Nazi ideology was based on the premise that the Aryan race was an élite among nationalities. Similarly, the Waffen-SS was the ideological and racial élite of Nazi Germany. Recruitment and training reflected this, and only those foreigners deemed "racially acceptable" were accepted into its ranks.

The role of the Waffen-SS

Although the Waffen-SS was primarily an armed force at Hitler's disposal for the maintenance of order inside Germany, Hitler also decreed that in time of war it was to serve at the front under army command. He believed that frontline experience for the Waffen-SS was essential if such a force was to command the respect of the German people. He also insisted that its human material was to be of the highest calibre, and so restricted the size of the Waffen-SS to between five and ten percent of the peacetime strength of the German Army.

German Army training

Unlike many armies, the German Army's recruits were immediately placed in their branch of service at the beginning of their basic training, which lasted three weeks. The recruits were also exposed to an above-average amount of multi-disciplinary training. Thus, those in the artillery arm would learn how to use radios; signals troops would learn how to fire heavy machine guns and so on. Nazi Germany used a system of Wehrkreis (military districts) to recruit and train troops, with a total of 21 districts at the height of the Nazi conquests. The Ersatzheer (Replacement Army), which was formed in 1938 and revised in 1942, administered these 21 districts.

Waffen-SS training

The Waffen-SS was under the Replacement Army system, but maintained a degree of independence with its own supply and weapons depots, training camps and military schools. From the beginning, it was intended that the Waffen-SS would benefit from the highest standards of training available. Two highly regarded former army officers, Paul Hausser and Felix Steiner, were recruited for this purpose. The SS-Hauptamt (Main Office), established on 30 July 1935, organized all branches of the SS, and a special Inspectorate of the SS-Verfügungstruppe was also created on 1 October 1936 to supervise military training. The new inspectorate had the objective of moulding the mainly ill-trained and far-flung units of the Waffen-SS into an efficient fighting force. SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser, who was to become known affectionately as "Papa" Hausser to his men, was chosen as the Inspector of the SS-Verfügungstruppe, although he had only just been appointed inspector of the SS-Junkerschulen (Officer Schools) at Bad Tölz and Braunschweig (both came into existence in 1934). Once established, Hausser began attracting increasing numbers of former police officials and German Army noncommissioned officers (NCOs) into the fledgling SS-Verfügungstruppe.

The highest standards

Hausser readily accepted the responsibility for the organization and training of the SS-Verfügungstruppe, which enabled him to formulate the directives and codes of practice it was to use. Hausser remained in his post until the outbreak of World War II, when he took command of the Das Reich Division. During the war, the SS established two additional Junker schools at Klagenfurt in Austria and Prague in Czechoslovakia.

The Waffen-SS offered advancement to promising candidates regardless of their education or social standing, but those charged with grooming the new SS élite set their sights high. They called their academies Junkerschulen (schools for young nobles) and devised a curriculum to transform the sons of farmers and artisans into officers and gentlemen. For some, this required basic training in matters that were not exclusively military. For example, incoming cadets were issued an etiquette manual that defined table manners. Correct form was further encouraged through cultural activities and lectures on Nazi ideology. When off-duty, officers and men addressed each other as "kamerad". Locks were forbidden on wardrobes (much emphasis was placed on trust), and obedience was unconditional at all times.

Officer candidates

On selection to the SS school, the individual was designated an SS-Führeranwärter, or SS officer candidate. After completing the initial phase, he became an SS-Standartenjunker. Towards the end of the training period, the commandant of the SS-Junkerschule bestowed the designation of SS-Junker on qualified personnel, and when achieving this position the SS-Junker put on the rank insignia of an SS-Scharführer. Upon successful completion of training, but before being commissioned to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer, the officer candidate was elevated to the position of SS-Oberjunker, and was thus authorized to wear the rank insignia of an SS-Hauptscharführer.

Felix Steiner

At the heart of training was a mixture of athletics and field exercises designed to turn the Junkers into commanders. Thus, the facilities at Bad Tölz included a stadium for soccer, track and field events, separate halls for boxing, gymnastics and indoor ball games, and a heated swimming pool and sauna. The complex attracted outstanding talent. At one time, for example, eight of twelve coaches at Bad Tölz were national champions in their events.

