Did US Army Labor Service recruits former SS/Collaborators?

[rahbert]

When I served in USAREUR in the late 60s my company was twinned
with a Labor Service company, most of whom were Eastern Europeans
and/or Baltsin their 40s and up. The rumor was that they were former
Hilfswillige or SS of the various foreign legions. Does anyone know?
They never talked about their past to us young Americans, and they appeared to be no strangers to mixing it up (as some GIs found out to their chagrin). They were masters of the assault bridge as was proven
regularly during excersizes on the Rhine.

[Lorenz]

When I served in USAREUR in the late 60s my company was twinned
with a Labor Service company, most of whom were Eastern Europeans
and/or Balts in their 40s and up. The rumor was that they were former
Hilfswillige or SS of the various foreign legions. Does anyone know?
They never talked about their past to us young Americans, and they appeared to be no strangers to mixing it up (as some GIs found out to their chagrin). They were masters of the assault bridge as was proven
regularly during excersizes on the Rhine.

I had the same experience 10 years earlier (Feb 58 - Aug 59) while stationed with HQ 19th Ordnance Bn. at ODM (Ordnance Depot Mannheim) at Spinelli Barracks, Mannheim-Feudenheim. The 120-man Labor Service guard force that secured and protected the Depot were all Balts and Polish refugees, mainly the former. Of the 75 or 80 Balts, about 30 of them were former Waffen-SS and Schuma. Of the so-called "Poles", only about half of them were actually Polish while the majority were ex-Hiwi, Schuma and assorted refugees from other Slavic countries. I was the battalion S-2, so I was in a position to know.

These fellows had the entire top floor in one of the big barrack buildings in the Kaserne and access to that floor by anyone but them was Streng Verboten! They had their own small canteen in the basement of the building and that was strictly off-limits, too. Nevertheless, our men used to sneak over to the canteen late a night to buy bottles of schnaps and 'yak (cognac), especially during Friday night GI parties when they couldn't leave the Kaserne.

The "Eastern" guards were armed with M-2 carbines and a few 45s. When I got there, they wore a medium blue uniform and wore a same-color cap identical to the Wehrmacht Feldmütze. A year later, the caps were changed out for helmut liners with the letters "KP" on them (Kaserne Polizei). Of course that was cause for great mirth among the G.I.s because "KP" means something entirely different to us!

And, yes, your suppositions are correct. Some of these men came from units that committed war crimes in the East, especially those who had belonged to the Schutzmannschafts-Bataillonen. However, out policy then was founded on individual guilt rather than collective guilt. Had the extradition of any of these men been demanded by the U.N. war crimes authorities, then Heidelberg would have sent people to apprehend and hold them until the matter was decided. Back then, USAREUR, EUCOM, SACEUR, NATO and the rest of the higher headquarters were not too interested in turning over any of these Labor Service men to the Soviet Union or any of the Warsaw Pact countries.

--Lorenz

[Helmut Von Moltke]

I also read somewhere that the US used some former Estonische Legion to guard the German prisoners at the Nuremburg trial in 1946.

[John P. Moore]

I was stationed in Germany during the 1970s where I came to know a several men who had served in the Waffen-SS and had become members of the Labor Service. One fellow was a Major Kasimir Malkowski who had been a signaler in the "Hitler Jugend" division during 1944-45. I was an assistant battalion S-3 officer then and he and I would travel around Germany to obtain maneuver clearance rights from property owners. He was also a former member of the French Foregn Legion who had been captured at Dien Bien Phu. He told me plenty of stories that I'm sure he embellished. Interesting, many years later I found his name in some NARA microfilm among some transfer orders from the SS-Signal School to the "HJ" division. The other man was a Balt and I don`t recall what unit he served in. However, the Labor Service was not restricted to non-Germans. I personally knew an Obersturmführer Günter Mierwald, who was born in Berlin, and who served in the "Das Reich" and "Nordland" and was an LS officer in Kaiserslautern. Hauptsturmführer Gerhard Solleder, born near Heilbronn, and who served in the "Wiking" became a major and S3 staff officer in another LS unit.

---------------------------

HvM - Thanks for gratuitously sharing your ignorance with us, a habit that appears to be irresistable to you.

[Lorenz]

JPM:

Dontcha love it when these fellas (in this case, "rahbert") post messages that ask questions and then never return to comment or say "thanks"? Sure makes me real real good about the time I invest answering them.

