Adolf Hitler and the Army of Mankind

     Let's hear what great men and women thought about the man who began it all...

[Above: John F. Kennedy]

  • 'Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived... He had in him the stuff of which legends are made.'
    -John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America, diary, European trip, 1937: July 1st through September 3rd.

    [Above: Hans Frank]

  • 'Hitler is lonely. So is God. Hitler is like God.'
    -Hans Frank, Governor-General of the General Government (1939 - 1945)

    [Above: Anne Morrow Lindbergh]

  • 'Hitler is a very great man, like an inspired religious leader, and as such rather fanatical, but not scheming, not selfish, not greedy for power, but a mystic, a visionary who really wants the best for his country.'
    -Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of famous aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh

    [Above: Rudolf Hess]

  • 'Normally the great men that we admire from a distance lose their magic when one knows them well. With Hitler the opposite is true.'
    -Rudolf Hess, Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler (1933 - 1941)

  • 'I know no one who has a stronger conscience, or is more true to his people, than Adolf Hitler... The Führer's highest court is his conscience and his responsibility to his people and to history.'
    -Rudolf Hess, from a 1934 speech.

  • 'This head of state was one of the most significant personalities in the history of the world, and that, not as a destructive force, no, that of a creative, building, constructive force. History will one day recognize this.
    The figure of the Führer will stand like a beacon over the centuries, Adolf Hitler will be honored as one of the greatest pathfinders and benefactors of mankind.'
    -Rudolf Hess, 1947.

    [Above: Sir Stephen Henry Roberts]

  • 'I think that he [Adolf Hitler] is primarily a dreamer, a visionary. His mind, nurtured by the other-worldness of the Alpine scenery round his mountain retreat of Berchtesgaden, runs to visions; and I have heard his intimates say that, even in cabinet meetings when vital questions of policy are being discussed, he is dreaming--thinking of the light that never was on sea or land, the consecration and the poet's dream.

    ...He is so transparently honest when he is weaving visions of his own creation that nobody can doubt him. He is ready, like a medieval saint, to go through fire and water for his beliefs... He sees himself as a crusader; he thinks the whole time of saving mankind. That is why he reaches such a stage of mystical exaltation when he talks about saving the world from Bolshevism. It is the old Siegfried complex once again. Just as the young German knight of old went out into the dim, dark forests to kill dragons, so he goes out to exterminate Bolshevism.'
    -Sir Stephen Henry Roberts (February 16, 1901 - 1971) was an Australian academic, author, historian, international analyst and university vice-chancellor. Roberts visited Germany from 1935-1937 and interviewed Adolf Hitler, writing his impressions for his 1937 book 'The House That Hitler Built'. The above quotation is from said book.

    [Above: Hans Siegel]

  • '...Naturally the media is false in America and Germany. After the war the people of Germany had to say they were against Hitler. They had to say that, otherwise they would be punished, because if the truth about Hitler ever came out people would lose their faith and religion just like the liars of the Old Testament. The media watches like hell to make sure the truth doesn't come out.'
    -Hans Siegel, Sturmbannführer (Major) in the Waffen-SS during WWII. One of the war's bravest soldiers, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and was wounded a whopping nine times in combat.

    [Above: Johanna Wolf]

  • 'I saw myself that he created a frenzy because of his personality and that strange force that emanated from him...
    In addition, his intelligence, his personality and his charm were irresistible for men and for women alike. He was like a tidal wave when you were with him.'

    -Johanna Wolf, February 24, 1948.

    [Above: William Lyon Mackenzie King]

  • 'My sizing up of the man [Hitler] as I sat and talked with him was that he is really one who truly loves his fellow-man, and his country, and would make any sacrifice for their good. He is a man of deep sincerity and a genuine patriot. As I talked with him, I could not but think of Joan of Arc. The world will yet come to see a very great man. He is distinctly a mystic…'
    -William Lyon Mackenzie King, prime minister of Canada for 18½ years, taken from his diary entry of June 29, 1937.