Felix Steiner was the luminary when it came to the actual training programme of the Waffen-SS. He was 16 years Hausser's junior, and his motto was "sweat saves blood". Steiner believed strongly in the creation of élite, highly mobile groups whose training put the emphasis on individual responsibility and military teamwork rather than on rigid obedience to the rule book. His ideas had been formulated and refined during World War I, when he served as the commander of a machine-gun company, witnessing the formation of "battle groups", which had greatly impressed him. They were made up from selected men, withdrawn from the trenches and formed into ad hoc assault groups. Specially trained for close-quarter fighting, usually carried out at night, they wreaked havoc in their trench raids, employing individualized weapons such as knuckle-dusters, cluster grenades and entrenching tools sharpened like razors. The enemy's customary notification of an impending attack, a long artillery barrage, was often dispensed with, thus reinforcing the element of surprise.

Steiner's programme

As their value became recognized, Steiner's reforms gradually filtered throughout the SS hierarchy. In concert with the "battle group" ideology, his training stressed three main points: physical fitness, "character" and weapons training. He structured a recruit's day with a rigorous hour-long physical training session beginning at 06:00 hours, with a pause afterwards for breakfast of porridge and mineral water. Intensive weapons training followed, then target practice and unarmed combat sessions. The day was broken by a hearty lunch, then resumed with a comparatively short but intensive drill session. The afternoon was then punctuated by a stint of scrubbing, cleaning, scouring and polishing and rounded off with a run or a couple of hours on the sports field. As a result of his men spending more time on the athletics fields and in cross-country running than on the parade ground, they developed standards of fitness and endurance enabling them to perform such feats as covering 3km (1.8 miles) in full kit in 20 minutes, feats that could not be matched by either army recruits or members of the Leibstandarte (who spent a lot of time on the parade square, hence their nickname "asphalt soldiers").

Ideology and passing out

The training programme stressed aggressiveness and included live-firing exercises. It was interrupted three times a week by ideological lectures, which included understanding the Führerprinzip (leadership principle) and unravelling the meanings of Hitler's Mein Kampf (ideology formed an important element in examinations, and was responsible for failing one candidate in three during the five-month course).

For the successful candidates, there was a passing-out parade where they took the SS oath, at 22:00 hours on the occasion of the 9 November anniversary celebrations of the Munich Putsch. This took place in Hitler's presence before the Feldherrnhalle and the 16 smoking obelisks, each of which bore the name of a fallen party member. The oath was a major ingredient in the SS mystique, binding each successful candidate in unswerving loyalty to Adolf Hitler.

The price of excellence

Bad Tölz and Braunschweig were the premier Waffen-SS training centres for officers from their inception in 1934 until the end of the war. By 1937, the SS schools were graduating more than 400 officers a year, in two sets of classes. These officers were very well-trained and in due course often later earned distinguished military reputations. The spirited aggressiveness taught at the school was not without cost, though, for by 1942 nearly 700 Waffen-SS officers had been killed in action, including almost all of the 60 graduates of the 1934-35 Bad Tölz class. During the war, the Junker schools accepted recruits from occupied countries. Most foreigners enlisted to fight the Soviet Union, so the SS lectures shifted from the sanctity of Nordic blood to the evils of Bolshevism.

The SS Recruiting Office

Himmler established an SS Recruiting Office within the SS-Hauptamt on 1 December 1939. The running of this office was entrusted to the steady hands of Gottlob Berger. The armed forces were unwilling to relinquish the cream of German manhood to the SS as they were suspicious of all paramilitary forces outside their control. Their passive resistance made Berger's task of locating the recruits who were required all the more difficult. His pool comprised those who were too young and too old to be eligible for military service in the German armed forces, and by 1940 the SS was having difficulties in finding recruits. However, Berger was able to circumvent the armed forces' restrictions by recruiting from abroad. He availed himself of Himmler's contacts outside the Reich to encourage ethnic Germans living abroad, as well as non-Germans of Nordic blood, to enlist. Not only were these groups allowed to become members of the SS, they were also exempt from conscription in the German armed forces. By May 1940, more than 100 foreigners were serving with the Waffen-SS. Following the defeat of France in the summer of 1940, a vast recruiting ground had opened up, over which the Wehrmacht had no jurisdiction.

