Lichtgedanken 02

Editorial 43 02 | LICHT GEDANKEN Bibliography Jochen Böhler, Robert Gerwarth (Eds.): »The Waffen-SS. A European History«, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2017, ISBN 978-0- 19-879055-6 Contact Dr Jochen Böhler Imre Kertész Kolleg Leutragraben 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany Phone: ++ 49 3641 944075 Email: jochen.boehler@uni-jena.de www.imre-kertesz-kolleg.uni-jena.de was far down the ladder in the Nazis’ racial classification, such as Russians or Ukrainians, had far less chance of promotion than the French or Norwe- gians, for example. Altogether, there were around half a million non-Germans who wore the uniform with the skull and crossbones and SS runes. Whatever their motiva- tion was in joining the Waffen-SS, they mostly shared the same fate after the war. »Collaborating with the enemy was taboo in most countries,« says Jo- chen Böhler. In France, for example, the fact that Alsations – i.e. French people of German origin – were involved in the massacre of Oradour in 1944, was seen as traumatic. They were termed »malgré-nous« (against our will) and they became tragic figures. In the Bal- tic countries, on the other hand, former members of the SS were widely vene- rated as heroes after the end of the Cold War and as pioneers in the fight against Bolshevism. It is to the credit of the new book that it offers a nuanced, scientifically justified picture to offset the well-known stereotypes. The Imre Kertész Kolleg at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena is a place of interdisciplinary, trans- national historical research on historical events of the 20th century in East-Central and South-East Europe. The project, »Non-Germans in the Waffen-SS: A Cultural History« has been running since 2013 and will be continued until 2018, and further publications are planned. The research is supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation in Düsseldorf which has contributed almost €240,000. B A C K G R O U N D Dr Jochen Böhler on the steps of Prinzessinnenschlösschen in Griesbachgarten in which the Imre Kertész Kolleg is based. The Jena historian and his professional colleague, Prof. Dr Robert Gerwarth from the School of History of University 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.