Goldsworthy - Valhallas warriors : a history of the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front 1941-1945

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This book is an exploration of the Waffen-SS, and by necessity of evil.The Waffen-SS are commonly regarded as the elite of Germanys armedforces during World War II. They gained much of this reputation whilstfighting on the Eastern Front in Russia. Germanys war against the SovietUnion in World War II, in particular the role of the Waffen-SS forms muchof the subject matter of this book.

The death and destruction during this conflict would result not justfrom military operations, but also from the systematic killing and abusethat the Waffen-SS directed against Jews, Communists and ordinary citizens. This book provides a clear, concise history of the Waffen-SS campaign of conquest and genocide in Russia by looking at the actions both onand behind the front lines. By drawing on the best of military and Holocaust scholarship, this book dispels the myths that have distorted the role ofthe Waffen-SS, in both the military operations themselves and the unthinkable crimes that were part of them.

The conventional wisdom that the Waffen-SS in World War II fought arelatively clean fight, unsullied by the atrocities committed by the Nazis, ischallengedand largely demolished. Focusing on the Eastern Front, thebook contends that the Nazi vision of a racial-ideological death struggleagainst Slavic hordes and their Jewish-Bolshevik commissars resonatedwith soldiers of the Waffen-SS, steeped in traditional anti-Semitic andracist dogmas. In doing so this book clearly shows that the Waffen-SS wasan organisation that committed widespread atrocities, and were truly soldiers of evil.

My interest in the Waffen-SS1 was first sparked when I read a short history of the Totenkopf Division many years ago. It struck me that here was amagnificent fighting force, yet at the back of this image something darkerlurked. The spectre of the atrocities apportioned to the Waffen-SS reared itshead and served to intrigue me as to the real story behind the Waffen-SS.To this end a disturbing question arose. Were the Waffen-SS just simple soldiers doing their duty or did they commit some of the most evil acts inrecent history? It is envisaged that this book will fill a large void in relationto examinations of the Waffen-SS and the perception of this organisationfrom a criminological and historical perspective. This examination isimportant for a number of reasons. First the analysis of the Waffen-SSallows close scrutiny of gross organisational behaviour within historicalframeworks. Second the examination of the Waffen-SS becomes even morepertinent when one considers that there has been no meaningful and objective discussion of the criminal activities of the Waffen-SS. The study of thismilitary formation allows a close examination of situational, dispositionaland interactional factors that helped to promote the growth and occurrenceof evil in the context of the genocidal barbarity of the Eastern Front. Fromthis understanding I hope to be able to draw an accurate picture and reacha defendable analysis as to the actions of the Waffen-SS.

Since Steins (1966)2 seminal examination there have be some analysesof the crimes of individual units as well as a major work by Theile (1997)in defence of the Waffen-SS. The Waffen-SS has also been examined by anumber of authors with its formation and structure being the main focus.However, the few studies available on the Waffen-SS point to a high frequency of crimes being committed by this elite force during the conflict onthe Eastern Front (Christensen, Smith, & Poulsen, 2003:9). The purpose ofthis book is to draw upon these studies and other sources to explore theWaffen-SS within the framework of the criminal liability for actions undertaken on the Eastern Front. Wegner notes that:

If one surveys the literature on the history of the SS and the Waffen-SS,it becomes obvious how immense the discrepancy is between the veritable avalanche of titles and the quite modest yield of credible and scholarlyinsights. The reason for this discrepancy is clear; more than a generationafter the collapse of the Third Reich, the SS as a historical phenomenonhas exercised a powerful emotional attraction. At the same time itdemands that we come to terms with it morally, and both of these factorsare the leitmotivs of public discussion. (Wegner, 1990:1)

This absence of real discussion in relation to the crimes and criminality ofthe Waffen-SS has allowed proponents both for and against the Waffen-SS tocreate various myths about who and what the Waffen-SS actually were.

The Waffen-SS possesses a surprisingly wide cult following among military buffs. The status of a military elite within the German armed forces the impressive combat record and aura of toughness that surroundedthe force: all hold enormous fascination for modellers and collectorsalike, as the huge volume of post-war photographic and illustrated material relating to the Waffen-SS attests. (Mackenzie, 1997:135)

It is for this reason that the Waffen-SS is one of the most frequently discussed and persistently controversial subjects of that era. Indeed the SSposes sociological and psychological questions to political science that gofar beyond the still existing need to furnish documentary proof for the functions assigned to certain formations of the SS (Paetel, 1959:34). One ofthe most pressing social and psychological questions is the extraordinary power to accomplish pure evil that helps to make the SS an endlesslyfascinating subject to study (Kren & Rappoport, 1976:87).

Since the close of World War II the veterans of the Waffen-SS havebeen actively involved in the denial of its involvement in and responsibilityfor atrocities on the basis that its members were simple soldiers with nolinks to the terrible actions that took place on and behind the front lines.This book will argue otherwise. Throughout this book I will use the termWaffen-SS apologists. This is a loose grouping of proponents supportive ofa positive image for the Waffen-SS. By this term I am referring to thoseorganisations, veterans and writers who have determinedly undertakenefforts to rehabilitate the image of the Waffen-SS and separate it from theSS organisation as a whole, and the crimes committed by such. The motivations of these apologists are many and varied, but the most commonunderlying theme would seem to be that the military achievements of theWaffen-SS far outweigh any crimes committed by such, and therefore anyelements that may tarnish the fighting reputation of the Waffen-SS shouldbe discounted or ignored. It is not that this book is seeking to show that thecrimes committed by the Waffen-SS were any more or less evil in comparison to other military formations during or since World War II. As pointedout by Knopp the Waffen-SS were not unique in their brutal behaviour,and the difference between the