In preparation for the attack on Russia, the German Army was expanded, but the SS was allowed to recruit only three percent of the newly enlisted age groups, which meant that it had to fall back on foreign manpower. Hitler was insistent that the Waffen-SS should remain a small, exclusive police force, but he did agree to the formation of a new SS division on condition that mainly foreigners were recruited. In addition, his own personal bodyguard was to be expanded from a regiment to a brigade.

The search for manpower

From the beginning of the war, German recruits had been apportioned on the basis of 66 percent to the army, 8 percent to the navy and 25 percent to the air force. Those for the Waffen-SS were subtracted from the army's percentage on a quota established by Hitler himself. During the Polish and French campaigns, German casualties had been moderate. From its share of the available German manpower, the SS had been able to replenish its losses, but it would be forced to cast its net further afield for its replacements when it began to look as if the war would last longer than expected. Hitler's decision to invade the USSR was announced in July 1940. One of the first to be informed was Himmler, who wasted no time in informing Berger. On 7 August 1940, he drew up his SS manpower forecast.

In August 1940, there was still a strong possibility that England would be invaded, thus the navy and air force were demanding an increase of their percentages to 40 and 10 percent respectively. Berger estimated that 18,000 recruits per year would be required by the SS, but assumed that it would receive only 12,000 men, or two percent. Consequently, the Germanic areas of Western Europe, together with the ethnic German populations of southeastern Europe, were the areas where recruiting should begin in earnest. As long as the SS recruited personnel who were not available to the Wehrmacht, Berger did not anticipate any objections. He also requested permission to establish a recruiting office to deal with foreign countries.

Western Europe

In Western Europe, Berger's recruiting staff had sufficient response to form two new regiments, Nordland and Westland, and to make the new Germania Division, later named Wiking, a feasible proposition. Nevertheless, when the first enthusiastic rush of pro-German and National Socialist volunteers had been signed up, recruiting figures began to drop. Even when an existing SS regiment, Germania, was transferred to the new formation, and other Reich Germans provided cadres, there were still large gaps in its ranks. When the Soviet Union was invaded, for example, the Wiking Division contained Reich and ethnic Germans to such an extent that a mere 630 Dutchmen, 294 Norwegians, 216 Danes, 1 Swede and 1 Swiss were to be found in its ranks.

The anti-Bolshevik crusade

German diplomatic agencies received offers of help from individuals living in the occupied countries, as well as in the Independent State of Croatia and in neutral Spain and Portugal following the German attack on the Soviet Union. The German Government decided to accept these offers of assistance and to establish contingents of foreign nationals. On 29 June 1941, Hitler gave his formal approval to the establishment of legions for foreigners who wished to take part in the crusade against the Soviet Union. Legions from the Germanic countries were to be the responsibility of the Waffen-SS, while the German Army was to organize those from non-Germanic countries. A Spanish formation was established on 25 June, and almost simultaneously Danish and Norwegian units were brought into being.

The German Foreign Office convened a meeting of interested parties on 30 June 1941. Represented at the meeting were the Foreign Office, the SS-Führungshauptamt, the Foreign Section of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), the German Plenipotentiary in Copenhagen and the Foreign Section of the Nazi Party. Its brief was to settle the details pertaining to the formation of the new units. Because of international law, it was agreed that non-German volunteers were to fight in German uniforms but would wear national badges. It was not envisaged that German citizenship would be conferred upon the volunteers, but they were to receive the same pay and allowances as German serviceman while those with previous military experience would hold ranks equivalent to their former ones. The meeting also considered how the volunteers were to be organized. It was decided that they should be deployed only in closed units, some of which had already been formed. The Waffen-SS, being responsible for volunteers from the Germanic countries, had already set up a Freikorps in Denmark and a Freiwilligenverband in Norway, both independent of Regiment Nordland, a separate Freiwillingenkorps for the Netherlands and the Flemish parts of Belgium, in addition to and independent of Regiment Westland.

