The European Mission

Early in the war against Russia, Hitler spoke of the need for Europeans to overcome nationalist proclivities: “The threat from the east alone, with the danger of reducing everyone to the Bolshevik-Asiatic plane, which would mean the destruction of all basis of European civilization, compels us to unify."⁹⁴ A prominent journalist and former Waffen SS lieutenant, Hans Schwarz van Berk, wrote later, “The old points of departure of German policy were too provincial to realize the European revival in a voluntary spirit of freedom, so passionately striven for by activist, optimistic younger elements. . . . Only the foreign units with their clear-cut European will, anchored in the perception of the SS as the European fighting elite, changed this. . . . This war’s fury demanded more than hired mercenaries. It demanded constructive, common goals and binding, idealistic motives of the fighters."⁹⁵

Germanic volunteers in the Reich’s service did not consider themselves to be in a subordinate role. “We fought neither for Germany nor for Hitler, but for a much greater idea; the creation of a united states of Europe,” wrote Degrelle.⁹⁶ “We were all unified by the same will: Honorably represent our nation among the 30 that came to fight. Do our duty, since we fought for Europe. Gain an honorable place for our fatherland in the continental community that would evolve from the war, and finally, create combat units whose value guaranteed achieving social justice, when we ultimately returned home after the end of hostilities."⁹⁷

The Swiss SS man Heinrich Büeler recalled, “Regarding the restructuring of Europe after the war, there was no program. This question was nevertheless often discussed in the Waffen SS. . . . We were certain that the struggle against Asiatic Bolshevism, and the camaraderie joining Germanics and Europeans, will lead to reforming Europe in the same spirit.” The Swiss journalist Francois Lobsiger considered the men “political soldiers in the loftiest sense,” fighting to achieve a “strong, unified, and brotherly Europe."⁹⁸The historian Lothar Greil summarized, “With the beginning of the Russian campaign, a decisive mental awareness developed within the Waffen SS: The fight for freedom for the realm of all Germans became a struggle for the freedom of the European family of nations. The common cause of volunteers from throughout Europe reinforced this ideal."⁹⁹ The French historian Henri Landemer concluded that within the Waffen SS, “The Reich is no longer Germany but Europe."¹⁰⁰

Himmler, primarily involved in law enforcement, intelligence gathering and counter-espionage, initially envisioned a post-war Europe with Germany dominant. He harbored a colonial attitude toward the East. Influenced not only by the deteriorating military situation but by many letters he received from soldiers of the Waffen SS, he gradually abandoned this imperialistic viewpoint. In a 1943 speech to NSDAP officials in Posen, he described the brotherhood in arms of the Wiking division, in which Germans and non-Germans served together, as the basis for the greater Germanic Reich to come.

When a local party functionary refused to approve the application for marriage of a Germanic volunteer to a German woman, Himmler reacted sharply. On October 4, 1943, he sent a letter to Bormann arguing, “If on one hand the Reichsführer SS (Himmler’s title) is supposed to recruit Flemish, Dutch, and other Germanics to fight and die . . . and in return declare that they have equal rights, then marriage to the sisters and daughters of these Germanics, or of a German maiden to a member of these Germanic peoples, cannot be forbidden.” Demanding that the NSDAP’s Racial Policy Office be deprived of the authority to license marriages, Himmler added, “It makes no sense for me to try for years, under difficult circumstances, to animate a Germanic idea and win people for it, while other offices in Germany thoughtlessly and categorically make it all for nothing."¹⁰¹

Despite the authority of his office, Himmler was navigating precarious waters. He advocated a European commonwealth, challenging official “Germany first” programs and NSDAP dogma. “He became the most demonstrative critic of this policy and tacitly the most significant enemy of all supporters and defenders of this policy,” stated Schwarz van Berk.¹⁰² Himmler began gaining the upper hand early in 1943. In February, the Reich’s Chancery granted him supervision over all “mutual ethnic-Germanic affairs” in the occupied countries. German officials could no longer act on related issues unless “in agreement with the Reichsführer SS.” The historian Seidler observed, “To shape the new order in Europe after the war, the SS had an optimal starting position in competition with organs of the NSDAP."¹⁰³ The SS planned to establish a European union with close economic cooperation and a universal currency system, without German domination. “The loyalty of the foreign SS men gave Himmler more weight . . . in opposing official German policy. These men were not in the slightest degree of a subservient nature,” wrote Schwarz van Berk.¹⁰⁴Eventually non-Germans became the majority in half of the SS combat divisions in active service.¹⁰⁵

