(Published in Ilta-Sanomat 6th of May, 1999)
SS-Soldiers Were Not Ordinary Soldiers
- Mr.X makes a statement (Ilta-Sanomat 3rd of May, 1999) that most of the SS-men were ordinary soldiers. This statement however is not true, even if you would compare it to any other soldier in any country. German SS-men were not ordinary soldiers. Most of the soldiers in Waffen-SS were circulated in concentration camps during their leave and break from the frontline. This was done so that the SS-men could rest in the "quiet and peaceful" environment of concentration camps. Most of the soldiers in Waffen-SS went through the career of concentration camp guard. In addition, those Waffen-SS men that were wounded in battles or were not fit for combat in some other way, were sent to concentration camp guards. It is true that SS-Division "Wiking" was never accused of any war crimes. However most of the Waffen-SS Divisions were accused of horrible war crimes. Maybe the most infamous and brutal of them was Kampfgruppe Peiper. Soldiers of this unit distinguished themselves in East Front by killing thousands of villagers and burning their villages down. Strangely enough, but somehow KG Peiper's men rarely got any prisoners. The most famous or infamous action of this unit happened in south-side of Malmędy, Belgium. The men of KG Peiper carried out an massacre, where they shot American soldiers that had surrendered themselves. While advancing during the Battle Of Bulge, soldiers of Kampfgruppe Peiper kept on murdering war prisoners and Belgian civilians.
- If this is what Mr.X means by ordinary soldiers, then I really don't want to see a soldier that isn't ordinary. Or a soldier that is somehow brutal. I think it's really dangerous to start romanticize and embellish things that has happened along the history of Homo Sapiens.
- What about fifty years from now? Will someone then tell us stories about "ordinary" Serbian soldiers, that just defended their country?
