The foreign soldier's transnational experience in the Nazi military (sphere) – A biographical study of conscripts and volunteers from Luxembourg in the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS and their military and individual experience in WWII
Over two million foreigners served in the ranks of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS. They came from various occupied territories and war zones or even from uninvolved and neutral countries such as Spain and Switzerland. These men had a significant impact on the war itself and on how it was experienced and conducted. How these men from more than 40 countries experienced the war in German uniform as transnational soldiers remains a black box. This paper traces the experiences of these soldiers, focusing on those who came from Luxembourg, to frame the European experience of war from a new perspect... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | lecture |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2022 |
Verlag/Hrsg.: |
Zenodo
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Schlagwörter: | Wehrmacht / Luxembourg / WWII |
Sprache: | unknown |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28689351 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6555801 |
Over two million foreigners served in the ranks of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS. They came from various occupied territories and war zones or even from uninvolved and neutral countries such as Spain and Switzerland. These men had a significant impact on the war itself and on how it was experienced and conducted. How these men from more than 40 countries experienced the war in German uniform as transnational soldiers remains a black box. This paper traces the experiences of these soldiers, focusing on those who came from Luxembourg, to frame the European experience of war from a new perspective. After the occupation of Luxembourg by Nazi troops, more than 10,000 Luxembourgish men were conscripted into the Wehrmacht. The Luxembourgers were considered ethnically "Germanic" by National Socialist ideology and were drafted into the German army. However, the majority of Luxembourgers did not identify themselves as "Germans". Their identity and loyalty to their state, culture and language remained intact throughout the war. Forced and threatened by the Nazi regime of terror in their homeland, over 10,000 followed orders and joined the Nazi forces. Many others hid before the draft could reach them, or joined the resistance. Others deserted during their leave and did not return to their troops. The military leadership reacted by distributing the Luxembourgers among the troops of German origin and deliberately transferred them to the Eastern Front. This paper will analyse their identity in the Nazi army, their adaptation, integration, and the differentiation of their (national/regional) identity from ethnic Germans. I will shed light on their self-image of fighting and their performance in the military system. I focus on their definition of masculinity and fighting spirit. This includes an analysis of their emotions, such as the fear of dying, killing and their morals. This biographical approach draws on the actors and the first-person documents of these groups of soldiers, who have not been studied from this ...