The Waffen SS took control of all foreign legions serving in the German army in 1944 except for Cossacks. This was an important step in supplanting the concept of national armies with that of a multi-national fighting force defending common interests, a force whose veterans could maintain a camaraderie transcending customary European rivalries after the war. The Waffen SS actively promoted establishment of a Russian army of liberation. After meeting with Vlassov, Himmler approved not only the formation of this army but the founding of an “exile” Russian government. Vlassov stated that he found greater understanding for his proposals during negotiations with the SS than with the German army.¹⁰⁶ He ultimately received the green light to establish the Russian army of liberation, which deployed toward the end of the war.

Estonians and Latvians became the vanguard of eastern peoples donning the uniform of the Waffen SS. Not without reservations, Himmler eventually acquiesced to Berger’s appeal to enroll Ukrainians. Formation of the 14th SS Grenadier Division, together with Yugoslavian contingents, ultimately broke down the “Slav skepticism” that had infected the Reichsführer SS no less than NSDAP doctrinaires. The diplomat Renthe-Fink wrote, “The Estonian SS has proven itself in action against the Bolsheviks, and these developments appear to be taking place with the Führer’s approval."¹⁰⁷ The former director of the Bad Tölz officer’s academy noted, “The N.S. racial concept became less plausible after the forming of Slavic divisions. It gave way to the unifying element of anti-Communism, especially welding together the eastern and western SS."¹⁰⁸

The example of the Waffen SS encouraged others in Germany opposed to national policies detrimental to a community of nations. In February 1944, the German commissioner in the Crimea, Alfred Frauenfeld, sent Berlin a 37-page memorandum describing National Socialist eastern policy as a “masterpiece of poor management."¹⁰⁹ That June, the economist Walter Labs submitted proposals for administrative reform in occupied Russia. He asked, “Are the eastern territories and the populations residing in them to be accepted as members of the European realm, or are they simply colonies and colonial peoples to be exploited?” Labs demanded they be accorded the right to private property, advanced education and opportunities to realize prosperity. He bluntly pointed out that “nations which achieve as much in wartime as what the Red Army has demonstrated, are too advanced to accept being reduced to the standard of a colonial people."¹¹⁰

For its part, the German army issued lengthy guidelines to its troops in Russia in 1943, ordering them to “be fair.... The Russian hates nothing more than injustice. The Russian is an especially good worker; if he is treated decently he works hard. He is intelligent and learns easily."¹¹¹ Nearly two years earlier, the Waffen SS had already instructed its members to “sincerely try to gain a fundamental understanding of the contemporary Russian psyche,” every SS man being “not just a soldier but a bit of a politician.” The purpose, stated in a directive for soldiers of the Leibstandarte, was “one of the most important tasks for the German people, namely to win these populations for the European family of nations."¹¹²

The Leibstandarte defended the Mius River position on the eastern front until April 1942, when it received transfer orders. A grenadier recalled, “During our withdrawal from Taganrog, thousands of residents stood along the road and waved to the units as they drove away; an example of how good the relationship between an SS division and the Russian civilian population could become."¹¹³

Though better known for its reputation as an elite fighting troop, the Waffen SS was no less resolute in advancing social and political reforms necessary for Europe to recover supremacy and renown in world affairs. In combating both the lingering 19^th Century nationalism dividing the continent and the unproductive dogma of the Racial Policy Office within Germany, the Waffen SS trod a solitary path; few among the Reich’s hierarchy risked contradicting the NSDAP’s legislated programs. Albert Frey, a regimental commander in the Leibstandarte, recalled that “during the war, in no other realm of the NS state were the flawed political and military decisions of the senior leadership so openly discussed and criticized as within the Waffen SS.” ¹¹⁴ Induction into the Waffen SS of non-German volunteers forced the Reich’s Government to recognize the contribution of foreign peoples to the war effort. Germanic recruits demanded a post-war European federation in place of German hegemony. They found political expression through the SS, steadily leading the German government toward a balanced perspective. This augmented the influence of the under-represented strata that did the fighting, much in the sense that the wars of liberation in 1813 began shifting power from the imperial dynasty to the Prussian peasant militia.