--Lorenz

[John P. Moore]

Lorenz - I know exactly how you feel. On these forums there are people of diverse backgrounds and ages and we see plenty of examples of such diversity. Still, once in a while we learn something new and worthwhile beyond the opinions of a certain few.

John

[Helmut]

Servus,
I was stationed in Berlin in from'75 to '78 and spent two years of that at Andrews Barracks ( the old Lichterfelde Kaserne). One day I spoke at length with one of the gate guards and found that he had been in the 2. Pz Div. Later I found that there were many German Vets in the LS unit. One day I was asked by my Btl Cdr to give a tour to a German National. He worked fro the Defense ministry in Bonn and asked to have a tour of our Kaserne. It seems that the rest of his tour group spent the day on a visit to East Berlin but because of Security concerns involving his position , he was not allowed to go along. He and I spent an interesting afternoon and I found out that he had been in the prewar Leibstandarte and ended up in the Nachrichetn Abt of the Handschar Div. If memory serves, he was a Hauptsturmfuehrer at the end of the war. I got him in to see the room in which he had bunked when he was stationed there.

Several years later, on my second tour in Germany, I was stationed outside Pirmasens in a little town called Muenchweiler in an Ordnance Battalion. We had two Labor Service Companies, or Civilian Support Group ( CSG) That we worked with One of these units was made up of elderly Poles and the other of younger Germans. The Poles, inspite of their age could run rings around the younger Germans. The Poles had no love for the Germans. I remeber when we had our Battalion change of command, when the Star Spangled Banner was played, the Poles present stood up and saluted but when the German Anthem was played they politely sat down. Most of the Poles were displaced persons who had been employed by the US Army since shortly after the war but were not German citizens. All hoped to return one day to their homeland. I have often wondered if any ever went back when the Wall went down.
A little off topic but it brought back some fond memories of old friends.

Regards,

Helmut

[John P. Moore]

Helmut - That was certainly an interesting story. Do you recall the name of the Hauptstumführer from the LAH/Handschar NA? I know quite a few of the people from the NA of the Handschar, but the only officer with an LAH connection had been an NCO in the SS-Pz.GR.2 in 1943. All of the Hauptsturmführer that I knew of such as Rühmer, Kindshofer or Hanke had early Totenkopf or Das Reich backgrounds.

john

[Jake]

Hi Lorenz and John

Sorry to butt in. I just wanted to say the person who posts a question isn't the only one who might appreciate the answers. Thank you for some interesting posts (you too, Helmut)!

Regards
Jake

[Lorenz]

Jake et al,

The four personal stories posted above sure make it look like the evil Americans and their nefarious army were openly and perhaps enthusiastically providing shelter, employment and sanctuary to masses of vicious Nazi war criminals and suspects. At least that's what any number of the Generation X and Generation Y types who hang out on the Holocaust and War Crimes sub-forum over on Axis History Forum would claim while working themselves into mouth-foaming hate America frenzy. But those were different times back then, times when these allegations were treated at the individual level and when people were judged innocent until proven guilty. These LS fellows did their job, kept their nose clean and we were glad to have them. Had any of them been charged with specific, provable wartime crimes - and a few of them were - they were taken into custody and their case handled in a manner appropriate to their legal status. For the most part, they were good men and we had no trouble with them.

--Lorenz

[John P. Moore]

The former Estonian Untersturmführer Eduard Limion, who was an artillery officer in the 20th SS-Div. is another interesting example. I have a photo of him from the late 40s at a US Army Kaserne in Nürnberg with 3 other LS officers. He looks like a dapper junior US Army officer in his Ike jacket and overseas cap with officer braid with the only difference being a different type of metal officer grade insignia on his shoulder straps and no lapel insignia. I'd post the picture here if it was not such a technical impossibility in contrast to other forums where one can easily add images to reinforce the text.

John

[haen2]

There was a widely known "secret" in the Harskamp, where we were interned after the capitulation, that IF you could escape, and IF you could reach Paris, there was a U.S. Army recruiting station who would take you if you had ANY skills they needed at the moment. Included in desired skills, were combat medics, communications personel, combat experienced dispatch riders, and artillery specialists (as far as I remember).
Now. . . IF THEY could not use you, you could walk out the door, and go next door where the French Foreign Legion had set up a similar office.
They would take everybody, no questions asked.
This office was supposed to be on the Place de la Concorde.
Since I did not think I had anything to hide, and THUS would be freed (hahahahaha) in short time, I did not pursue the matter.
Perhaps i would have gotten into the U.S. a little sooner that way
Just a triggerd memory.
HN

[Nordwest]

JPM:
Dontcha love it when these fellas (in this case, "rahbert") post messages that ask questions and then never return to comment or say "thanks"? Sure makes me real real good about the time I invest answering them.
--Lorenz

Nothing new under the sun, what did you expect, Lorenz!

