Clips: Nordic volunteers at SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz officer training centre. At SS-Schule Tölz the officers of the Waffen-SS were trained amid the majestic natural splendor of the Bavarian Alps. In the Waffen-SS the rule of a superior leading by example was binding and the officers were expected to lead from the front. Naturally this meant demanding and giving a higher degree of eagerness and willingness to see action and awareness of duty from every officer than from the men in the ranks. Die Deutsche Wochenschau - the official Nazi German war newsreel from 1940 till March 1945.

European Confederation of Germanic Nations - Multinational Waffen-SS

Pan-German revolutionary Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler

Dutch SS volunteers of Vrijwilligerslegioen Nederland

Minister President of Norway Vidkun Quisling

The Waffen-SS cultivated contracts with influential persons in many foreign countries, in preparation for the time when these nations would unite with the German Reich into a Nordic union. In accord with the SS pan-Germanic ideology stressing Nordic blood ties, the Waffen-SS would accept only truly “Germanic” legions recruited in Denmark, Flemish Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, leaving the proposed Croatian, French, Spanish, and Walloon Belgian contingents to the Wehrmacht for training and deployment. During the war, Walloon Belgium was given Germanic status and Finland became an “honorary Germanic” nation due to its unique ethnic origin. Men and often women front nurses from all of these counties served with the Waffen-SS during World War II, and their story is complex and interesting, not least because it is often told simplistically and inaccurately. German dictator Adolf Hitler had doubts about recruiting foreigners into the Waffen-SS, but he gave approval for the first Germanic multinational division to be formed from foreign nationals with German officers in 1940. A sufficient number of Nordic and Western European volunteers came forward requiring the SS to open a new training camp just for foreign volunteers at Sennheim in Elsaß-Lothringen. By the second half of 1942, an increasing number of foreign ethnic Germans, so-called 'Volksdeutsche, began entering the ranks. The Waffen-SS expanded further in 1943 and the first non-Germanic division was formed, and in 1944 it expanded again with Baltic formations. The Waffen-SS could no longer claim to be an elite fighting force overall. Recruitment and conscription based on numerical over qualitative expansion took place, with many of the foreign units being good for only rear-guard duty. Hitler was categorically opposed to non-Germanic volunteers in the Waffen-SS but the military situation of the Reich forced him to approve this state of affairs. Credit: authors Kenneth Estes and Marc Rikmenspoel, Waffen-SS Encyclopedia. Top image: Austrian-born Adolf Hitler at the Wolfsschanze in 1941. Photo by cameraman Oberleutnant der Luftwaffe Walter Frentz. Walter Frentz Collection. FU. Middle image: Dutch Waffen-SS volunteers of the Volunteer Legion Netherlands sworn-in by SS-Sturmbannführer d. R. Gunter d'Alquen in Berlin-Zehlendorf on February 1 1942. Oorlogsbronnen. Fair use. Bottom image: Minister President of Norway Vidkun Quisling during a gathering with Norwegian volunteers in Oslo in Norway in December 1943. Quisling was charged with high treason after the war and executed by firing squad in Oslo on October 24 1945. Scanpix Sweden AB. PDM.

First non-German Waffen-SS Division - ϟϟ-Division „Wiking“

Dutch Waffen-SS Volunteers of SS-Standarte Westland

Danish Waffen-SS Volunteers of Frikorps Danmark

Scandinavian Waffen-SS Frontline Nurses

The first Danes, Dutch, Flemings, Norwegians and Swedes were concentrated, along with Finns, into the new SS-Division Wiking. The division was formed around the Germania regiment. The enrollment began in April 1940 with the creation of two regiments: the SS-Standarte Nordland for Danish, Norwegian and Swedish volunteers, and the SS-Standarte Westland for Dutch and Flemish volunteers. The Wiking did receive first-class officers and training before it went into action during late June 1941. The SS-Division Wiking performed so well during its first campaign suggested that troops drawn from outside the Reich's borders might be an effective way of fulfilling the Waffen-SS manpower requirements. In 1943, the Estonian SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Batallion Narwa was also added to Westland. During an interview on October 26 1952, the former German divisional commander Herbert Otto Gille said: In the ranks of the Wiking stood representatives of most of Europe’s countries and nations... The majority were idealists, with a strong national feeling towards their own country. But they realized already 10 years ago that Europe could only be defended by joint efforts. Top image: Dutch volunteers of the newly built up SS-Standarte Westland in 1940. The term Standarte was soon to be replaced by that of the Regiment. Het Leven, Spaarnestad Photo. Fair use. Bottom images: Danish Waffen-SS Volunteers and Norwegian SS Front Nurses taking their oath of allegiance. The SS was responsible for both the recruitment and training of the volunteer front nurses. The Scandinavian SS nurses mostly served in Nordic volunteer units and formations. Many of them witnessed the heavy fighting at some of the most vicious chapters of the Eastern Front. The Norwegian front nurse Mrs Anne-Gunhild Moxness who served with the Wiking in Ukraine and Caucasus and with the III Germanic SS-Panzerkorps in the Baltic States was the first non-German woman to ever receive the Iron Cross (August 2 1944). The nurse in center is SS Frontschwester Elsa Stendal. Also seen in the picture is the front nurses Grete Bråten and Anne Marie Bjørnstad. This photo was taken by the former German fashion photographer the war correspondent Max Ehlert. c. Bundesarchiv.

