Hitler's Foreign Executioners: Europe's Dirty Secret

516 Pages·2011·6.66 MB·English

by  Christopher Hale

One basic principle must be the basic rule for the SS man: we must be honest, decent, loyal, and
comradely to members of our own blood and to nobody else … In twenty to thirty years we must
really be able to provide the whole of Europe with its ruling class.
Heinrich Himmler, 4 October 1943

The Romanians act against the Jews without any idea of a plan. No one would object to the
numerous executions if the technical aspect of their preparation, as well as the manner in which they
are carried out, were not wanting … The Einsatzkommando has urged the Romanian police to
proceed with more order.
Report by Einsatzgruppe D, 31 July 1941

A Jew in a greasy caftan walks up to beg some bread, a couple of comrades get a hold of him and
drag him behind a building and a moment later he comes to an end. There isn’t any room for Jews in
the new Europe, they’ve brought too much misery to the European people.
Danish SS volunteer

Acknowledgements
The very broad scope of this book was challenging. I must thank first of all
Simon Young who took time out from his busy schedule to provide invaluable
advice and hands on assistance with a recalcitrant manuscript. Professor Michael
Burleigh, William Niven and Nigel Jones read parts of the manuscript. Judith
Lanio assisted with a mass of German language documents and texts with great
efficiency. Christian Barse assisted with Danish materials. A number of
historians generously responded to my many questions: Marko Attilla Hoare,
Milan Hauner, Clemens Heni, David Cesarani, Andrew Ezergailis, Martin Dean,
Wendy Lower, Martin Conway, Saul David, Adam Sisman, Timothy Snyder and
Giles MacDonough all provided expert advice. Matthew Kott offered valuable
insights into the German occupation of Norway, Latvia and the Baltic. At a
critical stage, Ephraim Zuroff and Dovid Katz made valuable contributions.
Detlef Siebert provided vital leads. I am grateful to Julian Hendy and Ray
Brandon for generously sharing their insights and hard-won information about
Ukrainian nationalism and the formation of the SS Division ‘Galizien’. George
Lepre and Michael Melnyk, who have written accounts of the Bosnian
‘Handschar’ and the Ukrainian ‘Galizien’ SS divisions respectively, sent unique
documentary materials. From these, I have drawn my own and no doubt different
conclusions.
I spent many hours in some excellent libraries, above all the British Library
and the Weiner Library in London. The National Archives in Kew was another
important resource. I must also thank three German libraries: the German
National Library in Leipzig, the State Library and the excellent Library of the
‘Topography of Terror’ in Berlin. I am especially indebted to the
Bundesarchiv/Zentralle Stelle in Ludwigsburg. I discussed the problems of
collaboration with Ojārs Ēriks Kalninš at the Latvian Institute and with
historians at the Museum of the Occupation, Riga, the Riga Ghetto and Latvian
Holocaust Museum and the Central State Archives in Kiev. Needless to say, I
alone am responsible for any errors of fact and judgement.
I welcome corrections, comments and further research proposals through the
website listed at the end of the Acknowledgements.
I thank Pimlico Books for permission to quote from Mihail Sebastian’s
Journal: 1935–1944 (2003) and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
for permission to use extracts from Frida Michelson’s remarkable memoir I
Survived Rumbuli (1979).
Richard Johnson, Patrick Janson-Smith and Neil Blair backed the project at
the beginning of a long haul. Simon Hamlet, Christine McMorris and Lindsey
Smith at The History Press bravely took on a long manuscript. I must also thank
some good friends: Laurence Peters, who read parts of the book and made
valuable suggestions; Gerda Sousa; Karin Kaschner-Sousa; and David Robson,
Sarah Dewis (and family), who provided varieties of nourishment and
accommodation. My wife Diana Böhmer and our son Jacob put up with my
periodic disappearances with fortitude: my love to them.

www.hitlersforeignexecutioners.com
Contents
Epigraph
Title Page
Acknowledgements
Note on Language
Preface: Riga, 2010
Introduction

Part One: September 1939–June 1941
1 The Polish Crucible
2 Balkan Rehearsal
3 Night of the Vampires

Part Two: June 1941–February 1944
4 Horror Upon Horror
5 Massacre in L’viv
6 Himmler’s Shadow War
7 The Blue Buses
8 Western Crusaders
9 The Führer’s Son
10 The First Eastern SS Legions
11 Nazi Jihad
12 The Road to Huta Pieniacka

Part Three: March 1944–April 1945
13 ‘We Shall Finish Them Off’
14 Bonfire of the Collaborators
15 The Failure of Retribution

Appendix 1 Maps
Appendix 2 Foreign Divisions Recruited by the Third Reich
Appendix 3 Officer Rank Conversion Chart
Appendix 4 Terms & Abbreviations

Notes
Sources
Bibliography
Index
Plate Section
Copyright
Note on Language
I have taken a pragmatic approach to German terms. Most specialised
organisational terms are given in German to begin with and thereafter in English
(Special Task Force for Einsatzgruppe, for example, although there is no
‘Special’ in the term), unless the original has become broadly accepted – ‘Der
Führer’ for example. I have referred to SS ranks in German to distinguish them
from army ranks.‘Die Wehrmacht’ in English language books has come to
signify the German ground forces – strictly speaking Das Heer. After 1935, the
term embraced all the armed forces in the Third Reich, including the army, navy
and air force. For this reason I refer to the ‘German army’ rather than ‘the
Wehrmacht’. I have treated place names on a case-by-case basis.
Preface
Riga, 2010
Imagine Whitehall on a dank, autumn morning. A far-right British political party
leader steps towards the Cenotaph, jaw set, dark suited, clutching a wreath.1
Behind him stands the party elite sporting banners displaying back and white
photographs of hard-faced men in grey military uniforms. A dense police cordon
holds back jeering anti-fascists who have gathered in Parliament Square. He and
his followers have come here to commemorate a handful of forgotten anti-
communist martyrs who joined the German armed forces and fought against
Stalin during the Second World War. After solemnly placing the wreath at the
foot of Edwin Lutyen’s chaste memorial to the dead of the Great War, the party
leader makes a short, angry speech denouncing the post-war British government
for punishing these brave, far-sighted warriors as traitors. History has proved
them right! As he finishes, an egg splatters on his immaculate black coat. Then
the party men march up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, closely pursued by
protestors. Scuffles erupt, banners are trampled underfoot. Tourists and passers-
by scratch their heads, puzzled. Who on earth were these ‘heroic’ anti-
communists?
In August 1942, an odious public school dropout called John Amery and his
companion Jeannine Barde arrived in Berlin masquerading as ‘Mr. and Mrs.
Browne’. Amery was very well connected: his father was Secretary of State for
India and his brother, Julian, an illustrious war hero.2 John Amery’s hosts, the
‘England Committee’ at the German Foreign Office, hoped that his defection
would provide them with a propaganda coup. They were grossly mistaken.
Rebecca West, who witnessed Amery’s post-war trial for High Treason at the
Old Bailey, concluded that he ‘was not insane … but his character was like the
kind of automobile that will not hold the road’.3 Although his odious personal
ideology perfectly fitted the German world view, John Amery was no great
catch. His grandmother had been a Hungarian Jew who had found refuge in
Britain, but the Amery clan were all diehard conservatives. Given this bigoted
cradling, it is not surprising that John became a fervent anti-communist whose
views, at least to begin with, mimicked those of his father and brother. But