The two simple words "thank you", are not anymore very common, nowadays, some want to get it all, for free, and share nothing, 2006!

Tja...

Example: http://www.feldgrau.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20365

I will NEVER answer another question from "john123", or any links...!

Verschissen!


Michael

[John W. Howard]

Hello gents:
Great thread!! I was telling my father about the information from your posts, and he wondered when the US Army Labor Service was officially started. Immediately after the war, his unit had many DP's and some former German soldiers working for them, but my father always felt it was in an unofficial capacity. Can anyone tell me when it was formalized officially?

[Lorenz]

Hello gents:
Great thread!! I was telling my father about the information from your posts, and he wondered when the US Army Labor Service was officially started. Immediately after the war, his unit had many DP's and some former German soldiers working for them, but my father always felt it was in an unofficial capacity. Can anyone tell me when it was formalized officially?

It appears to have gotten underway in Germany immediately following the surrender. The U.S. Army in France already had a civilian Labor Service organization in fall 1944, so that may have been the model that was followed by the occupation command in Germany.

USAREUR LABOR SERVICE & INDUSTRIAL POLICE, 1945-A Working Bibliography of MHI Sources:

Germans and other foreign nationals were employed by US Army, Europe
as a semi-military labor auxiliary since 1945 and as industrial plant guards, 1947-50. See:

Brett, F.A. "The Blue Legion." Army Info Digest (Nov 1948):
pp. 37-41. Per(Soldiers).
Dziesieciolecie: Polskich Oddzialow Wartowniczych Przy Armii
Amerykanskeij W Europe: 1945-1955. Mannheim, Ger: Nakladem
Funduszu Spolecznego, 1955. 326 p. UB823D94.
Polish-language book on the first 10 years of Polish
nationals in US Army Labor Service, Europe.
Frederiksen, Oliver J. "The American Military Occupation of
Germany, 1945-1953." Study, Hist Div, USAREUR, 1953. pp. 51-
55, 65 & 69-70. D802G3F68.
Lewis, George G., and Mewha, John. History of Prisoner of War
Utilization by the United States Army, 1776-1945. Dept of Army
Pam 20-213, Jun 1955. pp. 225-46. Pams.
Maehl, William H. "Labor Service & Industrial Police in the
European Command, 1945-50." Study, Hist Div, EUCOM, 1952.
246 p. D802A1L32.
Marston, Anson D. "Military Labor Service in the Communication
Zone." Mil Rev (Jul 1947): pp. 59-64. Per.
Quinn, Bernard J. "USAREUR Labor Service." Army Info Digest (Dec
1955): pp. 19-22. Per(Soldiers).
Rottman, Gordon L. "U.S. Army Europe's Civilian Support
Organization." Repro of Trading Post (Oct-Dec 1985):
pp. 49-50. BibFile-Labor.
Silbar, Howard. Papers. Arch.
US officer remained in Ger as civilian employee in screening
and hiring of local labor.
Smith, Jean E., ed. The Papers of General Lucius D. Clay.
Vol 1. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1974. pp. 504-05.
D802G3C56v1.
U.S. Army, Europe. 6951st Civilian Spt Ctr. Various
materials relating to 40th anniv of USAREUR's labor service.
MiscFiles: Labor.
U.S. Army Forces, European Theater. G-3. File brief on
foreign personnel of guard units. Typescript, 28 Jun 1946.
5 p. USFEG-G3-FPGU.
U.S. Dept of Army. General Staff, G-4. "Labor Service Units in
Europe." Report, Mar 1954. 8 p. UB193L32.
U.S. European Command. Hist Div. "Law, Order, and Security."
Study, Hist Div, EUCOM, 1947. pp. 82-84. D802A11945-46L39.
_________. "Manpower: Its Procurement and Use." Study, Frankfurt-
am-Main, 1947. 260 p. D802A.11945-46.M36.

--Lorenz