Review: Hitler's Swedes

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panzermahn
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Review: Hitler's Swedes

Post by panzermahn »

Hitler's Swedes: A History of the Swedish Volunteers in the Waffen SS
Author: Lars T. Larsson

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https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Swedes-H ... 909384119/

I recently acquired this book and I was hoping there were some new and extra infos apart from those general infos about the Swedish Waffen SS volunteers that exist in the internet and after reading it, it is not just worth the money but in my humble opnion, this is probably the most definitive study of the Swedish Waffen SS volunteers in the English language.

In fact, I wanted to highlight a couple of outstanding achievements of this book:

- Most of the studies of Waffen SS foreign volunteers were usually based on captured German records at NARA (US National Archives) or the German Bundesarchiv records related to Waffen SS, but besides these comprehensive archive, the author actually went to research the archives of the Swedish Security Police (Riksarchiv - RA) which actually contains a huge treasure trove of information since all returning Swedish volunteers of the Waffens were interrogated by the Swedish security police from 1943 to the late 40s. The true motivations of the Swedish SS volunteers and their harrowing experience in front-line combat in the Eastern Front were all recorded in these interrogation records by the Swedish Security Police.

- Photographic captions. While some of the photos were previously unpublished, the author actually managed to identified ALMOST all the individuals in the photographs that show Swedish Waffen SS personalities. Notwithstanding the fact that there were photographs of almost 99% of Swedish Waffen SS personalities that were identified by the author in this book.

- Estonian-Swedes volunteers and their often forgotten stories as compared to their more "higher profile" cousins in the Waffen SS

From the genesis of the Swedish volunteers who enlisted in order to fight against the Soviets (the majority of them wanted to fight in Swedish uniform under German command against the Soviets) right up to the Swedish squad of the 3rd company of the SS Auflakrung Abteilung 11 of the SS Panzergrenadier Nordland Division during the final struggles of the Battle of Berlin, the author traced some of the dramatis personae of the Swedish Waffen SS volunteers such as Hans-Gosta Pehrsson, Hans-Caspar Krueger, Erik Stig Wallin, Thorolf Hillbad, Sten Eriksson etc.

As Sweden were a Scandinavian country, it is inevitable that journey of Swedish Waffen SS volunteers were intertwined with those of their Nordic brethren, the Danish and Norwegian Waffen SS volunteers from the Freikorps Danmark & Den Norske Legion before 1943 and then from 1943 onwards it was the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking and subsequently the famous Schwedenzug of the SS Auflakrung Abteilung of 11th SS Panzergrenadier Nordland Division.

There were also some interesting anecdotes such as the Swedish Waffen SS officer and Kriegsberichter Hans Caspar Krueger who refused to be evacuated by air and were involved in the harrowing breakout of the Cherkassy-Korsun pocket with the Wiking Division during the night of February 16/17 1944 as well as many of the Swedish volunteers deserted in 1943/1944 because they knew the war was lost for Germany and wanted to return to Sweden. The fate of the Swedish SS volunteers post-war were also mentioned (e.g. a Swedish volunteer in the LSSAH committed suicide in the 1970s). Lastly, the author mentioned that at the time of the writing of this book, there are only 2 or 3 Swedish volunteers still living and one of them is Gosta Borg (SS Kriegsberichter).

I wanted to thank the author (if he is reading this review) for his outstanding hard work for this research and I truly recommend this book for students/researchers/enthusiasts who are interested in the story and history of the Swedish Waffen SS volunteers.

6 stars out of 5!!!

Panzermahn
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Massimiliano Afiero
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Re: Review: Hitler's Swedes

Post by Massimiliano Afiero »

The book came out almost two years ago and I think I was one of the first to buy it. Congratulations to the author for the excellent research work. I would like to contact him, if possible, to develop certain topics.

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Re: Review: Hitler's Swedes

Post by book lover »

I agree.Simply a fantastic book.If you have any interest in foreign volunteers in the german armed forces you should buy this book.It sets a new standard.
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