EUROPE 1939-1945 Who supported Hitler and who fought against him - Ewa Kurek

POLITICAL COLLABORATION

served in the SS and Wehrmacht .

The influence of fascism became obvious in the Neth-

erlands at an early stage . Various organizations and THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS

parties of a fascist nature, began to be established in THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWS

the Netherlands as early as 1923; the most significant of In comparison to both France and Belgium, the per-which were the National Socialist Movement and the centage of Jewish survivors in the Netherlands was National Socialist Dutch Workers' Party (Nationaal-So-the lowest . In proportion to the number of inhabi-

cialistische Beweging der Nederlanden - NSB), which tants, the Dutch handed over the largest number of was modeled on the German NSDAP . After the Dutch Jews in Europe to the Germans and the Austrians . The capitulation, 800,000 Dutch people of the 10 million Dutch railroads transported Dutch Jews to extermina-inhabitants, declared their fascist beliefs by joining the tion camps built by Germans and Austrians in occu-fascist party, known as the Dutch Union and openly pied Poland . The Netherlands operated the so-called collaborated with Germany . The Dutch Union was the Henneicke Column that pursued Jews for profit. This largest organization in the history of the Netherlands . group of 40 Dutch fascists received 7 .5 guilders (then Apart from the rare exceptions of the resistance move-40 guilders) from their German superiors for each

ment, the entire country collaborated with the occupi-

ers . At the CABR Institute [ translator's comment - Central Archives for Special Criminal Jurisdiction, forerunner of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD)], there are approximately half a million files detailing

Dutch citizens who collaborated with the Germans

and Austrians, including members of the fascist NSB .

Access to these files is extremely difficult, even secret

to this day .

MILITARY COLLABORATION:

In the voluntary Dutch legions, 50,000 Dutch volunteers

served Hitler in the Vrijwilligerslegioen Nederland and

also served in three SS divisions in: the 11th SS Panzer

Grenadier Division Nordland alongside representatives

of other European nations; the 23rd Volunteer Gren-

adier Division of the SS Nederland; and the 34th SS

Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland .

Among the estimated 3,000 soldiers of the Landstorm

Hitler was loved not only in Germany

THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWS

alone, 4,000 Jews were arrested and more arrests fol-

(Photo: wikipedia/bundesarchiv/lic. CC)

The French press was continuously published through-

lowed in June 1942 . The captured Jews were sent to the

out the German-Austrian occupation . Some publishers camps in Pithiviers and Beaune-La-Rolande .

were eager to please the occupiers at all cost . Others were The largest anti-Jewish action in France was the Vel

d'Hiv manhunt . On July 16 and 17 1942, some 9,000

French policemen were ordered by the French police

chief to arrest all the French Jews . The arrests were to

be carried out as quickly as possible under the directive

to not engage the Jews in any conversations . French po-

licemen were supported by approximately 3,400 volun-

teers from Jacques Doriot's French fascist organizations .

Finally, on 16 July, 13,152 people were arrested, includ-

ing 5,082 women and 4,051 children . It has not been

established how many people managed to escape . The

detained Jews were only permitted to take two shirts,

a pair of shoes, a blanket and one set of warm clothing .

Families were separated many times . The detainees

were held on the Vel d'Hiv indoor cycling track near

the Eiffel Tower, where the crowds of Jews only had 5

toilets and 1 water tap at their disposal. After five days,

they were sent to transit camps from where they were

taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp

built by the Germans and Austrians on occupied Polish

soil. In 1995, French President Jacques Chirac officially

recognized the guilt of the French state for the deporta-

tion of approximately 76,000 French Jews:

These dark hours will forever remain a stain on our

country's history, offending it and our tradition. Yes,

the criminal insanity of the occupant was supported

by the French, the French state.

French esesman on a street in Paris

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

-stated the President of France .

