cc cc schrieb:
> 
> "Ernest" <leucoplast@seanet.NOSPAM.com> wrote in message
> 
> > > No, the number is higher. It ranges from 8000 to 20000 French
> > > volunteers, who served in the Waffen-SS, depending on the Author.
> 
> French sources say have found 7000 of French origine that participated in
> the Charlemagne group (and even among them,there are different situations).
> You can call these ones volunteers.
> When a country is colonised, there is always a number of ambitious
> mercenaries that join the occupant army. I've never heard anything about
> Indians in the British Army, etc.
> In addition, in my personal bastardometer, even if they have a good score,
> the charlemagne-boys rate less than the common collabo that  acted against
> their compatriots for personal interest.
> 
> The other French that served in Waffen-SS, and other parts of German army
> (except Charlemagne) are called "Malgre-Nous" from Alsace and Lorraine (and
> Belgium and Luxembourg). They were considered as Germans as soon as the 2
> regions were occupied.
> Probably 0,5 % were happy of their lot (I trust Kevin to find me the names
> and interviews of each of them), all the others did it because they had no
> choice and failed to desert.
> (For the French, 40 000 deserted, 130 000 were sent to the fight in Eastern
> Europe).

Well and my point was, that many French helped the Nazis to find 
and to deport a lot of Jews. And a noteworthy number of them served 
in the SS as volunteers. It is clear that a lot of French were forced 
to work and to help the Nazis, but not all.  


> My grand-fathers managed to run away before receiving their invitation to
> join the German army, they started running away from Lorraine in 1938.
> The situation of the Malgre-Nous is very complex. Some of them became
> completely nuts (you'd loose your common sense for less) and extraordinarily
> violent. The Germans used them for spectacular sadistic operations like the
> slaughter of Oradour.
> 
> So 7000 volunteers. Well, that's probably in the same order of importance
> than the Americans that joined North-Koreans, than the Germans involved in
> Red Army, etc.

But 7000 volunteers are quite remarkable for a country, that the Germans 
considered as "Erzfeind" (arch-enemy).

Silvio
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Sometimes I feel the strong urge to march east...