Non-German cooperation with Nazis during World War II
Non-German cooperation with Nazis during World War II existed in all the countries occupied by Germany during World War II. The special word all over Europe was "Kollaboration" (collaboration in negative and usually in the specific sense. first invented by Mar. Philippe Pétain.)
Reasons for cooperation
There were various reasons for cooperation with the Nazi authorities: fear for one's life; believing that the Nazis would win the war and thus it would be better to be on the winning side; attempting to avoid conflict with the powerful Nazi occupational forces (such as in Denmark); seeking short-term goals, such as a better-paid job with higher privileges; ability to legally take revenge against former personal enemies; and pure Nazism and antisemitism. Hatred of Stalinism, and disgust of over twenty years of the Soviet system, contributed greatly to this collaboration, especially in Russia and Ukraine. The Nazis failed to capitalize on this sentiment, and slowly much of this anti-Soviet sentiment reversed itself and cooperation with the Nazis in the east began to diminish. The "anti-Bolshevik" forces changed sides again, and thought it would be better to be on the other winning side, or in short, their earlier "opportunism", reversed itself.
Requirements for cooperation
The Nazis did not consider everyone equally fit for cooperation. Even people from closely related nations were often valued differently. For example, the Scandinavians and Northern Europeans were considered to be better than Lithuanians due to the supposed Lithuanian intermixing with Slavs at the past. [citation needed] Slavs were considered to be even worse.
The Jews were considered to be worst of all and thus unfit for cooperation, although some were used in concentration camps as Kapos to report on other prisoners and enforce order. Others governed ghettos and helped organize deportations to extermination camps (judische Polizei).
Partial list of colaborationist organizations
Albania
In April 1943 Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler created 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian) manned by Albanian volunteers and Kosovar Albanians. Since August 1944 division participated in operations against Yugoslav partisans and killed local Serbs. The discipline in the division was bad and in the beginning of 1945 it has been disbanded by German Command. The division's soldiers carried emblem with black Albanian eagle. ( Williamson, G. "The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror").
Belarus
Belorussian collaborators participated in various massacres of villages inside Belarus. Many of these collaborators retreated with German forces in the wake of the Red Army advance, and in January 1945 formed the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Belorussian) in Germany.
Belgium
373rd infantry battalion of Wehrmacht, manned by Belgians, took part in anti-guerrilla actions on an occupied territory of the USSR since August 1941 till February 1942. In May 1943 the battalion has been transformed into 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien and sent to the Eastern Front. In the autumn the brigade has been transformed into 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien; its remains surrendered to British troops in the final days of war.
Bosnia
The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS (also known as the 1st Croatian or Handschar division), manned by Bosniaks and Croats, but commanded by German officers, has been created in February 1943. The division participated in anti-guerrilla operations in Yugoslavia. (Williamson, G. "The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror) By 1944, most of the division defected to the Yugoslav partisans.
Central Asia
The Turkestan legion was the general name for the units of Central Asian exiles and POWs who fought on the side of Germany during the war. Estimates of the total number of Central Asians who fought under the Nazis number in the hundreds of thousands.
Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia, headed by Ante Pavelić, was the ally of Nazi Germany. The Croatian nationalists, Ustashe, killed at least tens of thousands of Serbs and other victims in the Jasenovac concentration camp.
The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian), created in February 1943, and the 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama, created in January 1944, were manned by Croats and Bosniaks as well as a local Germans. Both divisions operated against partisans and were responsible for a number of atrocities against civilians. (Williamson, G. "The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror).
Denmark
The occupied Danish government cooperated reluctantly with the Nazi regime by various means, first and foremost by calming the civilian population after the surrender and discouraging resistance against the occupation. However, this was seen as the only realistic course to preserve peace and maintain a functioning economy in Denmark (trade with the Allies had been cut off), by avoiding any conflict with the occupying forces, as Denmark was obviously no match for the German military. The government cooperated in passing information regarding Danish communists to the Germans. However, the government did not allow the Germans to interfere in the Danish politics to the extent that they did in other countries (for instance Denmark refused to allow identification of Jewish people). The Danish people and most individual politicians, including the prime minister and King Christian X, were hostile towards their captors, and the Danish resistance became very strong, including a very successful effort to save the Danish Jews. (see Occupation of Denmark).