24 Francuscy SS-mani. Do samego końca bronili bunkra Hitlera, w: "Do Rzeczy Historia", Warszawa 7/2013.

Content

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

HITLER'STHIRD REICH:GERMANY AND AUSTRIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

HITLERS' ALLIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Bulgaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Croatia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Romania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Slovakia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

HITLER'S COLLABORATORS AMONGST THE OCCUPIED COUNTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Albania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Belgium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Belarus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Estonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Holland/The Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Lithuania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Luxembourg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Latvia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Norway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Russians and nations of the USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Serbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Ukraine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Chapter IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

HITLER'S ALLIES IN NEUTRAL COUNTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Switzerland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Chapter V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

JEWISH ALLIES OF THE THIRD GERMAN REICH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

All countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

LIBERATION

On August 26 1944, the French resistance movement,

de Gaulle's the Free French forces and the American

3rd Army of General Patton liberated Paris. In the first

weeks of September 1944, the remainder of France was

liberated from German-Austrian occupation with the

exception of some parts of Alsace and Lorraine and

a few German defensive points of resistance on the

shores of the Atlantic and in Dunkirk . According to

historians, about 50,000 Poles partook in this historic

success of the underground armed struggle against

the Third Reich, in indigenous Polish units, but also in

armed Franco-Polish units and groups .

The commanders of these groups and individual sub-

units were officers and non-commissioned officers

from the resistance movement . On the French side, the

groups were commanded by Major H . Thevenon and

on the Polish side by Major B. Jeleń. Approximately

Arests of Jews in Paris by the French police

10,000 soldiers of this 50,000 Polish army scattered all

(Photo: wikipedia/bundesarchiv/lic. CC)

over France were killed. It was a sacrifice of Polish

blood in the fight "For Our Freedom and Yours":

During World War II, the German-Austrian authorities

in France received 3 million letters, the majority writ-

this is one of the unofficial mottos of Poland which

ten to denounce the Jews or reveal their whereabouts . goes back to the times when Polish soldiers, exiled

The French blackmailed and tortured rich Jews and from the partitioned Poland, fought in various inde-

extorted them and ransomed their families . They also pendence movements all over the world.

sent the poor to their deaths. The first train to leave

France with 1,112 French Jews was sent to Auschwitz The Commander of the 1st French Army on the Rhine on March 27 1942 and it was escorted to the French and Danube (1?re Armée Française Rhin et Danube), border by French gendarmes25 .

General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, who signed the act

of surrender of Germany on behalf of France - army

THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWS

40,000 Belgian volunteers served in the voluntary for-

The Belgians aided the Germans and Austrians in

mations of the SS .

the extermination of the Jews . In September 2012, the

The French-speaking Wallons and Dutch-speaking Belgian Prime Minister, Elio Di Rupo, stressed that the Flemish, whose ancestors were Germanic tribes living Belgian authorities "conducted unworthy cooperation in Belgium . In all likelihood, this was the reason Hitler with the German occupier" in the extermination of considered the Flemish a pure Germanic race . Initially, Jews . Between 1942 and 1944, over 25,000 Jews and only Flemish were admitted to the Waffen SS . After Roma people were deported from Belgium, mainly the occupation of the Netherlands by the troops of the from Brussels and Antwerp . "By aiding the extermi-Third Reich, the recruitment of the first Flemish volun-

nation carried out by the Nazis, the authorities, and

teers to the SS "Westland" regiment began in May 1940.

through them the Belgian state, did not fulfill their

Encouraged by this quick recruitment, the Nazis be-

duty. They were involved in the most heinous crime"

gan forming a second regiment that was called "Nor-

- said the Belgian Prime Minister . The city of Brussels

dwest". Ultimately, Belgian volunteers, Flemish and has officially admitted its complicity in the deportation Wallonians, formed within the Waffen SS: the 27th SS of Jews during World War II, especially in the role it Volunteer Grenadier Division Langemarck (Flemish played in registering them, confiscating their property, No . 1); 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien and removing them from various professions .

( Legion Belge Wallonie) . After the creation of the 5th Mo-torized SS Division "Viking", the Flemish became part PUNISHMENT FOR HELPING JEWS

of its regiment "Westland". It was the most valiant of In Belgium, imprisonment or a fine was provided for the non-German divisions of the Waffen SS, and its sol-hiding Jews . There is no information that a Belgian had

diers were considered the elite of the German army15 .

ever been punished16 .

On February 19 2019, the Belgian daily "De Morgen"

revealed that seven Belgians who fought in the German LIBERATION

Waffen SS formations, are to this day receiving from the The Poles liberated Belgium . On September 6 1944, the German government an additional pension granted to Polish 1st Armored Division established in 1942 and them by the order of Hitler for "loyalty and obedience". commanded by General Stanisław Maczek, crossed the As reported by the Belgian newspaper, up to 38,000 French-Belgian border . Poles fought bloody and victori-Belgians have received this additional benefit from ous battles with Germans and liberated successive town .