Spanish recruits

The Wehrmacht was responsible for the large volunteer formations that were being created by the Falangist Party and the Spanish armed forces. Spaniards were to serve in both the army and air force, but there was to be no separate Falangist formation. The High Command of the Wehrmacht wanted Croats to serve in all three branches of the military, to which end a Croatian volunteer formation was to be set up under its control. Those foreigners already serving in the Waffen-SS had signed on for two years, the duration of the war or for an agreed period, but the Wehrmacht had not yet decided on the length of engagement for its volunteers.

Nordic volunteers

The delegates expected that other European countries would yield few volunteers. It was agreed not to approach the Swiss Government or to launch an appeal for Swiss recruits, but Swiss volunteers were to be accepted if they presented themselves (in fact, some Swiss were already serving in the Waffen-SS). The conference reached no decision about whether Walloons and Frenchmen were to be accepted. Finns could hardly be expected to volunteer for the German Army when Finland was already fighting the Soviet Union, though some were already serving in Regiment Nordland. Swedes would probably prefer to volunteer for the Finnish armed forces, but if enough came forward a Swedish Volunteer Corps could be formed under the auspices of the SS. If equipping and training of Swedish volunteers was outside the capacity of the Finnish Army to cope with, they were to be directed to German reception centres. It was also considered probable that a number of Danes would prefer the Finnish forces. Portugal was expected to produce few volunteers, but if enough presented themselves there was the possibility of incorporating them in the Spanish formation. In fact, no Portuguese legion was formed, and it is doubtful if any Portuguese volunteered at all.

For the German Army, Hitler's newly authorized non-German legions did not represent an important increase in size, but for the Waffen-SS they provided a considerable accession of strength. Himmler was interested only in raising legions of Danes, Norwegians, Dutchmen and Flemings on racial grounds. The SS could have had a far larger share of Western European manpower but for this policy. Although in need of additional manpower, it relinquished to the army the Walloon Legion that it had sponsored because Himmler maintained that Walloons were not Germanic and that their presence in the SS might offend the Flemings.

Maintaining racial purity

In some cases, the Germans opposed enlistment. Russian émigrés had expressed a willingness to serve the Germans, but they were to be refused. However, some White Russians served as interpreters, and others served in both the French Volunteer Legion and in the Danish Freikorps. Czechs of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia who offered their assistance were not to be accepted. The newly occupied Baltic areas were to be dealt with by the local German military commander while Balts in Germany who presented themselves were to be dealt with in a derogatory manner.

Himmler probably thought that it was just not worthwhile compromising the racial purity of the SS for the sake of short-lived units that might never see action (a long campaign against the Soviet Union was not anticipated in the summer of 1941). In any case, the SS would have had difficulty in providing facilities and cadres for a division of Spaniards, a regiment each of Frenchmen and Croats, and a battalion of Walloons, in addition to those already employed - even if it had wanted to.

Finland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Italy were allied with Germany. Small as they were, their legions had considerable propaganda value. The presence of Western Europeans and Croats in the ranks of the German forces gave Germany's act of aggression the semblance of a European crusade against Bolshevism.

Physical requirements

Apart from meeting the strict racial standards of the SS, volunteers for the Waffen-SS had to be perfect physical specimens. They signed on for an initial period of four years before the war. For the most part, volunteers came from the ranks of the Hitler Youth via the Allgemeine-SS. In 1938, Himmler authorized the enlistment of Germanics into the Waffen-SS. Now, SS men needed only to be of Germanic origin, provided that they were of Nordic blood. By the end of the year, 20 foreign volunteers had been accepted. In the Waffen-SS, one could enlist for as long as 12 years and become eligible for German citizenship. Like their German comrades, foreigners could on retirement take up a career in the German police or civil service or receive land in the Incorporated Territories.

Racial criteria

Foreign nationals who volunteered for service in the Germanic legions found their conditions of acceptance were less stringent than those for the Waffen-SS. Candidates still had to be able to prove Aryan decent for two generations, and to possess an "upright" character. They also had to be between 17 and 40 years of age, although for former officers and NCOs the upper age limit was raised. The minimum height was reduced to 1.65m (5.5ft) and later disregarded. They received the same pay and allowances as members of the Waffen-SS, and were subject to the same penal code. They wore the uniform of the Waffen-SS but with additional national insignia. Those accepted into the legions were not members of the Waffen-SS but of units attached to it. The material inducements for joining the legions were less than those of the Waffen-SS for the simple reason that the legions were a temporary creation, in which a volunteer was not expected to make a career. In many cases, the legionnaires were not affected by the advantages that other nationals received when they joined the Waffen-SS proper.

