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Archiver > BANAT > 2002-09 > 1031019369


From: "gerry" <>
Subject: Re: [BANAT-L] Prince Eugen Regiment
Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 22:16:09 -0400
References: <3D6E19A5.2224.15D0AE9@localhost>


Carol & List
I was quite lucky to pick up a hard to find & rather expensive book this
weekend titled " 7. SS-Gebirgs-Division Prinz Eugen im Bild " by Otto Krum .
It's filled with pictures & maps , but text is both in german & english .
On page 8 the following paragraph explains :

The Chief of General Staff of Army Group E , General Schmidt-Richberg
writes:
The Prinz Eugen division was a wartime formation . It was recruited almost
exclusively from ethnic Germans living in Rumania , Yugoslavia and Hungary .
These Germans , mainly farmers and artisans , were drawn into the battle for
their original homeland through none of their own doing .
They were not asked in which part of the Wehrmacht and against which enemy
they wanted to fulfil their military service . Often father and son
belonged to the same unit .
What these men lacked in proper peacetime military training , they made up
for with fearlessness and steadfastness . They were superior to all other
Germans in their knowledge of the nature and fighting methods of the enemy .
For this reason , they were feared by the enemy . The formation was
organized as a division of mountain troops , equipped with the most modern
weapons , and partially mobile . ...... ..........

Interestingly enough on page 5 is this quotation :

"No man is so ignorant as to long for war and not for peace . For in peace
sons attend their father's funeral , but in wartime father's their son's ."
Herodot 484 - 430 v. Chr.

I hope this helps you a little ....... Anita


----- Original Message -----
From: Carol Head <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 12:55 PM
Subject: [BANAT-L] Prince Eugen Regiment


> Hello Ray,
>
> > The 7.SS-Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz-Eugen was founded
> > in 1942 and manned chiefly by the Banat Swabians and later on Croatian
> > Volksdeutsche. Although named "volunteer" in practice it was
> >mostly mandatory. For failing to comply o! ne could end up in
> >concentration camp. The number of those refusing to serve is not
> >known, but such cases did occur now and then.
>
> It was always my understanding during WW II that only volunteers
> became members of the Wafen SS. Were you told if it was an
> official conscription to join the Wehrmacht? My impression of the
> German administration was always, that they stuck to regulations
> and correctness when it came to bureaucracy. Were these men
> actually conscripted to serve in the German Military, or was it the
> community's perception that it was wiser to volunteer due to
> rumours about concentration camp etc.?
>
> I spent 14 of my early years in Maribor (Marburg) Slovenia until our
> deportation in Aug 1945. (My father was an ethnic German from the
> Bachka, my mother Croatian).
>
> The Eastern part of Slovenia was renamed "Untersteiermark" after
> annexation to Austria.
> I have no way of knowing what the 'de jure' citizenship status was of
> the population under the occupation. But I know from first hand
> knowledge that around 1943 or so, the Germans started
> conscripting men into the Wehrmacht (not the SS). A friend of ours
> told us that he had to sign a document that he was volunteering. He
> escaped when he got to Munich and returned to his homestead in
> the hills, where he hid until the end of the war. Though the Germans
> occasionally came to look for him, they did not find him. The
> Partisans on the other hand beat him up every time they wanted
> him to join them, which he steadfastly refused because he just
> wanted to be left alone with his family. The Chetniks also came but
> did not beat him.
>
> Eventually the Partisans were able to find the names of potential
> conscripts through their many Slovene sympathizers working in the
> administration, beat the Germans to it and 'conscripted' the men to
> join the Partisans instead.
>
> For some time I have been trying to find factual information on the
> internet about the Prince Eugen Regiment with little success.
>
> Carol
>
> PS. Sorry, I sent this e-mail to Ray instead of BANAT-
> L@rootsweb.com
>
>
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