15 Chris Bischop, Zagraniczne formacje SS, Warszawa 2005 .

16 Jan Bodakowski, w: fronda, pl/a/kary-za-pomoc-zydom-w-polsce-a-w-europie, 12856,html 39

62

In August 1939, Stalin signed trade agreements with Hit-

teers fought against the Soviets, hoping to regain the

ler that allowed the exchange of military technology and freedom of their nations . They wore the uniforms of equipment to the Soviets to provide the Germans and the Third Reich, guarded communication lines, fought Austrians with a Soviet raw materials and food . In the partisans, but sometimes also defended German po-period September 1939 - June 1941, Stalin provided Hitler sition on the front lines . Ostttruppen were organized with: 1 .6 million tons of grain; 900,000 tons of kerosene; according to ethnicity . Among the Ostttruppen units, 200,000 tons of cotton; 140,000 tons of manganese; 200,000 two categories were distinguished: Ost-Bataillonen, in tons of phosphates; 20,000 tons of chrome ore; 18,000 tons which Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians served, of rubber; 100,000 tons of soybeans; 500,000 tons of iron and Turk-Bataillonen, in which representatives from ore; 300,000 tons of scrap and iron crude; 2,000 tons of the Asiatic republics served, including Kalmyk's and platinum . Trade between Stalin and Hitler was so great Turkmen .

that in October 1940, it reached 80% of the total imports RONA - The Russian National Liberation Army (Russ-into Germany and Austria . By June 1941, it had not fallen kaya Osvoboditielnaya Narodnaya Army) . Founded by below 50% . However, the transport of Soviet food and Bronisław Kamiński near Bryansk, it was transformed raw materials ceased with Hitler's attack on the Soviet into the 29th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division (1st Rus-Union; the last trains carrying Soviet goods crossed the sian). In August 1944, Kamiński's RONA participated border a few days before the attack by the Third Reich . in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, commit-The rapid conquest of Europe by Hitler's troops in 1939-

ting particularly brutal crimes against Polish insur-

1941, would not have been possible without the food and gents and the civilian population of Warsaw . Kamińs-raw material support of the Soviet Union34 .

ki's fate is not fully understood . Some sources say that

he died in an ambush organized by Polish partisans;

LIBERATION

The southern Netherlands: Flanders, Zeeland, Brabant

and Limburg were liberated from the German-Austri-

an occupation in autumn of 1944 . In September 1944

Maastricht was liberated and in October Breda, both

by by the Polish 1st Armored Division under the com-

Among the nations col aborating with Germany. Dutch

mand of brilliant General Maczek, see chapter about

volunteers were the most numerous in the Waffen SS

Poland . Amsterdam, Haga, Rotterdam and Utrecht

remained in the hands of the Germans and Austri-

captured Jew . It is estimated that this group was re-

ans . Cut from the world from autumn 1944 until May

sponsible for the deaths of almost 9,000 Jews27 . In total, 1945, without reliable food supply and without fire-107,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands to wood, these cities lived through the winter of Hunger German-Austrian extermination camps . The Dutch po-

(Honger-winter); 20,000 people perished from hunger

lice too, eagerly pursued and handed over the Jews to and cold. Holland was finally liberated on 5 may 1945.

27 The Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands, 1940-1945. New perspectives, red. P. Romijn, B. van der Boom, P. Griffio-en, R . Zeller, M . Meeuwenoord, J . Houwink ten Cate, Amsterdam 2012; M . Croes, Zagłada Żydów w Holandii a odsetek ocalałych, "Zagłada Żydów. Studia i materiały", 2008, nr 4; B. J. Flim, T. J. Michman, The Netherlands [w] The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations. Rescuers of Jews during Holocaust, red . I . Gutman, Yad Vashem 2004; E . Fogelman, Conscience and Courage. Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, New York 1995; R . Hilberg, Zagłada Żydów Europejskich, t . II, tł. J. Giebułtowski, Warszawa 2014; D. Michman, Społeczeństwo holenderskie i los Żydów: skomplikowana historia, "Zagłada Żydów. Studia i materiały", 2016, nr 12.