11.ϟϟ-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division „Nordland“

Nordic volunteers taking their oath by swearing upon an SS-Führerdegen

SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11

Britisches Freikorps

In February 1943, Hitler ordered the creation of an Waffen-SS division which would be officered by foreign volunteers. In March 1943, the Wiking's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Nordland, was separated from the Wiking Division and pulled out of the line to be used as the nucleus for the new division Nordland. The 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland's two Panzergrenadier regiments Norge and Danmark was made up of Scandinavian volunteers but both regiments had addition men made up of conscripts from other European countries. Dutch volunteers were planned to be a part of the Nordland division but after protests from the Dutch National Socialist Movement Party it was decided that they would form their own division. This division was formed in October 1943 and named 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland. After its formation in Germany, the Nordland was attached to the III (Germanic) SS-Panzerkorps under the command of SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner. When Nordland was sent to the Oranienbaum front near Leningrad in December 1943, its manpower strength was 11.393 officers and men. Top image: Nordic Waffen-SS recruits swearing the oath of allegiance. PD. Middle image: European foreign volunteer recruits of the newly formed Nordland on their way to the oath-swearing ceremony. The men are led by the Swede SS-Untersturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson, platoon commander of the 3rd Company of Nordland's SS Reconnaissance Battalion. The photo was taken in the fall of 1943 in Sisak in Croatia. Lennart Westberg Archives. FU. Bottom image: in March 1945, the British Free Corps contingent, commanded by the South African SS-Unterscharführer Douglas Mardon, was deployed with the Nordland. The Britons were sent to the 3rd Company of SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 under the command of the then Swedish SS-Obersturmführer H-G Pehrsson. Note the Union Flag arm shields and the three-lion passant collar tabs on the uniforms of the British recruits, SS-Schütze Kenneth Berry and SS-Sturmmann Alfred Minchin. PD.

Western European Volunteers in the Waffen-SS

Exhibition of photographs of the Légion Wallonie

Photography Exhibition: Waffen-SS Battle for Europe

More than 11,000 French citizens joined the Waffen-SS in 33.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne. This does not take into account thousands of 1940 French citizens who volunteered after the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine (Elsaß-Lothringen) were annexed by the German Reich and declared Reichsländer, that is, integral parts of the Reich. A rough estimate is that over 8,000 Flemings served in the Flemish 27.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Langemark and in 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking up to September 1944, and that the number grew to over 13,000 by the end of the war. Another 10,000 Walloons served in 28.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Wallonien. All together, perhaps 10,000 Italians saw active duty with the Italian Waffen-Verband der SS and 29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS. Up to 20,000 Dutch joined the Waffen-SS in 23.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nederland and Wiking, and tens of thousands of others served in organizations such as Organization Toth. More than 26,000 Scandinavians volunteered for service in the Wiking and 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland. Another 13,000 Swedes volunteered against the Soviet Russian aggression in Finland during the Winter War and through rotation, as many as 47,000 Spanish and around 200 Portuguese volunteers served in the Spanish Blue Division as well as in Spanische-Freiwilligen Kompanie der SS 101 and 102. Left image: Belgian volunteer Leutnant Léon Degrelle at an opening ceremony in Belgium on June 18 1943 of an exhibition of photographs of the Légion Wallonie. In the same month, the Wallonian Legion was taken into the Waffen-SS as SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien and Degrelle himself was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer. The Wallonien was attached to 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking in the middle Dnieper River sector in late 1943 just prior to the Soviet encirclement at Korsun-Cherkassy. Fair use. Right image: Exposition de Photographies de la Waffen-SS, 42 Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris in January 1944. Fair use.

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.