    [Above: Joseph Goebbels]

  • 'Do not seek Adolf Hitler with your mind. You will find him through the strength of your hearts.'
    -Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda and Chancellor of Germany

  • 'He is the creative instrument of fate and Deity, I stand by him deeply shaken... He seems like a prophet of old...'
    -Joseph Goebbels, as written in his diary, circa 1925

    [Above: Leon Degrelle]

  • 'Hitler is always present before my eyes: as a man of peace in 1936, as a man of war in 1944. It is not possible to have been a personal witness to the life of such an extraordinary man without being marked by it forever. Not a day goes by but Hitler rises again in my memory, not as a man long dead, but as a real being who paces his office floor, seats himself in his chair, pokes the burning logs in the fireplace.'
    -Leon Degrelle, 'The Enigma of Hitler', Waffen-SS Standartenführer and Walloonian Rexist Party leader

  • 'After 1945 Hitler was accused of every cruelty, but it was not in his nature to be cruel. He loved children. It was an entirely natural thing for him to stop his car and share his food with young cyclists along the road. Once he gave his raincoat to a derelict plodding in the rain. At midnight he would interrupt his work and prepare the food for his dog Blondi. He could not eat meat, because it meant the death of a living creature...'
    -Leon Degrelle, 'The Enigma of Hitler'

    [Above: Lloyd George]

  • 'I have never seen a happier people than the Germans. Hitler is one of the greatest men I have ever met.'
    - Lloyd George, British premier during World War I, after a visit to Germany in 1936, was quoted in the Daily Telegraph of 22nd September of that year

  • 'Yes, Heil Hitler. I, too, say that because he is truly a great man.'
    - Lloyd George, In the Service for Germany

    [Above: Jurgen Stroop]

  • 'How could they consider harming their Führer? Adolf Hitler was placed on earth by a higher power, perhaps Wotan himself, to fulfill a sacred mission.'
    -Jurgen Stroop, Vizefeldwebel SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of Waffen-SS and Polizei, commenting on the cowardly July 20, 1944 bomb plot on Adolf Hitler's life.

    [Above: Sven Hedin]

  • 'A man who within the space of four years has raised his people from the very lowest depths to self-consciousness, pride, discipline, and power deserves the gratitude of his fellow citizens and the admiration of mankind.'
    -Sven Hedin speaking of Adolf Hitler. Hedin was an incredibly famous Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer, and illustrator of his own works.

    [Above: Col. General Alfred Jodl]

  • 'He acted like all heroes in history act, and they will continue to act that way. He let himself be buried in the ruins of his Reich and his hopes. Condemn him whoever may—I cannot.'
    -Col. General Alfred Jodl before the Allied tribunal at Nuremberg in 1946, speaking of Adolf Hitler

  • 'I admired the Führer when he laid out his strategy for the west campaign, but I was much more impressed during the last weeks by his unbelievable energy and will power, his faith and suggestive strength which held the staggering eastern front and avoided a catastrophe. A leader-personality of outstanding greatness.'
    -Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command, The Artist Within the Warlord, pg.105, by Carolyn Yeager & Wilhelm Kriessmann,

    [Above: Idi Amin Dada]

  • 'Although some people felt Adolf Hitler was bad, he was a great man...'
    -Idi Amin Dada, boxer, soldier and President of Uganda (1971 to 1979).
    Despite negative propaganda from his enemies Idi has been described by a former British commander as 'an incredible person who certainly isn't mad - very shrewd, very cunning and a born leader.'

    [Above: Joachim von Ribbentrop]

  • 'Even with all I know, if in this cell Hitler should come to me and say "Do this!", I would still do it.'
    -Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Ambassador to the Court of St. James, loyal to the end, even after the Allied International Military Tribunal found him guilty on all counts and sentenced to death.

    [Above: Muhammad Anwar El Sadat]

  • 'My dear Hitler... I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart.
    Even if you appear to have been defeated, in reality you are the victor.'
    -Muhammad Anwar El Sadat, third President of Egypt (December 25, 1918 – October 6, 1981)

    [Above: Norwegian author extraordinaire Knut Hamsun]

  • 'Adolf Hitler

    I'm not worthy to speak up for Adolf Hitler, and to any sentimental rousing his life and deeds do not invite.

    Hitler was a warrior, a warrior for humankind and a preacher of the gospel of justice for all nations.

    He was a reforming character of the highest order, and his historical fate was that he functioned in a time of unequalled brutality, which in the end felled him.

    Thus may the ordinary Western European look at Adolf Hitler. And we, his close followers, bow our heads at his death...'
    -Knut Hamsun, at the age of 86, the Nobel laureate novelist wrote this eulogy of Adolf Hitler in the newspaper Aftenposten in 1945.

