Hitler's Foreign Executioners Read Online Free

Committee. When a Legion supporter screams at Koren that ‘A soldier is a soldier and all are equal!’he turns away. Another mantra of Legion defenders is that the volunteers were conscripts – compelled to join. But as Koren points out to journalists, ‘At least 25% of the “Latvian Legion” were volunteers, recruited from the Latvian police who were involved in the murder of Jews and other Latvians – and the SS Legion should not be permitted a celebration of itself in the centre of our city’.
    Midday. Sunlight glitters on the Pilsetas canal. The old Legionaries and their honour guard begin to disperse. Soon they have vanished – the mute ghosts of history.
    Now there is a carnival atmosphere. At the foot of the Freedom Monument, groups of young Latvians take pictures of each other beside the mass of wreaths and flowers. A young man tells a BBC reporter that for him the old Legionaries are heroes. They defended Latvia. Many thousands of Latvian SS men gave their lives for the freedom of Latvia. These young Latvians look prosperous and happy. They do not shave their heads or sport provocative armbands. But their enthusiasm for the legion is troubling – and unexpected. It would seem that the old Legionarieshave become a symbol not of collusion with a murderous foreign occupier but of Latvian national freedom.
    It is an outcome that SS Chief Himmler, who was profoundly hostile to the national aspirations of Latvians, could never have foreseen.
    I remember the words of the great Latvian poet Ojārs Vācietis:
    So all forests are not like this …
    I stand and shriek in Rumbula –
    A green crater in the midst of grainfields

Appendix 1
Maps

    1 The political division of the Balkans following the German invasion, April 1941.

    2 SD Einsatzgruppen followed German army groups across Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union (top). Along each route, the Germans recruited local collaborators to form auxiliary police squads that facilitated mass murder, as shown by the recorded percentages of Jewish communities who fell victim to the genocide (bottom).

    3 The German political division of Eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union following the 1941 invasion. Puppet administrations in each new administrative region assisted with the recruitment of non-German police and Waffen-SS units.

Appendix 2
Foreign Divisions Recruited by
the Third Reich
    Arab Nations
    Deutsche-Arabische Bataillon Nr 845
    Deutsche-Arabische Lehr Abteilung
    Albania
    21. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Skanderbeg (albanische Nr. 1)
    Belgium
    27. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Langemarck (flämische Nr. 1)
    28. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Wallonien
    SS-Freiwilligen Legion Flandern
    SS-Freiwilligen-Standarte Nordwest
    SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Langemarck
    6. SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Langemarck
    5. SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Wallonien
    SS-Freiwilligen-Verband Flandern
    SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien
    Wallonisches-Infanterie Bataillon 373
    Bulgaria
    Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS (bulgarisches Nr 1)
    Croatia
    17. Air Force Company
    369. (Kroatische) Infanterie-Division
    373. (Kroatische) Infanterie-Division
    392. (Kroatische) Infanterie-Division
    Croatian Air Force Legion
    Croatian Air Force Training Wing
    Croatian Anti-Aircraft Legions
    Croatian Legion
    Croatian Naval Legion
    Polizei-Freiwilligen-Regiment 1 Kroatien
    Polizei-Freiwilligen-Regiment 2 Kroatien
    Polizei-Freiwilligen-Regiment 3 Kroatien
    Polizei-Freiwilligen-Regiment 4 Kroatien
    Polizei-Freiwilligen-Regiment 5 Kroatien
    Polizei-Freiwilligen-Regiment Kroatien – See Polizei-Freiwilligen-Regiment 1 Kroatien
    13. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Handschar (kroatische Nr. 1)
    23. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Kama (kroatische Nr. 2)
    Denmark
    Danish volunteers in Waffen-SS
    Frikorps Danmark
    Estonia
    Estnische Grenzschutz Ersatz Regiment
    Estnische Grenzschutz Regiment 1 (Polizei)
    Estnische Grenzschutz Regiment 2 (Polizei)
    Estnische Grenzschutz Regiment 3 (Polizei)
    Estnische