28 https://www .wiatrak .nl/74511/czarni-zolnierze-holendrzy-w-szeregach-waffen-ss .

THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS

khan), persecuted since the Russian Revolution by the THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWS

Soviet authorities, took up the fight against the com-

After the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17

munist regime alongside the Third Reich . At the front, 1939, about 1 .2 million Polish Jews found themselves 250,000 Cossack soldiers fought against the Soviet under Soviet occupation . In addition, at the turn of partisans, protecting the (German) base . Some Cossack 1939/40, about 300,000 Polish Jews escaped from the 64

German occupied Polish area to the Polish lands occu-

pied by the Soviets . In 1940/41, the Soviets sent about

two-thirds of them back to the German occupied Po-

land or to Soviet labor camps . From February 1940

to June 1941, the Soviets deported from the occupied

Polish eastern territories, about 1,000,000 Polish cit-

izens to Siberia and Kazakhstan; 30% of them were

Polish Jews (mainly merchants, industrialists and the

intelligentsia) . [Translator's comment: This was a part of the Soviets' plan to annihilate Polish citizens particularly those from the intelligentsia. ] Some of the Poles and Polish Jews who were deported from Poland were murdered

by the Soviets, the rest were imprisoned, sent to labor

camps or sent to slave labor in the kolkhozes and sovk-

hozes of Siberia and Kazakhstan . A typical example of

Israeli Priminister Menachem Begin,

the fate of a Polish Jew under the Soviet occupation in

Photo from Soviet prison, 1940.

1939-41, was the experience of Israel Menachem Begin,

the Prime Minister of Israel from 1977-83 . Menachem and political prisoners (Polish Jews were sent to labor Begin was born in Poland, in Brest-Litovsk . He grad-camps and prisons for various reasons including for

uated from the University of Warsaw and became the refusing to give up their Polish citizenship for Soviet leader of the Jewish national radical movement Beitar . citizenship) . There were also people who knowing the After the Soviet invasion of Poland, he was arrested by Soviet reality, believed that they had a better chance the Soviets, imprisoned and sentenced to eight years in of survival there than under the German-Austrian a labor camp . Released under the Sikorski-Majski pact occupation . The majority however, were Jewish com-signed in July 1941, between Poland and the Soviets, munists, Polish citizens, who fled to the USSR in 1939

he joined about 4,000 other Jewish prisoners and labor as it was the realization of their dreams . They returned camps survivors in the newly forming Polish Army to Poland in 1945, together with the Red Army and under the command of General Anders and travelled entered the structures of the Bolshevik governance with them to Palestine . In Palestine, acting against installed in Poland .

the orders of the English but with the tacit consent of In June 1941, the Germans and Austrians seized the the Polish general Anders, Begin and several hundred lands of eastern Poland, which had been under Soviet other Jewish soldiers deserted and formed the founda-occupation for the previous two years and immedi-

tions of the state of Israel . [Translator's comment: General ately started implementing the Endlösung plan - the Władysław Anders, also imprisoned by the Soviets after the final solution, a German plan for the genocide of Jews invasion of Poland, and also released under the Sikorski-Ma-during the 2nd World War . Wehrmacht and Einsatz-

jski pact signed between USSR and Polish Government in gruppen troops began mass executions of Jews . In the Exile when the Soviets, following Hitler's invasion of Russia, eastern part of Poland, the Germans and Austrians changed sides and became a part of the allied forces, was (with the active participation of Ukrainians) mur-charged with the task of forming a Polish Army that was to dered around 500,000 Jews; the survivors were im-consist of the soldiers and civilians now being released from prisoned in ghettos and later murdered in extermina-Soviet labour camps. They were to become an army to fight tion camps . The difference between the extermination against the Germans with the Red Army. Continual friction of the Jews by the Germans and the murders commit-with the Soviets, who never intended to fully cooperate with ted in the Soviet Union was that in the Soviet Union, the independent Polish Government in Exile, led to the An-people - Jews, Poles, Estonians and others - died not