    [Above: Leni Riefenstahl]

  • 'Do you believe in God?' I asked, gazing at him directly.
    Hitler looked at me in surprise, then smiled and said:
    'Yes – I believe in a divine power, not in the dogmas of the Church, although I consider them necessary. I believe in God and in a divine destiny.'
    He turned away then and, folding his hands, gazed into the distance.
    'And when the time is ripe, a new Messiah will come – he doesn't have to be a Christian, but he will found a new religion that will change the world.'
    -Leni Riefenstahl, Memoirs, pg. 211.

    [Above: Per Engdahl]

  • 'Words are too poor to express what we owe this man, who is a symbol of the best of what the world has produced. We can only celebrate him as the god-sent rescuer of Europe.'
    -Written on April 20, 1944, on the occasion of Hitler's 55th birthday, by Swedish National Socialist and author Per Engdahl (1909–1994).

    [Above: Prabhupada]

  • '...He was a good man... Therefore he did not drop the atomic bomb... therefore I don't believe that he killed so many Jews in concentration camps.'
    -Prabhupada (1896-1977), Morning Walk, October 8, 1972, Berkeley.
    Prabhupada is widely regarded as the foremost Vedic scholar, translator, and teacher of the modern era.

    [Above: Paula Hitler]

  • 'Your names will die with your body, forgotten and decayed. While the name Adolf Hitler lights up still and will blaze! You cannot kill it...'
    -'Mein Bruder' by Paula Hitler, Adolf Hitler's sister, Berchtesgaden, May 1957

    [Above: Victor Ridder]

  • 'A man of peace [...] one of the most sincere, honest and open men I have ever spoken to.'
    -Victor Ridder, 1933, after spending eight weeks in Germany and meeting Adolf Hitler. Ridder was a civic leader and newspaper publisher of the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, a highly influential daily paper among German-Americans.

    [Above: Dr. Noureddine Tarraf]

  • 'Hitler is the man of my life. The German dictator had been an ideal leader who dedicated his life to the realization of his noble ambition. He never lived for himself but for Germany and the German people. I have always wished to live like him.'
    -Dr. Noureddine Tarraf, Egyptian Minister of Health, 1950s

    [Above: Hermann Göring]

  • 'After a certain period of time, when I had acquired more insight into the Führer's personality, I gave him my hand and said: "I unite my fate with yours for better or for worse: I dedicate myself to you in good times and in bad, even unto death." I really meant it-and still do.'
    -Hermann Göring, President of the Reichstag and WWI hero pilot

  • 'We National Socialists believe that the Führer is simply infallible in all matters concerning the national and social interests of the people... It is something mystical, inexpressible, almost incomprehensible which this unique man possesses, and he who cannot feel it instictively cannot, in turn, understand it. We love Adolf Hitler -- because we believe deeply and unswervingly that God has sent him to save Germany.'
    -Hermann Göring

    [Above: George Orwell]

  • 'I should like to put it on record that I have never been able to dislike Adolf Hitler... The fact is that there is something deeply appealing about him… the face of a man suffering under intolerable wrongs... He is the martyr, the victim, Prometheus chained to the rock, the self-sacrificing hero who fights single-handed against impossible odds... One feels, as with Napoleon, that he is fighting against destiny, that he can't win, and yet that he somehow deserves to.'
    -George Orwell, reviewing Mein Kampf, 1940.

    [Above: Hamburger Zeitung]

  • 'He once said: "I wish nothing on my gravestone other than my name." Even his name will probably not stand over his grave, for we know that he must have perished while fighting bitterly in the Reich Chancellery. We know that the enemy will be able to find a body in the ruins caused by countless artillery shells and flame throwers, and that they may say that it is the Führer's body, but we will not believe it. If the enemy says that, we will not believe it. That his body is dead we believe, what is mortal of him has perished, has passed away, but he has fulfilled his most beautiful oath, this affirmation: "The most valuable thing God has given me on this world is my people. My faith rests on it, I serve it with my will, and I give my life to it."
    His life is fulfilled. He began by fighting for his people, and he ended that way. A life of battle.'
    -Hermann Okraß, 'Abschied von Hitler' (Farewell to Hitler), Hamburger Zeitung, May 2, 1945

    [Above: Rev. Franklin Nathaniel Daniel Buchman]

  • 'I thank Heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defense against the anti-Christ of Communism.'
    -Rev. Franklin Nathaniel Daniel Buchman

    [Above: Hans-Ulrich Rudel]

  • 'He was a genius. A true genius. One of the greatest geniuses the world has ever known. Mark my word... one day the world will recognize this.'
    -Hans-Ulrich Rudel, Stuka dive-bomber pilot during World War II. The most highly decorated German serviceman of the war. A true hero of heroes.