A badge for Nordic principles

Himmler wanted a badge that would be available to both the General SS in Germany and the Germanic SS abroad, and which would not only require a high standard in various sports but also ability in military activities and National Socialist ideology. But the badge had to reflect all of the Nordic principles, and be an emblem of commitment to the SS. On a much grander scale, he aimed at strengthening the pan-Germanic idea within the entire political SS organization.

The badge that Himmler introduced was called the Germanic Proficiency Runes, and its very design was geared to appeal particularly to the Germanic SS. The two runes of the SS were superimposed upon a mobile swastika, the formation sign of the Wiking Division, and later adopted by III Germanic SS Panzer Corps (made up largely of volunteers from Germanic countries). The badge was instituted in two grades, bronze and silver, with a higher standard required for the attainment of the silver. It was worn in the centre of the left breast pocket of the service uniform.

The Germanic Proficiency Runes

From his headquarters on 15 August 1943, Himmler officially introduced the Germanic Proficiency Runes. In the institution document, he stated that it, "should be an example in physical training and tests in the use of weapons in the National Socialist spirit, and confirmation of the voluntary attainment of the Germanic joint destiny". Physical requirements for award of the badge included the sprint, long jump, grenade throwing, swimming, shooting and camouflage skills (observation and description of objective), climbing and digging trenches.

The Germanic Proficiency Runes were open to members of the German General SS. Although all four branches of the Germanic SS were eligible, and the rules and requirements were published in the newspapers of each, record has only been found of awards in Holland, Denmark and Norway. It is possible that the runes were awarded to members of the Flemish SS, but as this formation was on the decline in 1944 it is believed that none of its members received them. Only one presentation ceremony is recorded for each of the three countries concerned, although there may have been others later in the war.

Presenting the award

The awards of the Germanic Proficiency Runes in Denmark were made at Hovelte on 2 June 1944 by Berger. The presentation took place at a memorial ceremony for SS volunteers from Denmark killed in action, and in fact the test schedule had been timed so that the results would be ready for this ceremony. Berger spoke of the Danish SS volunteers killed in action, and how "their spirits could rest in peace knowing that new columns of Germanic fighters stood behind them". He stated that it was in the memory of the dead Danish SS volunteers and in their spirit that the first Germanic Proficiency Runes were being awarded on Danish soil. No details are available of the number of badges awarded, or of the recipients. However, photographs suggest that the badges went to members of the Schalburg Corps, who were wearing black service uniforms.

The only recorded awards of the Germanic Proficiency Runes in Norway were made at the Norwegian SS school on 16 August 1944, when the Higher SS and Police Leader in Norway, SS-Obergruppenführer Rediess, acting on instructions from Himmler, awarded 10 in silver and 15 in bronze to members of the Norwegian SS.

Rediess spoke of the badge's meaning, and how the 25 recipients had, though their behaviour, been a good example to their comrades in the Germanic SS and to the youth of Norway. After the awards, Rediess made a short speech on the meaning of the SS victory runes and the sun-wheel swastika design of the badge.

Once the SS Main Office handed over Waffen-SS training to the SS-Führungshauptamt (SS-FHA), it was left with only ideological training, physical training and vocational training through its Branch C - offices CI, CII and CIII respectively. It was CII that was responsible for the testing. SS-Standartenführer der Reserve Herbert Edler von Daniels, Chef SS Hauptamt Amt C II, was the commanding officer and authorizing signatory for the test document. The office was in Prague, and it was here that the tests were now taken, with exams being held in the Beneshau/Prague area of Czechoslovakia. The first recorded test following on from those in Norway was held from 23 September 1944 until 26 September 1944, then from 26 October 1944 until 29 October 1944, and the last from 6 March 1945 until 9 March 1945.