[Trex]

Originally Posted by mrbeast

I do find it rather perverse though that Frenchmen should idolise idolise nazi Germany when it invaded France causing death and destruction.

Fascism, like communism, tended to cross borders quite easily. There was a substantial pre-war Nazi-linked movement in virtually every Western country, including the UK and the USA. Many important people saw fascism as a counterweight against anarchy, communism and, oh yes, 'international Jewry', all of which were seen as bigger threats. The 30s were a time of internal foment and revolution; many nations were suffering serious internal splits in their societies.

If your main worry is communism (and many people considered it a real threat) and if there has been a substantial, perhaps violent, communist movement in your country (and there had been in most), it’s not hard to understand that some people could see the Nazis as a viable defence against the reds, one worthy of support. If you were brought up anti-Semitic (and anti-Semitism was very widespread, including at high levels), anybody willing to take on the ‘Jewish conspiracy’ might be considered with favour. If your country has been overrun in a week and your army made to look like a bunch of boy scouts with gout, you might begin to consider your own society as decadent, corrupt and by extension unworthy and be willing to transfer your loyalty to the strong as a higher loyalty. Milk all this with sophisticated propaganda (and they were damned good at it) and you get a lot of young men willing to serve what should have been their enemy. About the only nationality who did not buy into it were the British – the Legion of St George never got much beyond 30 people.

The Waffen SS at one time or another had 39 divisions. Of these, 15 were formed entirely from non-Germans, including Dutch, French, Hungarian, Belgian, Russian, Italian, Yugoslav, Ukranian, Latvian, Estonian and Albanians. On top of that, there were mixed three more mixed German/foreign divisions with strong contingents from Scandinavia, Latvia and Italy. Then there were still more divisions formed all or in part from ‘ethnic Germans’ – foreigners of German ancestry. The Waffen SS had hundreds of thousands of foreigners in it.

All of that was at a time of war, confusion, state propaganda and such. While it does not excuse treason, it does to some extent help to understand it. With what we know today, the odds of a French Waffen SS starting again are pretty slim.

Which leads us back to Point One – when stupidity is sufficient excuse, don’t bother looking further.