Estonia
The all-volunteer Estnische SS-Legion was created in 1942. The unit, ultimately called 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian), finished its way in May 1945 in Czechoslovakia. The division's soldiers carried stripes with the Estonian national colors and images of three lions. (Williamson, G. "The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror")
France
In modern France, the term collaborators is not limited to those who cooperated directly with the Nazis, but also applies to people who cooperated with the government of Vichy France.
The French volunteers to the SS formed the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French), which in 1945 was among the final defenders of Berlin.
Greece
After the German invasion of Greece, a Nazi-held puppet government was established in Athens. The three quisling prime ministers (Georgios Tsolakoglou, Konstantinos Logothetopoulos and Ioannis Rallis) cooperated with the Axis authorities. Besides, Greek National-Socialist parties (such as the Greek National Socialist Party) or anti-semitic organisations (such as the National Union of Greece) helped German authorities fight the Resistance and identify and deport Greek Jews. Moreover, special armed collaborationist forces (such as the Security Battalions) were created to aid the collaborationist regime. About 1,000 Greeks from Greece entered the Waffen SS, while thousands of Greeks from the Soviet Union, avenging their prosecution from Soviet authorities, joined the Waffen-SS, especially in Ukrainian divisions. A special case is that of the infamous Sevastianos Foulidis, a Greek who was an official of the Wehrmacht as well as an effective spy at the Abwehr.
Latvia
Having occupied Latvia in summer 1941, German command has created the local voluntary troops (Schutzmannschaft or Schuma), to struggle against the Soviet partisans and serve as guards in concentration camps for Jews and Soviet prisoners of war. [1] [2] The group of the Latvian auxiliary police known as Arajs Commando murdered about 26,000 Jews, mainly in November and December 1941.
On October 16, 1941, 16th Latvian battalion under the command of Karlis Mangulis was sent to the Eastern front. At the end of December 1941, 17th Latvian Vidzeme battalion was sent to Belarus. On January 13, 1942, 18th Kurzeme battalion started service in Ukraine. On March 30, Liepaja battalion has been attached to 21st to group of German armies "North", sieged Leningrad. In May 1942, two more Latvian battalions were sent to Ukraine, one to Belarus and one to Leningrad region [3].
In 1942-1944, Latvian auxiliary police together with Lithuanian and Ukrainian Schuma-battalions participated in large punitive operations in Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov and Vitebsk regions[4].
In February - March 1943 eight Latvian Schuma-battalions (273, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282-nd) took part in anti-partisan operation "Winterzauber" in triangle Sebezh - Osveya - Polotsk in Belarus and in Pskov region (Russia). During this operation 158 settlements have been plundered and burnt down. The inhabitants of 8 villages were massacred (Gerlach, C. "Kalkulierte Morde").
The Latvian Volunteer SS Division (Lettische SS-Freiwilligen-Division), manned by 32,000 volunteers, was created in February 1943. The division was headed by Latvian Minister of Defence Rudolf Bangerskis. In October 1943, the Division was split up into two parts, which would ultimately come to be called the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) and the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian).
In November 1943, the 1st Latvian division fought Soviet troops near Novosokolniki (Russia). This division finished its path in April 1945, in Germany, having surrendered to the British (Williamson, G. "The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror").
The 2nd Latvian division fought on the Leningrad front.