Waffen-SS Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Holders

Knight's Cross holder SS-Obersturmführer Søren Kam

Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes

                                                                                                                      

     

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of the Third Reich to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II. 457 German servicemen of the Waffen-SS, including volunteers from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands and Norway, received the Knight's Cross (almost always through the recommendation of impressed army corps and army commanders). Of these, 411 presentations were formally made and evidence of the award is still available in the German National Archives. Left image: the Danish Knight's Cross holder SS-Obersturmführer Søren Kam served with SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 9 Germania of the 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking. He obtained West German citizenship in 1956. Kam is wanted in his native country in connection with the death of newspaper editor Carl Henrik Clemmensen during World War II. Kam was at the time 21 years old. In 1999, Danish Minister of Justice Frank Jensen requested an extradition of Kam. This was refused by the Federal Republic of Germany. This request was again made in 2004. In 2007, Germany again denied Kam's extradition to Denmark. Photo taken in Copenhagen while Kam was on leave during WWII in 1945. Public domain. Right image: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Klein & Quenzer. This particular Knight's Cross was sold in October 2010 for 28000 €uros. Fair use.

European Waffen-SS: Pan-European identity

SS-Regiment Westland

SS-Helferinnenkorps

The opinions of tens of thousands of men can only be generalized, but in their post-war writings, most Waffen-SS veterans express satisfaction at having acted. Many Waffen-SS veterans claim they fought to preserve their country's cultural and national identity. They consider themselves as European freedom fighters in German ranks to hold back a greater evil, the Soviet Union. Nothing is gained by either blanket praise for the Germanic volunteers as heroes, or by universal condemnation of them as mercenary traitors. They offered their lives and service in the name of Europe and anti-Communism in an act of conscience. Additionally, many Germanic Waffen-SS volunteers felt vindicated by the creation of NATO. They believe they set an example of international cooperation. Credit: Marc Rikmenspoel, Waffen-SS Encyclopedia. Left image: a contingent of SS-Regiment Westland volunteers taking their loyalty oath of allegiance in September 1944. Westland was one of the three regiments of 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking. The other regiments were Germania and Nordland. Westland consisted mainly of Dutch volunteers, other nationalities like Flemings and Germans were also represented, but in much smaller numbers. Public domain. Right image: a female member of the SS-Helferinnenkorps, the women who volunteered to support the Waffen-SS. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Werner Mielke. U.S. National Archives.

Waffen-SS: Casualties and losses

Dansih SS Volunteers during Memorial Day activities

Where the Iron Crosses Grow

Won the Battles but Lost the War

Total casualties amongst the Waffen-SS will probably never be known, but according to a report from July 12 1972 approx. 950,000 men passed through its ranks up to the end of World War II, and 253,000 were listed as killed or missing in action or died in POW camps. This equals just less than 27 percent. Other reports, however, indicates that the Waffen-SS suffered 314,000 killed and missing in action or died in POW camps. This equals just less than 35 percent. Wounded or captured volunteers were often executed when falling in Soviet hands once their interrogations were completed. The volunteers had no illusions about their fate if taken prisoner. The Soviet atrocities carried out against surrendered elite troops were well known among the Waffen-SS. On several well-documented occasions their fallen comrades had been found bestially mutilated and murdered. For the survivors, it was a small, but appreciated act of thanks when, in 1990´s, Finland and newly-independent Estonia issued memorial medals to foreigners who had fought against Communism in those two countries during World War II. The dead have also been honored in recent years through memorials placed in Canada, Estonia, Flanders, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Ukraine and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Top screenshot: Danish Waffen-SS men during Memorial Day activities on June 2 1944. The Waffen-SS memorial service was held at Høveltegård near the town of Birkerød. Various high-ranking SS members attended the memorial service for Denmark's fallen volunteers. Present among others were SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner, SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Gille and SS-Obersturmbannführer Fritz Klingenberg. After the war, the memorial was destroyed by the Danish resistance movement. Credit: Danish Defence. Middle image: a volunteer Waffen-SS soldier mourns by the fresh graves of his fallen comrades somewhere on the Eastern front. The left grave marker's name inscription is Karl Herbrechter, most likely from the LSSAH, an SS-Untersturmführer Karl Herbrechter born 1918, is known to have served in 14th Co. of 3rd Bn. of the Leibstandarte SS in 1941. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: three battle-exhausted Waffen-SS volunteers in Ukraine in 1943. Photo by SS-Unterscharführer and Kriegsberichter Max Büschel. The talented war correspondent Büschel himself survived the war and managed to evade captivity when the 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS surrendered to American forces in the area of Steyr in Austria in May 1945. He made his way back to his family in Berlin but was apparently shot to death when the Soviet occupational forces found out he was a former member of the elite Leibstandarte SS. U.S. National Archives.