POLITICAL COLLABORATION

ich . More than 6,000 French volunteers served in the

The French state was divided into two zones: the north-

French Legion (Legion des Volontaires Francais - LVF),

ern one, occupied by the Germans and Austrians, cov-

while the French company La Phalange Africane con-

ered the majority of the country's territory including sisting of over 200 soldiers - part of the 754th Panzer Grenadier Regiment - fought in North Africa against

the British . Nearly 20,000 French volunteers served in

the Waffen SS and at least two were in the ranks of the

SS-Leibstandarte, Hitler's bodyguard . French SS men

defended Hitler's bunker to the very end . As soldiers

in the 11th SS Nordland Panzer Grenadier Division

and the 33rd SS Charlemagne Grenadier Division, the

French wore the green Waffen-SS uniforms . They were

distinguished only by the shield with the inscription

"France" against the background of the tricolor na-

tional colors . At the end of the war, the French fought

against the Poles in Poland . In hopeless situations, the

French SS men tried to surrender to the Poles of the

1st Polish Army arriving from the east . Waffen-Unter-

sturmführer, Christian de la Maziére, a Frenchman

from the Waffen-SS, described the first meeting with

Poles as follows: "They approached us . Their com-

mander, a young blond man, spoke a little French .

Meeting between Phil ippe Pétain and

What are you doing here? So I say that we are SS Char-

Adolf Hitler, 24 October, 1940 r. (Photo:

lemagne . Finally he said - Get off those SS badges right

Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-H25217 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 /

now . If the Soviets see them, you're done . Find yourself

Source: Wikimedia Commons)

some civilian clothes and vanish . If anybody asks say

63

(Turkestanische Legion), Legion of Volga Tatars (Vol-

formations were even - despite their opposition - sent

gatatarische Legion) . In August 1944, the Turkmen to France and Yugoslavia .

Legion transformed into the Mussulmanischen SS-Di-

In July 1942, Soviet general Andrei Vlasov was captured

vision Neu-Turkistan, and was responsible for murder-

by the German-Austrian army . He argued that Germa-

ing Poles, both soldiers and civilians in Warsaw (Wola ny should create a Russian interim government and a district) during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 . It was Russian army under his command . In September 1942, common practice to slit throats with daggers and burn he wrote an appeal to Soviet soldiers and the Russian in-people alive .

telligentsia and called for the overthrow of Stalin, whom

he blamed for all the catastrophes of Russia and the Rus-

sians and the Russian Liberation Army was established .

The Russian National Committee was established in

December in Smolensk . The vision of a free Russia was

however, opposed by Hitler, who had no intention of

supporting the idea of a Bolshevik-free Russia - the East

was to be a space for the Germans . The Russian National

Committee and General Vlasov therefore, never had

the opportunity to implement the idea of a free Russia .

The Russian Liberation Army existed only on paper and

its units were scattered all over Europe under German

and Austrian command . At the end of the war, Vlasov

created the Committee for the Liberation of the Russian

People (Komitet Oswobożdienia Narodow Rasiji) with

troops under his command. During the fighting with

Muslim soldiers in the Dirlewanger formation. Soldiers

the Soviets on May 2 1945, Vlasov found himself in

of the 13th Mountain Division of the SS "Handschar"

Prague . At the request of the Czechs, he went to their

(Foto. Propagandakompanien der Wehrmacht -

side and saved the city from murder and destruction . In

Waffen-SS (Bild 101 III)/ Creative Commons)

the last days of the war, many of Vlasov soldiers died at

the hands of the Soviets, others were captured by the So-

The Azerbaijani Field Battalion Dönmec served under viets . Those who surrendered to the British and Ameri-the orders of General Oskar Dirlewanger . The Aze-

cans were handed over by the Americans to the Soviets .

ri's also took part in the cruel pacification of War-

About 17,000 soldiers were deported to Russia . Most of

saw's Wola district in the first days of August 1944, them were executed . The rest of the prisoners were sen-committing genocide against the civilian population . tenced for life in Soviet labor camps . On August 2 1946, Working with German criminals as well as Russians, General Andrei Vlasov and his officers were murdered Belarusians and Ukrainians, they murdered - often by the Soviets; who hung them on butcher's hooks stuck burning alive or slitting their throats with daggers - in the back of their heads .

tens of thousands of defenseless people . Among the 29th SS Grenadier Division (Russian No . 1); arose from Dirlewanger fighters there were also two battalions Russian volunteers serving in the SS RONA Assault Bri-of the Eastern Muslim Regiment of the SS, in total 800 gade, whose commander was Bronisław Kamiński. The soldiers - Turkmen, Azerbaijani, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Tatars RONA brigade was one of the first Russian volunteer and Uzbeks . They were commanded by German and formations to fight in the German-Austrian ranks. It was Austrian officers headed by SS Major Franz Lieber-infamous for being one of the cruelest units of the SS .