In March 2006, several SS vetarans took to the streets in a march commemorate the members of Latvian SS units who fought in defence against the invading Soviet forces. [5]
Lithuania
Prior to the Nazi invasion, some people in Lithuania believed Germany would grant the country independence. Nazi Germany used this situation to its advantage and indeed in the first days permitted a Lithuanian government to be established. However, when the territory was fully occupied, that government was disbanded and banned, and some of its supporters ended their days in concentration camps. An unit of Lithuanian insurgents headed by Algirdas Klimaitis and instigated by Germans started anti-Jewish pogroms in Kaunas on June 26, 1941. [1]
In 1941 Lithuanian Security Police (Lietuvos saugumo policija), subordinate to Nazi Germany's Security Police and Nazi Germany's Criminal Police, was created. [2].
Of the 26 local police battalions formed, 10 were involved in the Holocaust (2 of them systematically). In total, Germans involved 2,000-3,000 Lithuanians in the Holocaust, most of them against their will. [3] Notorious Lithuanian Sonderkommando Squad in Vilnius killed tens of thousands Jews and others in Paneriai and other places [2]. Lithuanian collaborators were also involved in the murders of thousands of Poles[citation needed].
2nd Lithuanian battalion has been organized in 1941 in Kaunas. On October 6, 1941, the battalion started service in Belarus (Minsk, Borisov and Slutsk regions) to fight against the Soviet partisans. In Minsk, the battalion shot about 9.000 Soviet prisoners of war, in Slutsk, it massacred 5.000 Jews. In March 1942, in Poland, the 2nd Lithuanian battalion carried out guard duty in the Majdanek concentration camp.[6]
In July 1942, 2nd Lithuanian battalion participated in deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to a death camp[7].
In August - October 1942, the Lithuanian battalions were in Ukraine: 3rd in Molodechno, 4th in Donetsk, 7th-в in Vinnitsa, 11th in Korosten, 16th in Dnepropetrovsk, 254th in Poltava, and 255th in Mogilyov (Belarus)[8].
In February - March 1943 2nd Lithuanian battalion participated the large antiguerrilla action "Winterzauber" (Winter magic) in Belarus, cooperating with several Latvian and 50-th Ukrainian Schuma-battalions. Schuma-battalions burned down villages suspected in supporting Soviet partisans[9].
3rd Lithuanian battalion took part in the "Marsh fever Southwest" antiguerrilla operation, carried out in Baranovich, Berezov, Ivatsevich, Slonim and Ljahovich regions of Belarus in cooperation with the 24th Latvian battalion (Chuev S. "Damned soldiers").
In 1942–1944 the 13th and 256th Lithuanian battalions operated against partisans in Pskov and Novgorod regions of Russia[10]
The Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force was formed from volunteers in 1944. Its whole leadership was Lithuanian, while arms were provided by Germans. Purpose of Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force was to fight Soviets and Polish partisans in territory of Lithuania. After brief engagements against Soviet and Polish partisans, due to the disagreements with Nazi administration, the force was disbanded the same year, its leaders arrested, and some of its members executed by the Nazis.
Netherlands
Thousands of Dutch volunteers were soldiers of the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland (created in February 1943). The division participated in fights against Soviet army and was crushed in the Berlin battle in April-May 1945.
SS-Freiwilligen Legion Niederlande, manned by Dutch volunteers, battled against the Soviet army beginning in 1941. In December 1944 it was transformed into the 23rd SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nederland, and participated in fights in Courland and Pomerania. (Williamson, G. "The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror")
Norway
In Norway, the Vidkun Quisling government was installed by the Germans as a puppet regime, while the true Norwegian government was in exile. Quisling ecouraged Norwegians to serve as volunteers in the German army, collaborating in the deportation of Jews, and was responsible for the executions of Norwegian patriots. In spite of this, the vast majority of Norwegians hated the Nazis, and many contributed to the resistance, including the rescue of Jews and others. However, about 45,000 Norwegian collaborators had joined the Norwegian fascist party, and some police units helped arrest many of Norway's Jews. After the war, Quisling and other collaborators were executed. Quisling's name has become an international eponym for traitor.
