|
Many of the Waffen SS divisions were made up of foreign Nazis who could join the SS but not the Heer. It is ironic that in the fighing in Berlin in the last days of the war, the German troops included French and Scandinavian SS members.
From 1942 onwards, many of the German police regiments in the East were incorporated into the SS and, even if they joined Waffen SS formations, many had previously been implicated in the Holocaust to various extents. The dividing line between the SS and the police was not sharply drawn, starting with Himmler in his role as RFSS and head of German Police. You could even say that Himmler himself served in a Waffen SS capacity during the short period at the end of the war when he was a disaster in the role of Army Group commander.
Later in the war, I believe that there was direct conscription in Germany into the SS though, so these individuals were not tainted by being volunteers.
I just don't think the Waffen SS as a whole can be that clearly distinguished from the rest of the SS, even if some units and individuals can be.
__________________
Angie
"History is lived forward but it is written in retrospect. We know the end before we consider the beginning and we can never wholly recapture what it was like to know the beginning only." C V Wedgewood
|