Lichtgedanken 02

Editorial 42 Not just men of conviction During the Second World War, around half a million men from countries occupied by Germany served in the Waffen-SS. Historians have analy- sed and published a book on what moved them to join this feared force. H I S T O R Y BY STEPHAN LAUDIEN During the Second World War, the Waffen-SS left a trail of death and des- truction across Europe. The units in this elite force were feared and hated. Nevertheless, many people in countries occupied by Germany volunteered to fight in the ranks of the Waffen-SS. A further substantial number of foreign recruits were conscripted. An inter- national team of researchers with Dr Jochen Böhler from the Imre Kertész Kolleg and Prof. Dr Robert Gerwarth from the School of History at Univer- sity College Dublin have spent four years investigating the background to the deployment of foreign SS soldiers in fighting units and as guards in the concentration and extermination camps. The research group has now published its first results. Financial emergency or anti- communism »There were many different reasons for joining the Waffen-SS, and at the same time those that did so had much in com- mon,« says Dr Jochen Böhler. The main motives included providing financial- ly for themselves and their families as well as agreement with the German war aims. »For many men in the occupied territories, the Waffen-SS offered the only way of surviving the war,« says Jo- chen Böhler. For example, recruitment focused on so-called Trawniki men, lar- gely in prisoner-of-war camps in which there was an extremely high death rate. Refusing to serve under German com- mand would therefore have meant al- most certain death. Added to these were volunteers, for example in the Ukraine, whose countries no longer existed and who believed they could get along in a greater German empire after the war. In countries such as Norway, Holland or France, the idea of fighting with the Germans against Bolshevism was one of the main reasons for joining the Waf- fen-SS. It was usually these staunch an- ti-communists who clung to their con- victions to the end. Nevertheless – and this is also one of the conclusions of the research project, »Non-Germans in the Waffen-SS: A Cultural History« – it was by no means the case that all members of the Waffen-SS of non-German origin were criminals, according to Böhler. »There were rebellions, desertion and resistance in the ranks of the auxiliary troops,« he says. Over 25 scientists in nearly every country from which the SS men came, are involved in the project. Together they have written the English book, »The Waffen-SS. A European History«, published by Prof. Gerwarth with Dr Böhler. In the process, geographical regions such as Northern Europe or South-East Europe were viewed as be- longing together. »It is striking that the racially motiva- ted classification of people of different origins is seamlessly maintained un- der arms,« says Jochen Böhler. In speci- fic terms, this meant that anyone who Photo left: Section of the cover of the publication »The Waffen-SS. A European History«.