Poland
The 1939 Nazi edict ordered all the Polish policemen to work for the German occupational authorities under pain of death. The Blue Police (German: Polnische Polizei, Polish: Granatowa policja) auxiliaries patrolled the streets and searched for Jews (in most instances very reluctantly); they were also used in the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. From 1942 on they were employed in anti-partisan activities in Poland and the Ukraine. [11] However, many of them were in fact a double agents for the Polish Resistance.
In 1944 Germans clandestinely armed a few regional Armia Krajowa (AK) units operating in Lithuania in order to encourage them to act against the Soviet partisans in the region; in Novgorod district and to a lesser degree in Vilnius district[4]. Germans did not allow Lithuanian Security Police to arrest some of the known AK commanders in those districts and used to release the captured ones[2].
Romania
Romania became a puppet state of the Nazi Germany and thus it is sometimes considered that those who cooperated with the Romanian government during World War II were Nazi collaborators.
A report released in 2004 by a panel commissioned by the Romanian government assessed that a total of between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were murdered or perished in Romania as a direct result of the policies or actions of the World War II Romanian regime led by Ion Antonescu. Approximately 200,000 Jews were killed in the Odessa region, often called Transnistria (occupied from the USSR) at the end of 1941 and during 1942 by the Romanian Army and the Einsatzgruppe D. Additionally, 25,000 Roma were sent to concentration camps, of which an estimated 11,000 died.
The Romanian government had a program of deportation of the Romanian Jews to camps in Transnistria, implemented especially in the Moldavia region, however, this was terminated in 1943, 16 months before Romania ended its alliance with Nazi Germany and 340,000 Romanian Jews survived the war.
Russia
Cooperation with Nazis existed in various places in Russia. There existed several divisions manned by Russian collaborators, including the notorious 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Russian), infamous because of its atrocities in Belarus and Poland, and the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Russian). [12]
Pro-German Russian forces also included the anti-communist Russian Liberation Army (POA, Русская Освободительная Армия). In March 1945, however, POA turned against the SS and fought on the side of Czech insurgents during the Prague Uprising.
Serbia
Serbia was set up as a Nazi puppet state under Serbian army general Milan Nedić, which was known as Nedić's Serbia. The internal affairs of the Serbian puppet state were moderated by German racial laws, that were introduced in all occupied teritories with immediate effects on Jews, Roma people, as well as imprisonment of left oriented persons. The two major concentration camps in Serbia were: Sajmište and Banjica. Under Nedić, Belgrade was declared to be Judenfrei in 1942.
Ukraine
In Ukraine (more commonly in Western Ukraine) there was some cooperation with the German authorities. 4,000 Jews and many Polish intellectuals were killed in Lviv on June 30-July 3, 1941 by Ukrainian battalion Nachtigal. By April 28, 1943 German Command created the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Galizien (1st Ukrainian) (commonly called 'SS Galichina') manned by 14,000 volunteers. (Williamson, G. "The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror").
See also
References
- ^ Template:Lt icon Arūnas Bubnys. Lithuanian Security Police and the Holocaust (1941–1944)
- ^ a b c Template:Lt icon Arūnas Bubnys (2004). Vokiečių ir lietuvių saugumo policija (1941–1944) (German and Lithuanian security police: 1941-1944). Vilnius: Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) Cite error: The named reference "Bubnys" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ Template:Lt icon Tomas Baranauskas. Skaudžios birželio dienos (Painful June), Omni, 22 June 2006, accessed on 22 June 2006
- ^ Template:Lt icon Rimantas Zizas. Armijos Krajovos veikla Lietuvoje 1942-1944 metais (Acitivies of Armia Krajowa in Lithuania in 1942-1944). Armija Krajova Lietuvoje, pp. 14-39. A. Bubnys, K. Garšva, E. Gečiauskas, J. Lebionka, J. Saudargienė, R. Zizas (editors). Vilnius – Kaunas, 1995.
- Chuev S. Damned soldiers ISBN 5-699-05970-9, M, 2005
- Williamson, Gordon "The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror", Brown Packaging Limited, 1994
- Gerlach, Christian. "Kalkulierte Morde", Hamburger Edition, Hamburg, 1999