Waffen-SS / Contacting Veterans?

John W. Howard · Post by **John W. Howard** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 12:11 pm

Hey Folks:
He is one of the ones who PMed me as well.

Paul E · Post by **Paul E** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 12:41 pm

I have contacted many hundreds of German Veterans ,of whom many are High award winners and a number who i now am fortunate consider to be personal friends and i can only concur with Paddy Keatings comments regarding releasing addresses.

Only today i received a letter from a Sturmgeschutz RKT who is helping me with some research who states that he will no longer send out signed photos to anyone who contacts him because he is aware that despite people reassuring him that the photos are for their personal collections they are turning up being sold on the internet.

Unfortunately this is an attitude more and more are taking because of abuse of their kindness.I know Erich Topp is the most high profile case of Theft but last year RKT Heinrich Meyering got a visit from an interested "collector " who relieved him of his medals and documents.Herr Meyering died shortly after without his property being recovered !!

So i think Paddy is right, caution is the name of the game,

All the best,

Paul

Paddy Keating · Post by **Paddy Keating** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 1:04 pm

Hear hear!

PK

Laurent Daniel · Post by **Laurent Daniel** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:10 pm

Paul E wrote: So i think Paddy is right, caution is the name of the game,
All the best,
Paul

Don't *only* think, be fully sure that he is 100% right

CEE · Post by **CEE** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:03 am

Not surprised many SS veterans want to remain anonymous. Look what some "heroes" did to Peiper

My guess is they never even fought Peiper or any of his men). Eric

Laurent Daniel · Post by **Laurent Daniel** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:24 am

The combattants, I mean the *real* ones, usually get some respect for the one of the "other side", even if their political ideas are few light years apart.
To illustrate my point, allow me to quote a former French resistant, a tough guy who killed several Germans and French Milice members during WW2:
“In absolute value, the men of action in all camps are the same sort of men. I fought toughly the Milice but, if I hate them, I also have more regard for them than for the cowards and the liars whomsoever they are”.
Dominique Ponchardier in “Les paves de l’enfer”, Gallimard, Paris, 1950

I believe that the vets who honor this forum with their participation would agree on this principle.

So, I think that your guess about the cowards who murdered Peiper is right.

A bit tough for me to write cowards, those guys were most probably French

But, let's be honest, they were cowards

CEE · Post by **CEE** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:28 am

In absolute value, the men of action in all camps are the same sort of men. I fought toughly the Milice but, if I hate them, I also have more regard for them than for the cowards and the liars whomsoever they are.

Yes, it appears that the arm-chair soldier has less respect and is more vindictive towards the enemy, than the front line soldier who has felt the sting of his opponent and knows the battlefield.
Don´t worry about the cowards being French. It´s not a unique French phenomenon.

Eric

panzermahn · Post by **panzermahn** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:41 am

I think most of the genuine researchers would be very careful about simply giving out the address to people who wanted to contact WSS veterans especially to get their signed photos or other memorabilia.

Regards
JC

agricola · Post by **agricola** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:20 pm

Hey all,

I think you also need to understand that these veterans would be very weary of those who call themselves "researchers" who categorise Waffen-SS and even Wehrmacht as die-hard Nazis, and fear what these people may do to them. I say that if anyone wants an address from you, get that person to direct their questions through you, so that the whereabouts of the veteran is safe, and you may be able to answer the question they ask and therefore save the veteran from being hounded by the same questions.

Cheers.

Frank.

P.S. What happened to Peiper? I thought the Allies would've bagged and tagged him after the war. (I hope I'm thinking of the same Peiper)

Laurent Daniel · Post by **Laurent Daniel** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 1:52 am

agricola wrote: P.S. What happened to Peiper? I thought the Allies would've bagged and tagged him after the war. (I hope I'm thinking of the same Peiper)

SS-Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper, more often known as Jochen Peiper from the common German, RitterKreutz 9 Mar 1943, Oakleaves 27 Jan 1944, Swords 11 Jan 1945.

