If I remember the story of John Demjaniuk correctly first he was a conscripted soldier in the Russian army after the Russians invaded Poland. Then he was captured by the Germans.
The Germans needing man power offered captured Pols the option to “volunteer” to serve in the German army.
Demjaniuk having the option of spending the rest of the war in a German prison camp on starvation rations or serving in the SS. Demjaniuk chose the German army.
In retrospect maybe not a great choice but who could blame him? Many other Pols made the same choice.
But how Der Spiegel can call this cooperation of other European Countries is just baffling.
Certainly individual collaborated but not the willing cooperation of a substantial number of the polulation.
Demjanjuk was Ukrainian, not Polish. Poles did not serve in the German army. None!
I’m afraid you’re messing things up.
You mean Demjaniuk was Polish?
He was not.He was an Ukrainian, born near Kiev.
Nah, that’s Pat Buchanan’s spin.
Here is a good article on it:
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/04/15/the-case-against-demjanjuk-and
And here is the US Court opinion; damning evidence:
And here is the US appeal (excerpted), which agreed he was a willing Nazi:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2004/04/30/Court-Demjanjuk-was-Nazi-camp-guard/UPI-64811083356868/
I think that Demjanjuk was Ukrainian, born in Kiev. That was never part of Poland.
Rather few Poles ever joined the Wehrmacht, and those that did were ones who actually were (or pretended to be) of German ethnicity: so-called Volksdeutsche. They were afforded extra food rations for there families as an incentive. Since many families were of mixed Polish-German ancestry, it was a matter of just emphasizing your choice. At the same time, the Nazis were persecuting intermarriage! Many Poles spoke both languages, and the villages in western Poland frequently had mixed populations. Similarly, there were Germans with slavic surnames, including some who were notable in the military. You think Skorzeny is a typical German name?
There was no place for Poles in the SS.