mann . In the Eastern Legions (Ostlegionen), formed The 30th SS Grenadier Division (Russian No . 2), was by the Germans and Austrians from former Soviet cit-created in August 1944, in occupied Poland from Rus-

izens, at least 2/3 of the 170,000 soldier, were Muslim . sian volunteer units withdrawn from the front . The Among these were Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tajiks, commanding staff were Germans, most of the sol-Turkmen, Volga Tatars and Chechens . There were 78 diers were Russians . They also fought with the French infantry battalions, including 54 purely Islamic, as resistance .

well as the auxiliary troops .

The Cossacks (Don, Kuban, Orenburg, Ural and Astra-

47

you are French deported to work in the Reich." Chris-

outspoken fascists and penned anti-Semitic "crusades"

tian de la Maziére was not the only French SS man who

for the Germans and Austrians . The leader among these

owed his life to Poles24 .

fascist groups was the weekly "Je suis partout" ("I am

The French 4th Regiment of the NSKK however, turned

everywhere"), founded in Paris in 1930. It was led by the

out to be the most useful for the Third Reich . This reg-

writer Robert Brasillach, who, apart from the anti-Semit-

iment was part of the NSKK Motorgruppe Luftwaffe, ic propaganda campaign, revealed through the maga-formed from the pre-war Nazi automotive organiza-

zine the names of Jews hiding in the Vichy state .

tion and consisted of 2,500 French drivers and engi-

On September 21 1940, the Third Reich ordered by de-

neers . They played an important role in the German cree that the entire Jewish population of the occupied army as a supply and transport unit . Approximately zone report to the nearest police prefecture . In the city 10,000 Frenchmen also served in the German police, of Paris and its environs, about 15,000 Jews fulfilled who employed an additional 30,000 French civilian this obligation . All names and addresses obtained helpers and informers . Many collaborated directly in this way were stored in the so-called Tulard file, with the intelligence services of the Third Reich, the named after André Tulard, who was responsible for Abwehr and the Gestapo . Moreover, the right-wing the "Jewish question" in France. The French police Vichy militia called Milice cooperated with Germany provided the Gestapo with all the documentation, and the Austrians . In German occupied Europe, the containing addresses, and the full details of the targets scale of French collaboration was the largest .

origins and occupations. The first manhunts targeting

the Jewish population were predicated on the basis of

POLITICAL COLLABORATION

Danes serving as volunteers in the SS formations . Light

During the war, Denmark was under Danish admin-

sentences were passed against 13,500 of the people;

istration, which collaborated extensively with the Ger-

whilst 78 people were sentenced to death (46 sentences

mans and Austrians in every aspect of life . After April were carried out) . The question of what to do with the 9, the Danish government and parliament implement-collaborators-traitors in administration and industry

ed a "collaboration policy" (Danish samarbejdspoltik-

remained . The Danish government had continually

ken) . The goal of Danish politicians was to preserve the encouraged them to cooperate with the Germans and greatest amount of sovereignty and lead the country Austrians from the beginning of the war . Some were through the war as painlessly as possible .

acquitted, the rest were sentenced to 4 years in prison .

In 1943, after a wave of protests against the policy of

collaboration with the Third Reich, the Germans and MILITARY COLLABORATION

the Austrians dismissed the incumbent Danish gov-

Danes supported Hitler by serving in three SS for-

ernment . The Danish government was formally "put mations . On June 28 1941, the Danish government to sleep" and survived in this state until liberation. announced the creation of the Danish legion in service On August 29 1943, the Danish armed forces (kept in a to the Third Reich . The Danish Volunteer Legion was reduced capacity by the Third Reich), were disbanded . given the official German name of SS-Freiwilligen Twenty three Danish soldiers were killed in this unex-Verband Dänemark (Volunteer Group Denmark) by

the Germans and Austrians . It was more commonly

known as the Freikorps Danmark . This name also ap-

peared on the standard German Waffen-SS uniforms

attached to the left sleeve worn by the Danes serving

their German protectors . 6,000 Danes served in this

formation of the SS .

THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS