After the war, Germany lay in ruins. The industry was destroyed, products were issued on cards. But in 1948 a “miracle” happened. Factories began to open, goods appeared on the shelves, and the German mark became the most desired currency in the world.
Marshall Plan
First post-war years in Germany they were called "zero". As the “father” of the German miracle, Ludwig Erhard, later wrote: “That was the time when we in Germany were engaged in calculations, according to which per capita had one plate every five years, a pair of shoes every twelve years, every fifty years — one suit each.” [C-BLOCK]
The well-known "Marshall Plan" was the first step towards Germany's exit from this crisis.
In addition to preparing the soil for the next cold war, he had clear economic objectives. Western Europe has always been the most important market for American capitalism. Back in the days of the Great Depression, the United States was able to get out of the crisis by conquering the European sales market. [С-BLOCK]
The "mechanism" is simple - the greater the demand in Europe, the greater the supply from the United States, the more jobs there, the higher the purchasing power of American citizens.
AT after war time Europe needed American goods more than ever. There was only one problem - there was nothing to buy them, national currencies depreciated. Therefore, in 1947, the United States found itself at a crossroads - either to abandon promising markets and slow down the growth of its own economy, or to provide post-war Europe with material support and get not only a "regular customer and customer", but also an ally. The United States put on the second and did not lose.
In accordance with the "Marshall Plan", Germany for 4 years was provided with total$3.12 billion in loans, equipment and technology. And although the "plan" was not the main active force post-war reconstruction of Germany, he allowed to carry out later what will be called the "German miracle". In a few years, the production of both agricultural and industrial products will exceed the pre-war level.
"Prosperity for all"
The main creator new Germany"was not the American Secretary of State, but the first Minister of the Economy of the Federal Republic of Germany, later the Federal Chancellor - Ludwig Erhard. Erhard's main concept was contained in the postulate that the economy is not a soulless mechanism, it rests on living people with their desires, aspirations and needs. [С-BLOCK]
Thus, the basis for the economic revival of Germany was to be free enterprise. Erhard wrote: “I see the ideal situation where an ordinary person can say: I have enough strength to stand up for myself, I want to be responsible for my own destiny. You, the state, do not worry about my affairs, but give me so much freedom and leave me so much from the result of my work so that I can independently and at my own discretion provide for the existence of myself and my family. ”[C-BLOCK]
In Erhard's policy, the state was assigned the role of a "night guard", which "protected" entrepreneurial activity from monopoly, external competition, high taxes and other factors that stood in the way of the liberal market.
The introduction of a free market economy in post-war Germany was not simple solution. It was Erhard's only initiative, an "anti-law", which contradicted the policy of the occupying authorities and nullified all previous attempts to pull Germany out of the crisis, through a planned economy and state regulation. [С-BLOCK]
And it worked. Some time later, two Frenchmen Jacques Rueff and Andre Pietre, who were in Germany at that time, wrote: “Only eyewitnesses can tell about the instantaneous effect that the currency reform had on filling warehouses and richness of shop windows. From day to day, shops began to be filled with goods and factories resumed work. The day before, hopelessness was written on the faces of the Germans, the next day the whole nation looked to the future with hope.
New brand
But free enterprise needed one more thing. important condition- currency stability. In the post-war period, the Reichsmark was valued no more than once "Kerenki" in the RSFSR. [С-BLOCK]
On June 21, 1948, a monetary reform was carried out, aimed at the confiscation of depreciated money and the creation of a hard currency. This is how the Deutschmark appeared, which later became famous as one of the most stable currencies of the 20th century. [С-BLOCK]
The monetary reform was prepared in the strictest secrecy. Firstly, in order not to provoke the intervention of the USSR, and secondly, in order to avoid panic getting rid of the old Reichsmarks.
But on the eve of the reform, rumors still leaked to the masses, causing a real "shopping hysteria" - the Germans tried to buy everything that money could still buy. As a result, black market prices have shot up to astronomical heights.[C-BLOCK]
The exchange rate of the old currency for the new one was purely confiscatory. Firstly, for 10 old marks they gave one new one, with the same paying capacity. Secondly, each adult could change on June 21 at a time only 400 Reichsmarks for 40 Deutschmarks, and then another 200 Reichsmarks for new 20 within a few days. At the end of the term, all remaining Reichsmarks were either partially stored in banks or depreciated. [С-BLOCK]
Through such tough measures, Erhard managed to ensure a stable exchange rate for the new currency, as well as to achieve an even distribution of funds among different segments of the population, while before that most of the country's currency was concentrated in the hands of a small but very wealthy group of people. Now a broad and stable middle class was being formed. [С-BLOCK]
In the 50s, the German mark became one of the most reliable currencies in the world, in which residents of many countries kept their savings. Even when DM in 1977 was almost half its value in 1950, its purchasing power remained among the best in the world.
Freedom to prices!
Literally a few days after the monetary reform, prices were "set free". From now on, the pricing policy was based on the principle of liberalization, with only one proviso that the state retained the right of partial control over them. So he compiled a list of "appropriate prices" for some consumer products, and also adopted a ban on arbitrary price increases in order to avoid the greed of entrepreneurs. [C-BLOCK]
It was followed by antitrust decrees, according to which the share of one company in the market could not exceed 33%, two or three - 50%, and four or five - no more than 65%.
Tax incentives were introduced, which discouraged companies from the "shadow business". In short, numbers speak louder than words. By 1950, Germany had reached the pre-war level of production, and by 1962 it was three times higher. [С-BLOCK]
Once, after the recovery of the German economy, its entry into the first positions of the world market, Erhard was asked what is the key to the successful development of the economy. To this he replied: "the resourcefulness of the entrepreneurs, the discipline and diligence of the workers, and the skillful policy of the government."
On the same topic:
"Marshall Plan": who helped Germany recover from the war
May 10th, 2013
In the late 1920s and 1930s, Germany did not have to strain its strength, as we did, creating new industries, building factories and blast furnaces, opening hundreds of institutes. She occupied the industrial countries and forced them to work for herself.
Just one fact: the weapons that Germany captured in the defeated countries were enough to form 200 divisions. No, this is not a mistake: 200 divisions. We have in western districts there were 170 divisions. It took the USSR several five-year plans to provide them with weapons. In France, after its defeat, the Germans immediately seized up to 5,000 tanks and armored personnel carriers, 3,000 aircraft, and 5,000 locomotives. In Belgium, they appropriated half of the rolling stock for the needs of their economy and war, etc.
But the main thing, of course, is not seized weapons, not trophies.
A special prize for Germany in March 1939 was Czechoslovakia, which had efficient army and developed industry. Back in 1938, during the Munich Agreement, according to which Czechoslovakia undertook to transfer the Sudetenland to Germany, Hitler warned the British Prime Minister N. Chamberlain and the French head of government E. Deladier that, following the Sudetes, all of Czechoslovakia would soon be occupied. But Deladier and Chamberlain did not lift a finger to protect the interests of this country. It must be admitted that the Czechoslovak leaders, having a modern army for those times, were able to offer powerful resistance to Germany, but slavishly handed over their country to the mercy of Hitler. And Czechoslovakia was a tasty morsel for preparing for a future war. The weight of the country in the world arms market of those years was 40%. This small country produced monthly 130,000 rifles, 200 guns, about 5,000 different machine guns... The German Air Force increased by 72% thanks to Czechoslovakia alone, receiving 1,582 aircraft. Tank units of Germany added 486 tanks produced at Czechoslovak plants to their 720. As a result, Hitler, at the expense of Czechoslovakia alone, was able to arm and equip 50 divisions. In addition, fascist Germany received in addition the gold reserves (80 tons) of this country, as well as the people who meekly worked for the criminal Nazi regime all the years of the war. Especially huge contribution the factories of the well-known Skoda company introduced the production of guns, trucks, and tanks. On Czech tanks since the beginning of the war German soldiers fought in Poland, France, Greece, Yugoslavia, and then in the USSR ...
Ribbentrop, Chamberlain and Hitler during negotiations in Munich, where the fate of Czechoslovakia was decided
Only from 1933 to 1939 during the six years that Hitler was in power, the number german army increased 40 times. Despite the Versailles agreements, the leaders of Great Britain and France stubbornly did not notice this ... And the strengthening of the military-technical potential of Germany after the swift victories of the Wehrmacht in 1939-1940. also contributed to the economies of France, Holland, Belgium, Norway ... Even neutral Sweden and Switzerland supplied German enterprises military industry iron ore for the production of steel and precision instruments ... Spain supplied a significant amount of oil and oil products ... The industry of almost all of Europe worked for the military machine of Hitler, who on June 30, 1941 announced that he considered the war with the USSR as a joint European war against Russia.
W. Churchill wrote, for example, about Czechoslovakia after the war: “There is no doubt that due to the fall of Czechoslovakia we lost forces equal to approximately 35 divisions. In addition, the Skoda factories, the second most important arsenal in Central Europe, fell into the hands of the enemy, which in the period from August 1938 to September 1939 produced almost as much production as all British factories produced during the same time.
This arsenal, far from being the only one in Europe, worked on Hitler's army until the end of 1944. And how it worked! Every fifth tank delivered to the Wehrmacht troops in the first half of 1941 was manufactured at the Skoda factories.
Czech enterprises, according to German - and one must think, accurate! - data, constantly increased military production. In 1944, for example, they shipped 300,000 rifles, 3,000 machine guns, 625,000 artillery shells, and 100 self-propelled artillery pieces to Germany every month. In addition, tanks, tank guns, Me-109 aircraft, aircraft engines, etc.
In Poland, 264 large, 9 thousand medium and 76 thousand small enterprises worked for Germany.
Denmark covered the needs of the German civilian population in oil by 10 percent, in meat - by 20 percent, in fresh fish - by 90 percent. And, of course, the Danish industry fulfilled all German orders.
France (41 million people), led by Laval's collaborationist government, and French entrepreneurs willingly cooperated with the Germans, were their main supplier. By the beginning of the war with the USSR, 1.6 million people were employed in the French defense industry, which worked for the Wehrmacht. According to incomplete German data, by January 1944 they supplied Germany with about 4,000 aircraft, about 10,000 aircraft engines, and 52,000 trucks. The entire locomotive industry and 95 percent of the machine tool industry worked only for Germany.
Belgium and Holland supplied the Germans with coal, pig iron, iron, manganese, zinc, etc.
The most interesting thing is that all the occupied countries, controlled by collaborators, did not require payment in cash. They were promised to be paid after the victorious - for the Germans - end of the war. They all worked for Hitler for free.
In addition, these countries also helped Germany by taking on the costs of maintaining the German occupation troops. France, for example, from the summer of 1940, allocated 20 million German marks daily, and from the autumn of 1942, 25 million each. These funds were enough not only to provide the German troops with everything they needed, but also to prepare and wage war against THE USSR. In total, European countries "donated" Germany for these purposes more than 80 billion marks (of which France - 35 billion).
And what about the neutral countries - Sweden and Switzerland? And they worked for Germany. The Swedes supplied bearings, iron ore, steel, rare earth elements. They actually fed the German military-industrial complex until the end of 1944. The rapid advance of the Germans on Leningrad was due, in particular, to "lock up" our navy and secure the supply of Swedish steel and ore. Through the Swedish "neutral" ports for Germany, there were significant supplies from Latin America. Our military intelligence reported, for example, that from January to October 1942, more than 6 million tons of various cargoes, mainly strategic raw materials, were imported into Germany through Swedish ports. Unlike the occupied countries, Sweden made good money in the war. How much? Such data has not yet been published. The Swedes have something to be ashamed of. Like the Swiss. The latter supplied precision instruments, and Swiss banks were used to pay for badly needed purchases in Latin America.
It would be interesting to compare in detail what Germany received from the occupied, allied and neutral countries Europe (and, as it turned out, mostly free) with the volume American aid Soviet Union (we paid for it). It turns out there is no total figure European assistance to Hitler, nor for individual countries. Only fragmentary data. For the Germans, even judging by one Skoda, this help was extremely important. As for us, for example, the supply of American "Studebakers" after the Battle of Stalingrad, which made the Red Army mobile and maneuverable. But, I repeat, historians do not have complete data on Germany's assistance. And she, judging by the available data, was huge. The four-volume book "World Wars of the 20th Century" gives the following figures: after the capture of Europe from Germany, the industrial potential doubled, and the agricultural potential tripled.
Europe helped Hitler not only with its arsenals. A number of Catholic bishops were quick to call the invasion of the USSR a "European crusade." 5 million soldiers broke into our territory in the summer of 1941. 900 thousand of them are not Germans, but their allies. In addition to Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, and Finland declared war on us. Spain and Denmark did not declare war, but they sent their soldiers. The Bulgarians did not fight with us, but put forward 12 divisions against the Yugoslav and Greek partisans, and thus made it possible for the Germans to transport part of their troops from the Balkans to the Eastern Front.
It was in the summer of 1941 that 900,000 Europeans opposed us. In general, during the war, this figure increased to 2 million people. In our captivity were Czechs (70 thousand), Poles (60 thousand), French (23 thousand) and further down the line Belgians, Luxembourgers and ... even neutral Swedes.
This is special topic or a special conversation, why the Europeans were so willing to help Hitler in the war against the USSR. Anti-communism undoubtedly played a significant role. But not the only one and, perhaps, not the main one. Perhaps this topic should be returned separately.
And finally, European countries helped Germany to eliminate the ever-increasing shortage of its labor force due to the conscription of Germans in the army. According to incomplete data, 875.9 thousand workers were delivered from France to German factories, from Belgium and Holland - half a million each, from Norway - 300 thousand, from Denmark - 70 thousand. This made it possible for Germany to mobilize almost a quarter of its population, and they, like soldiers, in all respects were head and shoulders above their allies - Italians, Romanians or Slovaks.
All this taken together ensured a significant superiority of Germany at the initial stage of the war, and then made it possible for her to hold out until May 1945.
But what about the resistance movement? A number of Russian authors believe that its role and significance in the occupied industrialized countries Western Europe extremely bloated. To some extent, this is understandable: it was important to emphasize in those years that we were not alone in the struggle. V. Kozhinov, for example, cites the following figures: almost 300 thousand members of the Resistance died in Yugoslavia, 20 thousand in France, whose population was 2.5 times larger, and in the ranks German army about 50 thousand French died. Isn't the comparison of these losses saying nothing? Is it by chance that the Germans kept 10 divisions in Yugoslavia? Of course, heroism French participants Resistance is undeniable and the memory of him is holy. But try to put on one side of the scale all the damage that they inflicted on the Nazis, and on the other - all that real help which European countries obligingly rendered to Germany. Which bowl will overwhelm?
No, the question should be put more broadly, answered historians. Take the first two weeks of the war in France and the USSR. Already on the fifth day of the war, the real war that began on May 10, 1940, and not the one that the Germans called "sitting", the Americans and the British - "strange", when there was simply no fighting, the new French Prime Minister Reine called Churchill and said, "We have failed." Churchill immediately flew to Paris, hoping to lift the spirit of the allied government. But he didn't succeed. Did you try French troops get out of the environment, did they have their own Brest Fortress, your Smolensk battle? Their heroic fights surrounded near Vyazma? Did the Parisians come out to dig anti-tank ditches? Has anyone called them to action? Offered a wrestling program? No, the leadership - both civilian and military - led France to become a collaborator and work for Germany throughout the war. The country has lost its honor. For the most part, the French fled to the south and west, they did not want to fight, the main thing was to save their wallets. De Gaulle called out to them from London, but only hundreds of people responded.
It is believed that on June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union. In fact, this is not entirely true, several countries started a war against the USSR, among them:
Romania - about 200 thousand soldiers,
Slovakia - 90 thousand soldiers,
Finland - about 450 thousand soldiers and officers,
Hungary - about 500 thousand people,
Italy - 200 thousand people,
Croatia as part of the security division
And these are only those countries that have officially declared war on the Soviet Union. According to various sources, this crusade"against the USSR, from one and a half to two and a half million volunteers who fought in parts of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS took part.
These were representatives of such countries as: Holland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, France, Switzerland, Spain, Luxembourg. As in the Patriotic War of 1812, the whole of Europe took up arms against Russia.
The famous American historian George G. Stein in his book "Waffen SS" describes the national composition of these units:
Dutch - 50 thousand people, Belgians - 20 thousand people, French - 20 thousand people, Danes and Norwegians - 6 thousand people each, 1200 people each from Sweden, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and others European countries.
Of the European SS volunteers, one of the best divisions of the Reich, the Viking, consisted. The name symbolized that representatives of the Aryan peoples of Nordic blood were gathered in its ranks.
So on March 10, 1942, the Norwegian Legion was transferred to the Leningrad Front, he helped keep the city in the blockade ring until the spring of 1943. But due to heavy losses, most of the legionnaires refused to renew the contract, and were replaced by the Latvian SS legion on the orders of Himmler.
The blockade of Leningrad can generally be considered a pan-European enterprise. In addition to the Norwegians, the Netherlands Legion, a Belgian battalion, operated near Volkhov. Spanish volunteers from the Blue Division fought here, Finnish and Swedish troops besieged Leningrad from the north, Italian sailors were preparing for battles on Ladoga.
The German historian Müller-Hillebrandt, who during the war was a major general in the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, recalls that many Frenchmen who the Germans refused to enlist in their armed forces were greatly offended.
It all started with the fact that Heinrich Himmler had a conflict with the leadership of the Wehrmacht due to the fact that he tried to take the best for his SS units. Best in terms physical training, health, intellectual state. He really selected the guards, and the Wehrmacht got, as his leadership considered, the second grade, so to speak.
After the army generals "complained" to Hitler, a limit was set for Himmler to call up Germans to the guard units. But Himmler quickly found a way out, he began to recruit representatives of the so-called Volksdeutsch, Germans living outside Germany, into his units. It could be Germans from Holland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, and anywhere.
“I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as a leader, to be loyal and brave. I vow to obey you and the chief appointed by you until death. And so help me God.” This is a fragment of the oath of European volunteers of the Waffen SS upon entry into service.
Unlike the oath that the Germans took, the text did not mention Hitler as Chancellor of the Reich, this is a kind of psychological trick that this is not a service in the ranks of the German occupiers, but in the pan-European parts of the SS.
Among the Alpine riflemen there were also not only Germans, in total there were twelve mountain rifle divisions, of which two were Austrian, one was from Yugoslav Germans, one was from Bosnian Muslims, another consisted of Albanians, and another included both Austrians and Norwegians. So we can assume that every second German mountain shooter was born outside the borders of the Third Reich in 1937.
Such a large number of Volunteers from the European countries captured by Hitler are explained by many reasons, this is the racial theory that was fashionable at that time in Europe and the bright successes of the National Socialist ideology, and simply the desire to profit.
According to Himmler's plans, the racially inferior peoples of the USSR were to be thrown back beyond the Urals, and their numbers were reduced several times. Aryans of Nordic blood were to settle in the occupied territories of the eastern lands.
World War II is unique of all wars, never before in history has there been similar cases mass transfer of citizens of the conquered countries to the service of the invaders. Almost a large part of the population voluntarily became under the Nazi banners.
Not only the armed formations of the European Waffen SS and foreign units of the Wehrmacht took part in the war against the USSR, the entire industry of Europe also worked for the military machine of the Third Reich. In the early years of the war, almost every second shell was cast from Swedish ore.
In the summer of 1941, every fourth tank in the German army was Czech or French. Germany won its first victories largely thanks to Scandinavian iron and Swiss optics for sights.
Few people know that the most powerful tank of the Wehrmacht during the attack on the USSR was the French B2. Half of the super-heavy guns that shelled Leningrad and Sevastopol were produced in France and the Czech Republic.
In 1938, in Munich, representatives of England and France treacherously gave Hitler Czechoslovakia. If not for this collusion, Germany, for economic reasons, might not have been able to start a full-scale war.
Czech defense industry was at that time one of the largest in Europe. From its factories, the Reich received more than one and a half million rifles and pistols, about 4 thousand guns and mortars, over 6600 tanks and self-propelled guns.
Of particular importance for Germany was the supply of raw materials. American oil companies, through their subsidiaries in Latin America, handed Hitler gasoline to the tune of several tens of millions of dollars. Rockefeller's Standard Oil supplied the Third Reich with fuel, lubricants and fuel worth $20 million.
Henry Ford, a big admirer of Hitler, had branches of his enterprises in Germany, which, until the very end of the war, supplied the Germans with very good trucks, only about 40 thousand units. For America, war has become good business.
It is worth noting that in the occupied territory of the USSR, the Germans, out of 32 thousand enterprises, were able to launch only two hundred. They gave products three times less than a country like Poland.
“If we see that Germany is winning, we must help Russia. And if Russia wins, we must help Germany. And let them kill each other in this way as much as possible. All this is for the good of America.” On June 24, 1941, future US President Harry Truman made this statement to the New York Times.
In 2000, in connection with its use of slave labor, Nestle paid more than $14.5 million to the appropriate fund to settle the claims of victims of its actions and survivors of the Holocaust, as well as Jewish organizations. The firm acknowledged that in 1947 it acquired a company that used forced labor during the war years, and also stated: “There is no doubt or it can be assumed that some corporations from the Nestle group operating in countries controlled by the National Socialist (Nazi) regime, exploited forced laborers. Nestle in Switzerland in 1939 provided cash assistance to the Nazi Party, winning a lucrative contract to supply chocolate to the needs of the entire German army during World War II.
Allianz
Allianz is considered the twelfth largest company in the world providing financial services. It is not surprising that, having been founded in 1890 in Germany, it was the largest insurer in it when the Nazis came to power. As such, she quickly became involved with Nazi regime. Its leader, Kurt Schmitt, was also Hitler's minister of economics, and the company provided insurance for Auschwitz facilities and personnel. Her CEO responsible for the practice of paying insurance compensation for Jewish property destroyed as a result of Kristallnacht to the Nazi state instead of the eligible beneficiaries. In addition, the company worked closely with the Nazi state to track the life insurance policies of German Jews sent to the death camps, and during the war insured property taken from the same Jewish population for the benefit of the Nazis.
Novartis
Although Bayer is infamous for having started out as a division of the manufacturer of Zyklon B gas, which was used by the Nazis in gas chambers, it is not the only pharmaceutical company with skeletons in the closet. Swiss chemical companies Ciba and Sandoz merged to form Novartis, best known for its drug Ritalin. In 1933, the Berlin branch of Ciba terminated all Jewish members of its board of directors and replaced them with more "acceptable" Aryan cadres; in the meantime, Sandoz was busy with a similar activity for its chairman. During the war, companies made dyes for the Nazis, medicines and chemicals. Novartis frankly admitted its guilt and tried to make amends in a way typical of other accomplice companies - by donating $ 15 million to the Swiss Nazi Compensation Fund.
BMW admitted to using 30,000 unskilled forced laborers during the war. These prisoners of war, forced laborers and prisoners concentration camps produced engines for the Luftwaffe and thus were forced to help the regime defend itself against those who were trying to save them. During the war, BMW concentrated exclusively on the production of aircraft and motorcycles, with no claim to anything other than being a supplier of military vehicles for the Nazis.
Reemtsma
Reemtsma was founded in 1910 in Erfurt, Germany. In 1918, production was automated. In 1923 production was moved to Altona, now part of the city of Hamburg.
During Hitler's time, despite the NSDAP's official anti-tobacco policy, the company prospered. In 1937, the company owned 60% of the country's cigarette market. In 1939, Philipp F. Reemtsma was appointed head of the Fachuntergruppe Zigarettenindustrie (the cigarette department of the Wehrwirtschaftsführer, an association of companies that worked for the front).
In 1948, the company's activities were resumed, and in 1980 the Tchibo coffee company became the owner of the majority of the shares, which sold its share in 2002 to Imperial Tobacco. It is noteworthy that now the Reemtsma company has representative offices in Kyiv and Volgograd, near which the Battle of Stalingrad took place.
The history of the Nivea brand dates back to 1890, when a businessman named Oskar Troplowitz bought the Beiersdorf company from its founder.
In the 1930s, the brand positioned itself as a product for active life and sports. The main products were protective creams and shaving products. During World War II, Ellie Hayes Knapp, who became First Lady under Theodore Hayes, was in charge of the advertising part of the brand. According to her, in her advertising campaigns she tried to bypass the militaristic component, focusing on displaying an active life in peaceful circumstances. However, sports smiling girls from Nivea posters could inspire the Wehrmacht fighters no less, if not better, than Hitler's mustachioed face from NSDAP posters.
It is noteworthy that during the war, several countries at war with Germany appropriated the rights to the trademark. The process of buying up the rights by Beiersdorf was completed only in 1997.
Maggi was founded in 1872 in Switzerland by Julius Maggi. The entrepreneur was the first to enter the market with ready-made soups. In 1897, Julius Maggi founded Maggi GmbH in German city Singen, where she is still based today. The rise to power of the Nazis had almost no effect on business. In the 1930s, the company became a supplier of semi-finished products for the German troops.
Considering that none of the management of the organization was seen in a particularly active political life, the brand has retained itself and continues to delight. This time also residents of the ex-USSR.
And what about our neutrals then?
“... In the very first days of the war, a German division was passed through the territory of Sweden for operations in Northern Finland. However, Swedish Prime Minister Social Democrat P. A. Hansson immediately promised Swedish people that not a single one will be allowed to pass through the territory of Sweden German division and that the country will in no way go to war against the USSR. Sweden took over the representation of the interests of the USSR in Germany, and yet through Sweden the transit of German military materials to Finland unfolded; German transport ships transported troops there, hiding in the territorial waters of Sweden, and until the winter of 1942/43 they were accompanied by a convoy of Swedish naval forces. The Nazis achieved the supply of Swedish goods on credit and their transportation mainly on Swedish ships ... "
“... It was Swedish iron ore that was the best raw material for Hitler. After all, this ore contained 60 percent of pure iron, while the ore obtained by the German military machine from other places contained only 30 percent iron. It is clear that production military equipment from metal smelted from Swedish ore, cost the treasury of the Third Reich much cheaper.
In 1939, the same year that Nazi Germany unleashed the Second world war, it was supplied with 10.6 million tons of Swedish ore. Wow! After April 9, that is, when Germany had already conquered Denmark and Norway, the supply of ore increased significantly. In 1941 by sea for the needs of the German military industry, 45 thousand tons of Swedish ore were supplied daily. Little by little Sweden traded with Nazi Germany increased and eventually accounted for 90 per cent of all Swedish foreign trade. From 1940 to 1944, the Swedes sold over 45 million tons of iron ore to the Nazis.
The Swedish port of Luleå was specially converted to supply iron ore to Germany through the waters of the Baltic. (And only Soviet submarines after June 22, 1941 at times caused the Swedes great inconvenience, torpedoing Swedish transports, in the holds of which this ore was transported). The supply of ore to Germany continued almost until the moment when the Third Reich had already begun, figuratively speaking, to expire. Suffice it to say that back in 1944, when the outcome of the Second World War was no longer in doubt, the Germans received 7.5 million tons of iron ore from Sweden. Until August 1944, Sweden received Nazi gold through Swiss banks.
In other words, the Norschensflammann wrote, “Swedish iron ore ensured the Germans success in the war. And that was a bitter fact for all Swedish anti-fascists.”
However, the Swedish iron ore came to the Germans not only in the form of raw materials.
The world-famous SKF concern, which produced the best ball bearings on the planet, supplied these, not so, at first glance, cunning technical mechanisms to Germany. As many as ten percent of the ball bearings received by Germany came from Sweden, according to Norschensflammann. Anyone, even a person completely inexperienced in military affairs, understands what ball bearings mean for the production of military equipment. Why, without them, not a single tank will move from its place, not a single submarine will go to sea! Note that Sweden, as noted by Norschensflammann, produced bearings of "special quality and specifications which Germany could not get from anywhere else. The import of bearings from Sweden became especially important for Germany when the VKF bearing factory in Schweinfurt was destroyed in 1943. In 1945, the economist and economic adviser Per Jakobsson provided information that helped disrupt the supply of Swedish bearings to Japan.
Let's think: how many lives were cut short because formally neutral Sweden provided fascist Germany with strategic and military products, without which the flywheel of the Nazi military mechanism would, of course, continue to spin, but certainly not as fast as it was?
In the autumn of 1941, that very cruel autumn when the existence of the entire Soviet state was at stake (and, consequently, the fate of the peoples inhabiting it), King Gustav V Adolf of Sweden sent Hitler a letter in which he wished "the dear Reich Chancellor continued success in the fight against Bolshevism…”
Sweden received even more military orders after the outbreak of World War II. And basically these were orders for Nazi Germany. Neutral Sweden became one of the main economic pillars of the national Reich. Suffice it to say that only in 1943, out of 10.8 million tons of iron ore mined, 10.3 million tons were sent to Germany from Sweden. Until now, few people know that one of the main tasks of the ships of the Navy Soviet Union, who fought in the Baltic, was not only the fight against fascist ships, but also the destruction of the ships of neutral Sweden, carrying cargo for the Nazis.
Well, what did the Nazis pay with the Swedes for the goods received from them? Only by the fact that they looted in the territories they occupied and, most of all, in the Soviet occupied territories. The Germans had almost no other resources for settlements with Sweden. So when you're in once more they will talk about “Swedish happiness”, remember who and at whose expense the Swedes paid for it.
The war in Europe was more for political influence and control of territories, the war on eastern front, was a war of destruction and survival, these are absolutely two different wars they just happened at the same time.
Civilized Europe always diligently erases from the history of the Second World War these shameful facts of its cooperation with the most bloody and inhuman regime of the twentieth century, and this is the truth about the war that needs to be known and remembered.
19th-century English publicist T. J. Dunning:
Capital ... avoids noise and scolding and has a timid nature. This is true, but it is not the whole truth. Capital is afraid of no profit or too little profit, just as nature is afraid of the void. But once sufficient profits are available, capital becomes bold. Provide 10 percent, and capital is ready for any use, at 20 percent it becomes lively, at 50 percent it is positively ready to break its head, at 100 percent it tramples everything human laws, at 300 percent there is no such crime that he would not risk, at least under pain of the gallows. If noise and scolding are profitable, capital will contribute to both. Proof: smuggling and the slave trade
sources
http://www.warmech.ru/war_mech/tyl-evr.html
http://www.theunknownwar.ru/korporaczii_kotoryie_obyazanyi_naczistam_svoim_uspexom.html
And I will remind you The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -Bronislav Kaminsky: "the bastard is worse than General Vlasov"
About the Soviet General Andrey Vlasov, who went over to the side of the Nazis, and his Russian liberation army known to almost everyone. However, Vlasov is not the only major figure in the chronicle of treason. An even more cruel and cold-blooded traitor was Bronislav Kaminsky - SS Brigadeführer, leader of the Russian People's Liberation Army, also known as the 29th Grenadier (First Russian) SS Division.
Nothing predicted
Bronislav Kaminsky was born in Vitebsk. At the time of the Great October Revolution, he was a student at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic. Having dropped out of school, Kaminsky became interested in revolutionary ideas - he not only volunteered for the Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army), but also became a member of the CPSU (b). Returning to civilian life, Kaminsky became a chemist-technologist, worked at a factory, and participated in socialist competition. However, this did not prevent him from driving moonshine in his free time. Kaminsky's father was a Pole, so Bronisław ardently defended the idea of incorporating Poland into the USSR as a special autonomy.
Kaminsky did not escape the wave of repression. In 1935, he was expelled from the party, and in 1937 he ended up in a camp, where he served as a technologist in the production of alcohol. In an effort to alleviate his fate, Bronislav Kaminsky becomes an informant for the NKVD. This allows him to be released at the beginning of 1941. Before the start of the war and the arrival of the Germans, Kaminsky worked in the village of Lokot (the current Bryansk region, then the center of the Brasovsky district in Oryol region) at the distillery.
The war made it possible to turn around
On October 4, 1941, the 17th Panzer Division under the command of Lieutenant General von Arnim entered the village of Lokot. The Germans were greeted with joy by those who sought to achieve "the final and complete defeat of Judeo-Bolshevism." The leaders among the collaborators were the teacher of the technical school Konstantin Voskoboinik and the engineer of the distillery Bronislav Kaminsky. The first was appointed headman of the village.
With the full approval of the German authorities, Kaminsky and Voskoboinik formed policemen and administrative bodies in order to maintain the "new order" of the Nazis. The infamous Lokot self-government was created. The collaborators began an active armed pursuit of partisans who had gone into the forests to fight the Nazis.
Kaminsky gets power
At the beginning of 1942, on Christmas night, Voskoboinik was killed by partisans from Saburov's detachment. Kaminsky immediately tells the Nazis about his "Aryan origin", remembering his mother, a Russified German. The German command gives the green light to the transfer of the Lokot autonomy into its hands.
Kaminsky sincerely believed Hitler's propaganda, which presented Germany as a "state of national labor." The manifesto of the People's Socialist Party of Russia, created with his participation, resonates in its hatred of the Bolsheviks and anti-Semitism with propaganda brochures and leaflets of the Nazis.
Kaminsky believed: after the end of the war " Great Russia”should be arranged in the spirit of fascist ideology. The Nazi reformer - such an apt nickname was given to him by the Slavic historian from the USA Alexander Dallin.
Jews have no place
The Lokot autonomy followed the example of the Nazi state in everything. A special instruction forbade the marriages of Jews with representatives of other nations. The newspaper Voice of the People published anti-Semitic articles. Adopted in autonomy Labor Code included an article with the characteristic heading "Jewish Labor Force".
In 1943, Kaminsky, together with the Russian Liberation people's army(RONA) is relocated to the city of Lepel. The New Way newspaper (Vitebsk) described Kaminsky's policy as follows: “When an employee is appointed to a position, only his business qualities. As for the party, social, national (there is no place for Jews) position, this does not play a role.
The words didn't match the deeds. In some villages and settlements of the Lokot autonomy, Jewish ghettos were created. The authorities, in the person of Kaminsky, decided: everyone who harbors communists and Jews is to be shot.
In September 1942, the police of the Lokot self-government shot all the Jews living in the village of Navlya as revenge for the blowing up of the bridge over the river by partisans. Executions continued in Suzemsky and Sevsky districts. In just one district, 223 people were brutally murdered - simply because they are Jews.
Close friendship with the Nazis
The Nazi command did not leave Kaminsky's "independent autonomy" unattended. Lokot served as the base of the Nazi communications headquarters and the deployment point of the SD Sonderkommando. On the line of the Abwehr, Kaminsky was supervised by A. Dollert. He survived Hitler's defeat and wrote under the name Sven Steenberg great work about the collaborators of the USSR.
Dollert regularly reported to his superiors on the state of affairs in the supervised autonomy. One of the reports contains a mention: "Kaminsky behaves with the population, enemies and commanded military units like a typical Russian - infinitely generous and infinitely cruel."
Reprisals against the population
Kaminsky and his combat formations carried out cruel terror against those who were waiting for the return of Soviet power. His agents, posing as partisans, walked around the villages. Having found out who was breathing with what, the provocateurs called an escort and drove the arrested to the former building of the stud farm No. 17, which was turned into the Lokot prison.
It was here, in the service of Kaminsky, that the infamous Tonka the machine-gunner, executioner Antonina Makarova, committed her atrocities. In 1945, 22 pits full of corpses were found near the prison at the bottom of the pit. In total, more than 2,000 people were shot there.
Executions were also carried out in anti-tank ditches (the village of Kholmetsky Khutor) - 95 bodies were found, in Voronov Log (the village of Gorodishche) - 800 bodies, near Pogrebsky dachas in the copse - 2500 bodies. Among the dead are underground fighters, partisans, communists, their relatives and many Jews. Cases of massacre of all the inhabitants of some villages and burning of houses were recorded.
Fight against partisans
Good organizational skills and charisma of Bronislav Kaminsky allowed him to inspire many people to atrocities. Soldiers who went over to the side of the Nazis and former civilians fiercely rushed into battle with " folk avengers". The first anti-fascist brigade (commander Gil-Rodionov) lost 1026 people in battles with the Kamenites.
In just one month of 1944, from April 11 to May 15, according to the information of the chief of staff of the 3rd Panzer Army Heidkemper, as part of the RONA operation " Fun party» The partisans lost 14,288 people. The Polotsk-Lepel partisan zone actually ceased to exist. Thanks to this, the Nazis were able to secure the rear areas of Army Group Center for some time.
For the successful conduct of the operation, RONA was separately noted by the fascist command. Kaminsky himself received the Iron Cross 1st class.
SS Brigadeführer
British historian Colin Heaton wrote: "Kaminsky's brigade did a lot of atrocities, fighting well on the side of the Germans." Kaminsky was invited to join the SS troops with the rank of Brigadeführer.
August 1, 1944 RONA was reorganized into the 29th grenadier division SS. Kaminsky himself received the rank of Waffen Brigadeführer and Major General of the SS troops.
Warsaw Uprising and inglorious death
When participating in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising (August 1944), Kaminsky's troops, without looking, shot everyone who turned up under their arm. Soldiers robbed shops, warehouses, apartments, raped women. The massacres lasted for several weeks. Not only Poles were raped, but also two German girls - members of a pro-Nazi organization. According to historians, up to 30 thousand people became victims of executions.
Even the worldly-wise fascists shuddered at the degree of atrocities and looting shown by the troops of the Russian division. On August 28, 1944, after a short court-martial, Bronisław Kaminsky, together with the lower leaders of the 29th division, was shot by the Sonderkommando SS "according to the laws of wartime for encouraging requisitions and robberies."
Hiwi: how much Soviet citizens helped the German invaders
From the first weeks of the invasion German troops not only heroism manifested itself within the USSR Soviet people, but also the conciliatory, and sometimes directly hostile position of some citizens of the country.
Militia soldiers, soldiers of the Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army) and civilians of the occupied territories went over to the side of the enemy.
Who are the hiwis?
The name of the collaborators comes from the German word hilfswilliger, that is, "who wants to help." The fascist command used this term to refer to all residents of the occupied countries who served in German troops or worked for the good of Germany. These included prisoners of war, voluntary defectors, local residents of the occupied areas, including those who were forcibly driven away. Initially, the Nazis called such people "our Ivans", but rather quickly the term "Khivi" was officially fixed.
What did the Germans do with the Khivs?
The Nazis used citizens of the occupied countries in the army as drivers, cooks, grooms, guards of objects in the rear, loaders, sappers, storekeepers, orderlies. Those who confirmed their loyalty and showed it in practice were allowed to take part in punitive measures, sorties against partisans, and also participate in combat operations of the regular army. They could also become police officers in occupied areas.
Khivs were actively used as propagandists - on the front line, with the help of megaphones, they called on the soldiers of the Red Army to drop their weapons and go over to the Germans - "civilized progressive people." Volunteers from among the Red Army served in the combat units of the Wehrmacht, having received the status of hilfswilliger. Their presence worked to increase the influx of defectors.
In 1943, the headquarters of the 6th Army of the Nazis developed the "Basic Directions for the Training of Volunteer Assistants." The document stated that the purpose of training and education was to prepare hilfswilliger as "reliable comrades-in-arms in the fight against Bolshevism."
The Khiva did not include prisoners of war used for forced labor in concentration camps, and almost 5 million Ostarbeiters - residents of the occupied territories, driven to Germany on forced labor. Among them were many women and teenagers.
Caught in German captivity the Red Army made a choice between death and betrayal of the motherland in favor of survival. They were afraid to run back to the troops of the Red Army or the partisans - those who were captured and survived were usually considered traitors. Shooting at your own seemed unforgivable to many, and joining the support services, why not? There were not so many ideological opponents of Soviet power among the prisoners of war.
Civilians in the occupied territories went over to the side of the Nazis for various reasons. Some residents of the republics annexed to the USSR in 1940 did not forget how Soviet power was implanted with “fire and sword”. They sincerely believed that the Germans were better and more civilized.
Many coveted the benefits from the invaders, guaranteed rations, cash rewards. When a dilemma arose - a half-starved life for themselves and children, or paid work and loyalty to the authorities - not everyone could resist.
In addition, at all times there have been selfish and unscrupulous people who are ready for betrayal and cruelty for the sake of power and money. They were also in demand by the Germans and took their place in the ranks of the Khiva.
The scale of the phenomenon
The experiment on the use of khiva brought results that exceeded the wildest expectations of the Germans. By the spring of 1942, the rear units of the German army included at least 200 thousand volunteers, and by the beginning of 1943 their number reached a million.
Absence unambiguous interpretation(whom to consider hivi, and who - forcibly mobilized) and the loss German archives not allowed to give the exact number. According to the archives of the NKVD, in the period up to March 1946, proceedings were initiated against 283 thousand Vlasovites, representatives of the Cossack units and the Eastern legions, and these are only those who survived and were discovered.
The researcher S. I. Drobyazko believes that over a million people were in the SS, the Wehrmacht, police and paramilitary units on the side of Hitler (ROA, RONA, Cossacks, Eastern and Baltic divisions) during the entire period of the war.
According to the estimates of the German Directorate of the Eastern Forces, as of February 2, 1943, the total number of Soviet citizens in the German military service reached 750 thousand, including Khiva - from 400 to 600 thousand. These statistics do not include the Navy, the Luftwaffe and the SS. As of February 1945, the number of Hiwi was determined at 600 thousand people in the Wehrmacht, 15 thousand in the Navy and 60 thousand in the Luftwaffe.
Few got the monuments
An unusual fact: in August 2011, a monument to three Soviet Khivs was erected in the French city of Brebier, Pas de Calais department (Lance agglomeration). Four volunteer assistants were assigned to the German air defense battery. On September 1, 1944, the day before the Allies entered Lans, the Germans decided that they no longer needed the Khiva. Grigory Malinin and Alexei Teslenko were shot on the spot, Alexander Milaykov was killed while trying to escape. Ilya Lavrentiev managed to escape - later the Allies handed him over to the USSR.
The inscription on the commemorative plate reads: “In memory of three Russian soldiers, prisoners of war of the German air defense unit Dienststelle Feldpost 49300. Shot by the Germans at the time of the retreat on September 1, 1944, on the day of the liberation of Brebier, and buried in this cemetery. For us - memory, for them - immortality.
High ranks and an inglorious end
Among the Khivs there were quite successful officers of the Red Army. This is not only Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov, head of the ROA, but also the chief of staff of the Red Army division, Lieutenant Colonel Gil-Rodionov, who in 1943 again went over to the side Soviet power, Hero of the Soviet Union air squadron commander Bronislav Antilevsky, commander of the 41st rifle division Colonel Vladimir Baersky
All of them went over to the side of the Nazis after being captured. Their fate ended in a natural ending: Baersky was hanged in May 1945 by Czech partisans under the command of the Soviet captain Smirnov, Vlasov was hanged after the trial in 1946, Antilevsky was shot in the same year, posthumously deprived in 1950 of the title of Hero and orders.
Khivs, who survived until the end of the war and returned to the USSR, were condemned as traitors and traitors to their homeland. Those who participated in the hostilities were sentenced to be shot or hanged, the rest went through camps and exile. 148 thousand people were sentenced to 6 years in a special settlement.
From the first weeks of the invasion of German troops into the USSR, not only the heroism of the Soviet people was manifested, but also the conciliatory, and sometimes directly hostile position of some citizens of the country.
Militia soldiers, soldiers of the Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army) and civilians of the occupied territories went over to the side of the enemy.
Who are the hiwis?
The name of the collaborators comes from the German word hilfswilliger, that is, "who wants to help." The Nazi command used this term to refer to all residents of the occupied countries who served in the German forces or worked for the good of Germany. These included prisoners of war, voluntary defectors, local residents of the occupied areas, including those who were forcibly driven away. Initially, the Nazis called such people "our Ivans", but rather quickly the term "Khivi" was officially fixed.
What did the Germans do with the Khivs?
The Nazis used citizens of the occupied countries in the army as drivers, cooks, grooms, guards of objects in the rear, loaders, sappers, storekeepers, orderlies. Those who confirmed their loyalty and showed it in practice were allowed to take part in punitive measures, sorties against partisans, and also participate in combat operations of the regular army. They could also become police officers in occupied areas.
Khivs were actively used as propagandists - on the front line, with the help of megaphones, they called on the soldiers of the Red Army to drop their weapons and go over to the Germans - "civilized progressive people." Volunteers from among the Red Army served in the combat units of the Wehrmacht, having received the status of hilfswilliger. Their presence worked to increase the influx of defectors.
In 1943, the headquarters of the 6th Army of the Nazis developed the "Basic Directions for the Training of Volunteer Assistants." The document stated that the purpose of training and education was to prepare hilfswilliger as "reliable comrades-in-arms in the fight against Bolshevism."
The Khiva did not include prisoners of war who were used for forced labor in concentration camps, and almost 5 million Ostarbeiters - residents of the occupied territories, who were deported to Germany for forced labor. Among them were many women and teenagers.
