I'm noticing the recent appearance of stories about John Demjanjuk in the news again, and I'm wondering how he could have been in the SS? I mean, he was supposedly a Soviet POW (of Ukrainian origin) who "volunteered" for service under the Germans in order to avoid dying in a POW camp.
But everyone refers to him as a "Nazi guard", "SS thug", etc.
I know there were Ukrainian units in the W-SS but would the SS have accepted such a person? It seems like it was more likely that he worked in some auxiliary unit under the authority of the SS, but was never an actual member of the organization.
(Having said that, the Wikipedia article on him claims that he admitted that he had an SS tattoo removed from the underside of his arm.)
Anyone know the skinny on this story?
Was Demjanjuk really in SS?
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Soldat7128
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Richard Schoutissen
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Re: Was Demjanjuk really in SS?
During the battle for Kerch (Krim) he became a POW by the German and transported to a prisoner camp by Rivne.
In a later stadium the SS regularly recruited prisoners who could do service as a Camp Keeper. After his recruitment Demjanjuk was sent as a Hiwi (Hilfswillige - Volunteer Helper not being SS and in the rank of Wachmann) to the training camp Trawniki. In Trawniki Demjanjuk got his Camp Keeper training.
From January 1943 Demjanjuk was posted at the Majdanek Concentration Camp and from there, on march 26 1943 he got posted at the Sobibor Concentration Camp.
Then from October 1943 Demjanjuk went from Sobibor to the Flossenbürg Concentration camp where he, in early 1944, became promoted to a active member of the Waffen-SS (Totenkopf Flossenbürg).
The reason for this promotion has been probably to do with the enormous amount of prisoners, mostly from eastern lain camps, that came to the Flossenbürg Concentration camp. Therefore there was a growing shortage to manpower at the the Flossenbürg Concentration camp.
In a later stadium the SS regularly recruited prisoners who could do service as a Camp Keeper. After his recruitment Demjanjuk was sent as a Hiwi (Hilfswillige - Volunteer Helper not being SS and in the rank of Wachmann) to the training camp Trawniki. In Trawniki Demjanjuk got his Camp Keeper training.
From January 1943 Demjanjuk was posted at the Majdanek Concentration Camp and from there, on march 26 1943 he got posted at the Sobibor Concentration Camp.
Then from October 1943 Demjanjuk went from Sobibor to the Flossenbürg Concentration camp where he, in early 1944, became promoted to a active member of the Waffen-SS (Totenkopf Flossenbürg).
The reason for this promotion has been probably to do with the enormous amount of prisoners, mostly from eastern lain camps, that came to the Flossenbürg Concentration camp. Therefore there was a growing shortage to manpower at the the Flossenbürg Concentration camp.
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Soldat7128
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Re: Was Demjanjuk really in SS?
ok thanks for the response.
i guess the complexity in terms of the current case lies in part with how voluntary his 1) original "volunteering" to the Hiwis was, and 2) his promotion to "active SS" was…
i guess the complexity in terms of the current case lies in part with how voluntary his 1) original "volunteering" to the Hiwis was, and 2) his promotion to "active SS" was…