ww2 SS volunteers

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f_soldaten04

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the indian legion in the ss had about 3-5000 members recruited from ow camps...................because the recruits were poor quality it was a wastwe of time.
the dutch had about 20,ooo members mostly served on eastern front.
russian voolunteers , who hated stalin enough to form a couple divisions, call vlasovs army /white russians/? mostly ukranians
even had a british group, only about 20-30 members , wich really pissed off churchhill.
 
The ss who defended belin in 45 were mostly from other countries who had no choice but to fight to the death as going home meant getting shot
 
There was even at least one Canadian, a bully and troublemaker in his own ranks...his name, believe it or not, was Martin. Seriously, true story!
 
millions of soviet subjects turned against stalin when they had the chance.

the croats joined in, spain sent the blue division. there were volunteers from most/all of the occupied countries. there were latvian SS units and many others.
 
High school friend's father was in the Latvian SS. He was killed in '45 when the Soviets were reoccupying Latvia. Probably just as well he wasn't captured.
 
You have to remember that many Europeans held similar views to the Nazi's, or at the time viewed it as joining the "winning team", which accounts for examples like the Dutch SS. And that in the East, they were often looked on as liberators from Soviet rule and not invaders. Not surprising at all that many Ukrainians joined the Germans. Wouldn't you be tempted to go fight the Stalinists would had starved out half your country in the previous years?
 
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I am 58 and always have difficulty trying to imagine what it must have been like for Eastern Europeans before and during WWII. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. The footage of summary executions haunts me. The knowledge that 50 million people died during WWII and millions soon after also haunts me. We have not given our veterans the best treatment, especially First Nations. Some of my best old friends were First Nation WWII vets.
 
Even SA had a pro-geman group "Die Ossewa Branwag" (Ox-waggon guard) they weren't really against Jews as far as I know but they were anti-British (Like most Afrikaners were in those days) And tried anything to sabotage "Slim-Jannie Smuts" and the war effort.
My own Great-Grandpa was a Memeber of this group, luckaly they did not succeed. Or we'd be speaking German
 
You have to remember that many Europeans held similar views to the Nazi's, or at the time viewed it as joining the "winning team", which accounts for examples like the Dutch SS. And that in the East, they were often looked on as liberators from Soviet rule and not invaders.
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Not to forget the clergy in france had favorable views of Nazi occupation, due to their terror of the thought of the Soviets (ie communism, == no religion) replacing the Nazis as occupiers.

My great grandfathers were on opposing sides in WW2, as one was with the Résistance and a former Colonel (their goal was to hand france to the Russians when they were to be liberated by them but I am not sure he was too warm to that idea himself), and the other tended towards the Nazis since he saw them as a way to keep the communists out. I also am related to someone (dead now of course) in Alsace that fought in WW1 on the German side, and in WW2 on the French side. Must have made interesting conversation at family reunions!
 
The ss who defended belin in 45 were mostly from other countries who had no choice but to fight to the death as going home meant getting shot
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yes, definately. I have heard that the last defenders of the Reichstag were from the Low Countries (Netherlands and Belgium) as well as a number of men from the Charlemagne (French) SS division. They were to be killed, either way.

the dutch had about 20,ooo members mostly served on eastern front.
russian voolunteers , who hated stalin enough to form a couple divisions, call vlasovs army /white russians/? mostly ukranians
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right. There were also many Walloons, I have read. I forgot their leader's name, but he was very enthusiastic. What Is unfair about the Whites (many Beylorussians etc) is that they defected, and started fighting the Germans later on in Eastern Europe. When they asked for amnesty (well deserved IMHO) they were sent back to the USSR. Some hid in Hungary etc, but most were summarlity executed after being shipped back to Russia. Strangely enough many POW's returning to Russia were shot, maby because they "saw too much" or were "corrupted".

I think most eastern european and baltic SS members saw it as revenge fr what Russia did to them. All the baltic states took part, but a vet I talked to said that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Also the Russians had wiped out about 10% of their population, much less suvere than what the Germans did to them. So it was only natural to go with them. THe Ukranian nationalists fought in the SS, some for the USSR, some for Ukrainian independence, so it was a real mess, almost like civil war there.
 
The 200,000 strong Russian divisions all sat out the war after changing sides, Hitler's rascist beliefs about slav's kept them from doing any fighting. Not a huge army, but thier experince in cold conditions might have made a difference as the Germans froze in the winter...
 
There was also a large population of Germans and German communities in the Ukraine since the time of Catherine the Great. After the first world war they were treated like domestic enemies and as the situation worsened were prime targets for opression. Many (such as members of my family - including those who served for Russia in WW1) had their property confiscated and were shipped to camps in Siberia or killed. The lucky ones were evacuated by the retreating German army in WWII, and went on to rebuild their lives in the West after the war. I've recently read news stories that since the fall of Communism, many ethnic Germans who remained in the former Soviet Union are flocking back to Germany, but are not really accepted as Germans and are associated with all kinds of social problems.
 
The dutch had the highest percentage of volunteers for the SS. Also they had the highest, earlest and most fanatic resistence against the greman occupation. Started immediatly they where occupited. The French restience did not get off the ground in any meaningful way until 1943 for comparrison!
 
Your not thinking of SS-Standartenfuher Leon Degrelle are you?
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I think that would be him. A lot of Belgians still see him as a hero (the Belgians are now very right wing, in comparison with the rest of Europe.)

The French restience did not get off the ground in any meaningful way until 1943 for comparrison!
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This is true. France had a very large proportion of people collaborating with the Nazis, as there were many anti-communists in France. Only when weapons could be mass air-dropped did it picl up.

The dutch had the highest percentage of volunteers for the SS.
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Yes, true. Apparently though, many men and boys who went into the SS only went there for the food. The low countries suffered of constant famine and starvation. The SS was chock full of bratwurst:D
 
Read somewhere that by 1944 the Waffen SS was made up of volenteers from 26 different countries including a few from Canada , USA and England .
 
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