The Red Army soldiers who fell into German captivity made a choice between death and betrayal of their homeland in favor of survival. They were afraid to run back to the troops of the Red Army or the partisans - those who were captured and survived were usually considered traitors. Shooting at your own seemed unforgivable to many, and joining the support services, why not? There were not so many ideological opponents of Soviet power among the prisoners of war.
Civilians in the occupied territories went over to the side of the Nazis for various reasons. Some residents of the republics annexed to the USSR in 1940 did not forget how Soviet power was implanted with “fire and sword”. They sincerely believed that the Germans were better and more civilized.
Many coveted the benefits from the invaders, guaranteed rations, cash rewards. When a dilemma arose - a half-starved life for themselves and children, or paid work and loyalty to the authorities - not everyone could resist.
In addition, at all times there have been selfish and unscrupulous people who are ready for betrayal and cruelty for the sake of power and money. They were also in demand by the Germans and took their place in the ranks of the Khiva.
The scale of the phenomenon
The experiment on the use of khiva brought results that exceeded the wildest expectations of the Germans. By the spring of 1942, the rear units of the German army included at least 200 thousand volunteers, and by the beginning of 1943 their number reached a million.
The lack of an unambiguous interpretation (who is considered a Khiv and who is forcibly mobilized) and the loss of German archives do not allow us to give an exact figure. According to the archives of the NKVD, in the period up to March 1946, proceedings were initiated against 283 thousand Vlasovites, representatives of the Cossack units and the Eastern legions, and these are only those who survived and were discovered.
The researcher S. I. Drobyazko believes that over a million people were in the SS, the Wehrmacht, police and paramilitary units on the side of Hitler (ROA, RONA, Cossacks, Eastern and Baltic divisions) during the entire period of the war.
According to the estimates of the German Office of the Eastern Forces, as of February 2, 1943, the total number of Soviet citizens in the German military service reached 750 thousand, including Khiva - from 400 to 600 thousand. These statistics do not include the Navy, the Luftwaffe and the SS. As of February 1945, the number of Hiwi was determined at 600 thousand people in the Wehrmacht, 15 thousand in the Navy and 60 thousand in the Luftwaffe.
Few got the monuments
An unusual fact: in August 2011, a monument to three Soviet Khivs was erected in the French city of Brebier, Pas de Calais department (Lance agglomeration). Four volunteer assistants were assigned to the German air defense battery. On September 1, 1944, the day before the Allies entered Lans, the Germans decided that they no longer needed the Khiva. Grigory Malinin and Alexei Teslenko were shot on the spot, Alexander Milaykov was killed while trying to escape. Ilya Lavrentiev managed to escape - later the Allies handed him over to the USSR.
The inscription on the commemorative plate reads: “In memory of three Russian soldiers, prisoners of war of the German air defense unit Dienststelle Feldpost 49300. Shot by the Germans at the time of the retreat on September 1, 1944, on the day of the liberation of Brebier, and buried in this cemetery. For us - memory, for them - immortality.
High ranks and an inglorious end
Among the Khivs there were quite successful officers of the Red Army. This is not only Lieutenant General Andrey Vlasov, head of the ROA, but also the chief of staff of the Red Army division, Lieutenant Colonel Gil-Rodionov, who again defected to the side of Soviet power in 1943, Hero of the Soviet Union, air squadron commander Bronislav Antilevsky, commander of the 41st Infantry Division, Colonel Vladimir Baersky.
All of them went over to the side of the Nazis after being captured. Their fate ended in a natural ending: Baersky was hanged in May 1945 by Czech partisans under the command of the Soviet captain Smirnov, Vlasov was hanged after the trial in 1946, Antilevsky was shot in the same year, posthumously deprived in 1950 of the title of Hero and orders.
Khivs, who survived until the end of the war and returned to the USSR, were condemned as traitors and traitors to their homeland. Those who participated in the hostilities were sentenced to be shot or hanged, the rest went through camps and exile. 148 thousand people were sentenced to 6 years in a special settlement.
In total, according to the statistics of the Eastern Troops Directorate, as of February 2, 1943 total number Soviet citizens in the German military service amounted to 750 thousand, of which "Hiwi" - from 400 to 600 thousand, excluding the SS, Luftwaffe and fleet. Hivi (German Hilfswilliger, who wants to help; Ost-Hilfswilligen, eastern voluntary assistants) - the so-called voluntary assistants of the Wehrmacht, recruited (including forcibly mobilized) from local population in the occupied territories of the USSR and Soviet prisoners of war. As of February 1945, the number of "Hiwi" reached 600 thousand people in the Wehrmacht, up to 60 thousand in the Luftwaffe and 15 thousand in the Navy.
It is believed that on June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union. In fact, this is not entirely true, several countries started a war against the USSR, among them:
Romania - about 200 thousand soldiers,
Slovakia - 90 thousand soldiers,
Finland - about 450 thousand soldiers and officers,
Hungary - about 500 thousand people,
Italy - 200 thousand people,
Croatia as part of the security division
And these are only those countries that have officially declared war on the Soviet Union. According to various sources, from one and a half to two and a half million volunteers who fought in parts of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS took part in this "crusade" against the USSR.
These were representatives of such countries as: Holland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, France, Switzerland, Spain, Luxembourg. As in the Patriotic War of 1812, the whole of Europe took up arms against Russia.
The famous American historian George G. Stein in his book "Waffen SS" describes the national composition of these units:
the Dutch - 50 thousand people, the Belgians - 20 thousand people, the French - 20 thousand people, the Danes and Norwegians - 6 thousand people each, 1200 people each from Sweden, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and other European countries.
Of the European SS volunteers, one of the best divisions of the Reich, the Viking, consisted. The name symbolized that representatives of the Aryan peoples of Nordic blood were gathered in its ranks.
So on March 10, 1942, the Norwegian Legion was transferred to the Leningrad Front, he helped keep the city in the blockade ring until the spring of 1943. But due to heavy losses, most of the legionnaires refused to renew the contract, and were replaced by the Latvian SS Legion on Himmler's orders.
The blockade of Leningrad can generally be considered a pan-European enterprise. In addition to the Norwegians, the Netherlands Legion, a Belgian battalion, operated near Volkhov. Spanish volunteers from the Blue Division fought here, Finnish and Swedish troops besieged Leningrad from the north, Italian sailors were preparing for battles on Ladoga.
The German historian Müller-Hillebrandt, who during the war was a major general in the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, recalls that many Frenchmen who the Germans refused to enlist in their armed forces were greatly offended.
It all started with the fact that Heinrich Himmler had a conflict with the leadership of the Wehrmacht due to the fact that he tried to take the best for his SS units. The best in terms of physical fitness, health, intellectual state. He really selected the guards, and the Wehrmacht got, as his leadership considered, the second grade, so to speak.
After the army generals "complained" to Hitler, a limit was set for Himmler to call up Germans to the guard units. But Himmler quickly found a way out, he began to recruit representatives of the so-called Volksdeutsch, Germans living outside Germany, into his units. It could be Germans from Holland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, and anywhere.
“I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as a leader, to be loyal and brave. I vow to obey you and the chief appointed by you until death. And so help me God.” This is a fragment of the oath of European volunteers of the Waffen SS upon entry into service.
Unlike the oath that the Germans took, the text did not mention Hitler as Chancellor of the Reich, this is a kind of psychological trick that this is not a service in the ranks of the German occupiers, but in the pan-European parts of the SS.
Among the Alpine riflemen there were also not only Germans, in total there were twelve mountain rifle divisions, of which two were Austrian, one was from Yugoslav Germans, one was from Bosnian Muslims, another consisted of Albanians, and another included both Austrians and Norwegians. So we can assume that every second German mountain shooter was born outside the borders of the Third Reich in 1937.
