Page 451 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

451
aCta
himself was convinced of the SS’ exceptional right in the organisation of a ‘new European-
Germanic life order’ .
21
Although the SS-Main Office and thus the GFL had already a certain monopoly regarding
the ‘Germanic work’ before Bormann’s order, on 15 March 1942 the RF-SS officially trans-
ferred to the SS-Main Office ‘all the tasks related to the Waffen-SS’ recruitment in the Ger-
manic countries, to the build-up, direction and education of the “Germanic SS” and to take
care of the Germanic youth organisations’ . A document issued by the GFL also mentions
22
that the RF-SS, once he had received the monopoly in the ‘Germanic work’, appointed Berger
and his office to execute this work . With Himmler having received the only responsibility
23
regarding the ‘Germanic interests’ in the occupied countries, the Germanische Freiwilligen-
Leitstelle – to which the maintenance of these interests were delegated – changed name. The
Freiwilligen was abandoned for the new name Germanische Leitstelle (GL) .
24
enfOrceMent
a. ‘Germanic SS’
Although at the end of the war most enforcement projects of the GL’s branches in the oc-
cupied territories were only at their beginning, one can see their intentions. The first aim was
in all concerned countries an extension of the ‘General SS’ . Riedweg denied after the war
25
that these organisations were based on SS ideologies and said that they were only familiar
with the German SS . However, this ‘Germanic SS’ and Riedweg’s office’s influence were
26
not as innocent.
Soon after Himmler received his power extension in ‘Germanic policy’, SS units in the
occupied ‘Germanic countries’ were official named ‘Germanic SS’. Before they had particu-
lar names related to their country, such as Norges SS or Nederlandse SS . With the intention
27
to prepare the merger of the SS with the police in these countries, recruiters were particularly
interested in policemen . Outside the Reich the SS used political slogans free from separa-
28
tist language, as they were promoted by parties such as Vidkun Quisling’s, the Norwegian
Nazi collaborator. There was only the question of the ‘Germanic Reich’, the ‘Führer of all
Germanics’ and the fusion of nations into a ‘community of racial destiny’ .
29
a GL report of October 1942 illustrates the state of this ‘Germanic SS’ after its definitive

21 Ibid., p. 298.
22 Ibid., p. 300.
23 BA Berlin, NS 31/455, SS-Hauptamt-Amt VI, Statistische Aufstellung über zur Waffen-SS und Legion ein-
gestellte, entlassene und gefallene germanische Freiwillige. Stand: 30.10.42, 14.12.1942, p. 2.
24 Seidler, op. cit., p. 451.
25 loock, op. cit., p. 61.
26 AF, E 4320 (B), 1973/87, Bd. 10, Schweizerische Bundesanwaltschaft, Einvernahme Dr. Riedweg Franz, im
Ausland, 13. November 1946, p. 6.
27 NAW, Procès verbaux d’auditions, Record Group 238, World War Two, War Crimes Records, International
Military Tribunal: Office of U.S. Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, APO 124 A, Evidence Division, Interro-
gation Branch, Vernehmung des Dr. Franz Riedweg am 19.11.1947 von 14.00 – 16.30 Uhr durch Mr. Konrad
Swart, Im Auftrag des Rijksinstitut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie in Amsterdam, Nuremberg, p. 12.
28 loock, op. cit., p. 61.
29 Ibid., p. 58.