Thousands of Ukrainians volunteered to serve in the Waffen SS.¹¹⁵ The Ukrainian 14th SS Grenadier Division, which the Germans decided to establish in April 1943, went into action the following year. When Hitler learned of its existence he questioned its dependability, suggesting it would be better to give its weapons to a new German division. Hearing of General Vlassov’s wish to lead an army of liberation, Hitler retorted, “I'll never form a Russian army. That’s a specter of the first order."¹¹⁶

When SS Colonel Günther d'Alquen criticized the official attitude degrading the Russians, Himmler expressly warned him against the SS taking any course of action contrary to the Führer’s wishes. Yet the Waffen SS prevailed. Again citing Schwarz van Berk, “In Himmler, those demanding that the narrowly defined racial policy be abolished in favor of a broader, more rational interpretation found their strongest voice. And now this same Himmler, who in his own domain once established the most stringent racial criteria, became the advocate of a liberal understanding of the rights of nationalities and races."¹¹⁷

Hitler disapproved of the revisions doggedly promoted by the Waffen SS, yet ironically, he had created the system that enabled them to progress. In a 1937 speech at Vogelsang he had once stated, “From our ranks the most capable can reach the loftiest positions without respect to origin and birth. . . .What they've been, what their parents do, who their mother was, mean nothing. If they're capable, the way stands clear. They just have to accept responsibility; that is, have it in them to lead."¹¹⁸ Hitler’s policy resembled the spirit of 18^th Century liberalism in France, in which talented individuals realized their potential and rose to positions of leadership.

Since its establishment in 1934, the VT, the future Waffen SS, attracted men from the untapped wellspring of superior human resources once identified by Gneisenau. Frey, among the first to join the armed SS, wrote that regarding fellow recruits in training at the Ellwangen barracks, “Most were farm lads and came from villages."¹¹⁹ In the German army, 49 percent of the officer corps hailed from military families. In the VT, the figure was five percent. Just two percent of army officers had rural backgrounds, but a substantial percentage of VT officers grew up on farms.¹²⁰Despite their comparatively limited education, SS officers enrolled in army general staff courses consistently scored in the upper ten percent of graduates.¹²¹ In some German provinces, nearly a third of the farm lads applied to enlist in the VT.

Like the German army, this novel fighting force encouraged battlefield initiative at junior command levels. However, it also relaxed social barriers between officers and subordinates, based authority on winning the men’s respect rather than on rank and instilled a liberal attitude that enabled Germans and other Europeans to stand together as brethren. In a few short years, the Waffen SS contributed to political and military evolutions that might otherwise have taken decades, and without the patronage of the men’s respective governments or populations.

In its final form, the Waffen SS bore little resemblance to the party’s showpiece guard troop, personifying the flower of German manhood, that Hitler originally intended for domestic missions at his discretion. Himmler ultimately acknowledged that “the Waffen SS is beginning to lead a life of its own."¹²² Not constrained by established military convention, the men of the Waffen SS approached their craft with a spirit of independence and innovation. Through their voluntary commitment and wartime sacrifices they lobbied for political reform— customarily forbidden waters for the armed forces. And yet its members hailed largely from a stratum historically lacking public influence. Despite the dynamics, boldness and aplomb of the Waffen SS, it never would have gained leverage without a state system in place that fostered discovery of latent ability. The Führer approved expansion of the Waffen SS despite its defiance. Hitler was a man who sought not to control his people but to guide them, to help them explore, discover, and harness their potential, even when the changes they introduced contradicted his personal beliefs.