After the war, with others, he was put on trial for complicity in the murders at Malmedy and sentenced to death. This was later commuted to life imprisonment which itself was later reduced. Peiper actually served just over 11 years in prison and was released on parole in December 1956.
See
homehttp://www.scrapbookpages.com/DachauScrapbook/ ... cre03.html
for details on that trial.

Joachim Peiper, ironically for a man who had been involved in an army that had waged war on France, went to live in France after his release from jail . He worked as a translator but was killed in a fire bomb attack on his home in July 1976. His killers were never caught but many believed that his death was a direct result of his war record.

Another politically correct murder.
My problem is that, most propably, the murderers were French

Sources: Plenty, too long to post here.

Helmut Von Moltke · Post by **Helmut Von Moltke** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 1:26 am

haen1 · Post by **haen1** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 5:01 pm

Interesting "back and fourth" discussion.

As a "young" Waffen SS vet (I just started my 80th)

, I appreciate those who know my identity, but keep the "yappers" at bay.
I have no objection to sharing some of my experiences, but DO object the repeated requests, for my "Bio and a signed photo" which is supposedly to be used in "research".
So, Paddy, Rudi, Tom, John, Rudie, Willi, Thanks for acting as a buffer.
HN.

Laurent Daniel · Post by **Laurent Daniel** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:20 am

haen1 wrote: I have no objection to sharing some of my experiences, but DO object the repeated requests, for my "Bio and a signed photo" which is supposedly to be used in "research".

How right!
Since I got few little pages published on the net re. the French volunteers, here and at Axis, I got a bunch of inquiries of guys who "need" to be in touch with WW2 vets from the Axis side.
Pathetic.
Come back here, Hean, let us know but keep on kickijg out the collectors

Regards
Daniel

sid guttridge · Post by **sid guttridge** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 4:46 am

Hi Guys,

Why is anyone particularly interested in W-SS veterans, as opposed to the far more numerous army veterans who underwent the same combat experiences? From a purely military historical perspective there is virtually nothing significantly distinctive about the experiences of Waffen-SS veterans that would appear to merit this special attention.

Cheers,

Sid.

sid guttridge · Post by **sid guttridge** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:24 am

Hi Taylor Collector,

The Waffen-SS very definitely was much worse than the German Army. For example, it provided at most 5% of the German forces who passed through France, but committed three of the four massacres (75%) of civilians that the French raised at Nuremburg. You have to go quite a long way down the Waffen-SS divisional list to find the first division that did not get accused of war crimes - 6th SS Mountain Division - and it was also distinguished by the fact that it served largely on allied Finnish territory or in areas of northern forest almost without indigenous population and so had limited opportunities to do commit any.

It is quite true that the Waffen-SS was not the main agent of the greatest Nazi atrocity, the so-called "Holocaust", but it was not totally detached from it either. It also remains condemned as a criminal organisation by the demonstrably better behaviour of the German Army under identical operational conditions.

And no, the whole Waffen-SS wasn't charged with anything. It was classified as a criminal institution because its particular ethos meant that its men were more likely to be accused of war crimes than the German Army (see above). This implies an institutional problem not suffered by the German Army, which was not classified as a criminal institution. As far as charges were concerned, individual Waffen-SS men had to be charged with specific crimes, just like anyone else.

The comparison with the US and Abu Ghraib has no merit. Abu Ghraib was revealed from within the US and punishment was meted out by the US. By contrast, when the German Army wanted to charge some Waffen-SS men with breaches of the laws of war in Poland in 1939, not only was there no trial, but the entire Waffen-SS was withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the military justice system for the rest of the war!

Cheers,

Sid.

P.S. The Waffen-SS doesn't seem to have suffered heavier casualties than equivalent Army units. Look at the Totenkopf and the Grossdeutschland Divisions.

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