Such a large number of volunteers from the European countries captured by Hitler are explained by many reasons, this is the racial theory that was fashionable at that time in Europe and the bright successes of the National Socialist ideology, and simply the desire to profit.
According to Himmler's plans, the racially inferior peoples of the USSR were to be thrown back beyond the Urals, and their numbers were reduced several times. Aryans of Nordic blood were to settle in the occupied territories of the eastern lands.
The Second World War is unique of all wars, never before in history have there been similar cases of mass transition of citizens of the conquered countries to the service of the invaders. Almost a large part of the population voluntarily became under the Nazi banners.
Not only the armed formations of the European Waffen SS and foreign units of the Wehrmacht took part in the war against the USSR, the entire industry of Europe also worked for the military machine of the Third Reich. In the early years of the war, almost every second shell was cast from Swedish ore.
In the summer of 1941, every fourth tank in the German army was Czech or French. Germany won its first victories largely thanks to Scandinavian iron and Swiss optics for sights.
Few people know that the most powerful tank of the Wehrmacht during the attack on the USSR was the French B2. Half of the super-heavy guns that shelled Leningrad and Sevastopol were produced in France and the Czech Republic.
In 1938, in Munich, representatives of England and France treacherously gave Hitler Czechoslovakia. If not for this collusion, Germany, for economic reasons, might not have been able to start a full-scale war.
The Czech defense industry was at that time one of the largest in Europe. From its factories, the Reich received more than one and a half million rifles and pistols, about 4 thousand guns and mortars, over 6600 tanks and self-propelled guns.
Of particular importance for Germany was the supply of raw materials. American oil companies, through their subsidiaries in Latin America, handed Hitler gasoline to the tune of several tens of millions of dollars. Rockefeller's Standard Oil supplied the Third Reich with fuel, lubricants and fuel worth $20 million.
Henry Ford, a big admirer of Hitler, had branches of his enterprises in Germany, which, until the very end of the war, supplied the Germans with very good trucks, only about 40 thousand units. For America, war has become good business.
It is worth noting that in the occupied territory of the USSR, the Germans, out of 32 thousand enterprises, were able to launch only two hundred. They gave products three times less than a country like Poland.
“If we see that Germany is winning, we must help Russia. And if Russia wins, we must help Germany. And let them kill each other in this way as much as possible. It's all for the good of America." This statement was made on June 24, 1941 by future US President Harry Truman to the American newspaper The New York Times.
Neutral countries in the service of the Nazis
“... In the very first days of the war, a German division was passed through the territory of Sweden for operations in Northern Finland. However, the Prime Minister of Sweden, the Social Democrat P. A. Hansson, immediately promised the Swedish people that not a single German division would be allowed through the territory of Sweden and that the country would in no way enter the war against the USSR. Sweden took over the representation of the interests of the USSR in Germany, and yet through Sweden the transit of German military materials to Finland unfolded; German transport ships transported troops there, hiding in the territorial waters of Sweden, and until the winter of 1942/43 they were accompanied by a convoy of the Swedish naval forces. The Nazis achieved the supply of Swedish goods on credit and their transportation mainly on Swedish ships ... "
“... It was Swedish iron ore that was the best raw material for Hitler. After all, this ore contained 60 percent pure iron, while the ore received by the German military machine from other places contained only 30 percent iron. It is clear that the production of military equipment from metal smelted from Swedish ore was much cheaper for the treasury of the Third Reich.
In 1939, the same year when Nazi Germany unleashed the Second World War, 10.6 million tons of Swedish ore were supplied to it. Wow! After April 9, that is, when Germany had already conquered Denmark and Norway, the supply of ore increased significantly. In 1941, 45,000 tons of Swedish ore were supplied daily by sea for the needs of the German military industry. Little by little, Sweden's trade with Nazi Germany increased and, in the end, amounted to 90 percent of all Swedish foreign trade. From 1940 to 1944, the Swedes sold over 45 million tons of iron ore to the Nazis.
The Swedish port of Luleå was specially converted to supply iron ore to Germany through the waters of the Baltic. (And only Soviet submarines after June 22, 1941 at times caused the Swedes great inconvenience, torpedoing Swedish transports, in the holds of which this ore was transported). The supply of ore to Germany continued almost until the moment when the Third Reich had already begun, figuratively speaking, to expire. Suffice it to say that back in 1944, when the outcome of the Second World War was no longer in doubt, the Germans received 7.5 million tons of iron ore from Sweden. Until August 1944, Sweden received Nazi gold through Swiss banks.
In other words, the Norschensflammann wrote, “Swedish iron ore ensured the Germans success in the war. And that was a bitter fact for all Swedish anti-fascists.” However, the Swedish iron ore came to the Germans not only in the form of raw materials.
The world-famous SKF concern, which produced the best ball bearings on the planet, supplied these, not so, at first glance, cunning technical mechanisms to Germany. As many as ten percent of the ball bearings received by Germany came from Sweden, according to Norschensflammann. Anyone, even a person completely inexperienced in military affairs, understands what ball bearings mean for the production of military equipment. Why, without them, not a single tank will move from its place, not a single submarine will go to sea!
Note that Sweden, as noted by Norschensflammann, produced bearings of "special quality and technical characteristics" that Germany could not obtain from anywhere else. The import of bearings from Sweden became especially important for Germany when the VKF bearing factory in Schweinfurt was destroyed in 1943. In 1945, the economist and economic adviser Per Jakobsson provided information that helped disrupt the supply of Swedish bearings to Japan.
Let's think: how many lives were cut short because formally neutral Sweden provided fascist Germany with strategic and military products, without which the flywheel of the Nazi military mechanism would, of course, continue to spin, but certainly not as fast as it was?
In the autumn of 1941, that very cruel autumn when the existence of the entire Soviet state was at stake (and, consequently, the fate of the peoples inhabiting it), King Gustav V Adolf of Sweden sent Hitler a letter in which he wished "the dear Reich Chancellor continued success in the fight against Bolshevism…”
Sweden received even more military orders after the outbreak of World War II. And basically these were orders for Nazi Germany. Neutral Sweden became one of the main economic pillars of the national Reich. Suffice it to say that only in 1943, out of 10.8 million tons of iron ore mined, 10.3 million tons were sent to Germany from Sweden.
Until now, few people know that one of the main tasks of the ships of the Navy of the Soviet Union that fought in the Baltic was not only the fight against fascist ships, but also the destruction of the ships of neutral Sweden, carrying cargo for the Nazis.
Well, what did the Nazis pay with the Swedes for the goods received from them?
Only by the fact that they looted in the territories they occupied and, most of all, in the Soviet occupied territories. The Germans had almost no other resources for settlements with Sweden. So, when you are once again told about "Swedish happiness", remember who and at whose expense the Swedes paid for it.
The war in Europe was more for political influence and for control of territories, the war on the eastern front was a war of annihilation and survival, these are two completely different wars, they just took place simultaneously.
Civilized Europe always diligently erases from the history of the Second World War these shameful facts of its cooperation with the most bloody and inhuman regime of the twentieth century, and this is the truth about the war that needs to be known and remembered.
19th-century English publicist T. J. Dunning: “Capital avoids noise and scolding and is distinguished by its timid nature. This is true, but it is not the whole truth. Capital is afraid of no profit or too little profit, just as nature is afraid of the void. But once sufficient profits are available, capital becomes bold. Provide 10 percent and capital is ready for any use, at 20 percent it becomes lively, at 50 percent it is positively ready to break its head, at 100 percent it defies all human laws, at 300 percent there is no crime that it would not risk, even under pain of the gallows. If noise and scolding are profitable, capital will contribute to both. Proof: smuggling and the slave trade."
