European non-Germans in the German armed forces during World War II

Europäische Freiwillige is a German term meaning "European Volunteers", derived from the German "Freiwillige" (volunteer), and is used to describe volunteers from an occupied country who join the army of the occupier.

Background
The term was mainly used to describe non-German Europeans (neither Reichsdeutsche or Volksdeutsche) who volunteered to fight for the Third Reich during World War II. Though largely recruited from occupied countries, they also came from co-belligerent, neutral, and even active enemy nations. They fought in the Waffen-SS as well as in the Wehrmacht.

One Azerbaijani POW who volunteered to fight against the Soviets told his German captors that he was anti-Nazi, anti-Bolshevik, and only wanted an opportunity to free his homeland. [not representative?] On the Eastern Front the volunteers and conscripts in the Ostlegionen came to comprise a fighting force equivalent to 30 German divisions by the end of 1943.

Large numbers of Freiwillige also came from areas outside Europe, mainly motivated by a desire to fight for the freedom of their nations against Soviet or British domination. The non-German troops thus comprised a wide range of ethnicities, for example from the mainly Turkic peoples in the Ostlegionen to the Muslim Slavs in 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar and the Indians of the Indische Legion (the Indian National Army fought against the British on the Japanese side).

Countries which had European Freiwillige in the German forces

 * Albania
 * Bulgaria
 * Croatia
 * Denmark
 * Estonia
 * Finland
 * France
 * Great Britain
 * Hungary
 * India
 * Ireland
 * Italy
 * Latvia
 * Liechtenstein
 * Lithuania


 * Luxembourg
 * Netherlands
 * Belgium (Flemish and Walloons)
 * Norway
 * Portugal
 * Romania
 * Slovakia
 * Slovenia
 * Spain
 * Sweden
 * Switzerland
 * Ukraine
 * USA
 * USSR

Branches of the Wehrmacht
Volunteers from Western and Northern Europe served in the various different branches of the Wehrmacht, i.e., the Kriegsmarine (navy), the Luftwaffe (air force), and the Heer (land forces). Several Heer units composed primarily of "non-Germanic" volunteers (e.g., French, Walloons, Spaniards) were eventually subordinated to the Waffen-SS in the later phases of the war.

At various times, the Wehrmacht also recruited or conscripted foreigners as:
 * Special technical officers (Sonderführer)—usually translators, local liaison officers, and the like
 * HiWis—often from prisoners of war
 * Luftwaffenhelfer—mainly teenage boys, but sometimes also girls

SS during World War II
There were a number of divisions of the SS which were made up of non Germans including:
 * 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking
 * 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland
 * 13.Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Handschar (kroatische Nr. 1)
 * 14.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (ukrainische Nr.1)
 * 15.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lettische Nr.1)
 * 19.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lettische Nr.2)
 * 20.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (estnische Nr.1)
 * 21.Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Skanderburg (albanische Nr. 1)
 * 22.SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division
 * 23.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nederland (niederlandische Nr. 1)
 * 23.Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Kama (kroatische Nr. 2)
 * 25.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Hunyadi (ungarnische Nr.1)
 * 26.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Gombos (ungarnische Nr.2)
 * 27.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Langemarck
 * 28.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Wallonien
 * 29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS RONA (russische Nr. 1)
 * 29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (italienische Nr.1)
 * 30.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr.2)
 * 30.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (weißruthenische Nr.1)
 * 33.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (ungarnische Nr. 4)
 * 33.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr. 1)
 * 34.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Landstorm Nederland
 * 37. SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division

Renaming
Some of these merely consisted of many different nationalities over the course of the war, such as 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking, whereas others dropped the "Freiwilligen" and were adopted by the SS, such as 14.Galizische whose name changed three times during World War II:

14.Galizische SS-Freiwilligen-Division 14.Galizische SS-Frewilligen-Infanterie-Division 14.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (galizische Nr.1) 14.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (ukrainishe Nr.1)

Disreputable conduct
Many of the units were accused of war crimes, as well as a number of units who also participated in the Holocaust and in atrocities committed against Soviet civilians during so-called anti-partisan operations. For information on these formations see:
 * Algirdas Klimaitis
 * Arajs Commando
 * Belarusian Auxiliary Police
 * Einsatzgruppen
 * Lithuanian Security Police
 * Ukrainische Gruppe Nachtigall
 * Ypatingasis būrys

Postwar activities of veterans
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the former Waffen-SS veterans were prosecuted in their home countries. Treated as pariahs by the fellow countrymen, they often sought support from the former German comrades through membership in organisations such as HIAG.

The German and non-German Waffen-SS veterans began publishing periodicals in the 1950s to promote their own narrative of events. HIAG's magazine Wiking-Ruf first appeared in 1951. This later became the monthly magazine Der Freiwillige published by Munin Verlag, a company with ties to HIAG. Recently, Patrick Agte has taken over the name "Munin Verlag" and publication of Der Freiwillige.

A separate newsletter Unser Wiking-Ruf, devoted solely to SS-Division Wiking, began appearing in the 1990s.

Another apologist periodical devoted to the German and non-German units of the Waffen-SS is the American-published quarterly, Siegrunen.

Reflecting the veterans' own narrative

 * (Contains biographies of Europäische Freiwillige who were awarded the Knight's Cross, and other higher military honours.)