    [Above: James Addison Baker]

  • 'We painted Hitler as a monster, a devil. And that's why we could not move away from that portrayal after the war. We had mobilized the masses against the devil incarnate. And so we were forced to continue in this satanic scenario after the war. We could not possibly have explained to our people that the war had actually been only a preventative economic measure.'
    -James Addison Baker, Secretary of State of the United States

    [Above: Gertrud Sholtz-Klink]

  • 'Hitler is endless proof of God's love and blessing for which we ever must be grateful.'
    -Gertrud Sholtz-Klink, head of the National Socialist Women's League (1934 - 1945)

    [Above: Louis Bertrand]

  • 'I ask myself what other ruler was ever as celebrated, as revered, as loved and idolized as this man in the brown shirt...'
    -Louis Bertrand, French journalist, referring to Adolf Hitler at the 1937 Reich Party rally in Nuremberg

    [Above: Arno Breker]

  • 'Adolf Hitler was an absolute genius. He was years ahead of all of his followers. No one could come near him or understand him.'
    -Arno Breker, architect and sculptor

    [Above: Ben Klassen]

  • '...the greatest man in history, whose name was Adolf Hitler... he was the greatest white man who ever lived and the greatest leader that the white race ever had. He has influenced not only our lives, but the whole world.'
    -From a sermon by Rev. Ben Klassen, 1989

    [Above: Nicolaus von Below]

  • 'We recognized Hitler in all honesty as a great man... for whose achievements we would always have respect... Spiritually the flame in him [...] burned brightly.'
    -Nicolaus von Below, Hitler's Luftwaffe Adjutant, from his book 'At Hitler's Side', pg 241, (c)2001

  • 'The National Socialism that Hitler preached for and whose characteristics were presented in his book My Struggle [Mein Kampf]... this National Socialism did not die with the death of its herald. Rather, its seeds multiplied under each star... '
    -Introduction to an Arab edition of Mein Kampf

    [Above: Harold Sidney Harmsworth]

  • 'He [Adolf Hitler] has a supreme intellect. I have known only two other men to whom I could apply such distinction - Lord Northcliffe and Lloyd George. If one puts a question to Hitler, he gives an immediate, brilliant clear answer. There is no human being living whose promise on important matters I would trust more readily. He believes that Germany has a Divine calling and that the German people are destined to save Europe from the revolutionary attacks of Communism. He values family life very highly, whereas Communism is its worst enemy. He has thoroughly cleansed the moral, ethical life of Germany...
    No words can describe his politeness; he disarms men as well as women and can win both at any time with his conciliatory, pleasant smile. He is a man of rare culture. His knowledge of music, the arts and architecture is profound.'
    -Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, newspaper pioneer, 'Warnings and Predictions', p. 180 - 183. Rothermere was a deep admirer of Adolf Hitler. The London 'Express' newspaper quoted him as addressing him as 'My dear Führer' and 'Adolf the Great'. He described Adolf Hitler's work as 'great and superhuman.'

    [Above: Baldur von Schirach]

  • 'Faust, the Ninth Symphony, and the will of Adolf Hilter are eternal youth and know neither time nor transience.'
    -Baldur von Schirach.

    [Above: Louis Farrakhan]

  • '...the Jews don't like Farrakhan and so they call me 'Hitler'. Well that's a good name. Hitler was a very great man. He wasn't great for me as a Black man but he was a great German and he rose Germany up from the ashes of her defeat by the united force of all of Europe and America after the First World War. Yet Hitler took Germany from the ashes and rose her up and made her the greatest fighting machine of the twentieth century, brothers and sisters, and even though Europe and America had deciphered the code that Hitler was using to speak to his chiefs of staff, they still had trouble defeating Hitler even after knowing his plans in advance.'
    -Hon. Minister Louis Farrakhan, in response to being called a "Black Hitler," Farrakhan responded during a March 11, 1984 speech broadcast on a Chicago radio station.

    [Above: Julius Streicher]

  • 'This man speaks from a divine calling, he speaks as delegate of heaven in a moment in which hell opened up to devour everything.

    ...for the first time, I saw Adolf Hitler and heard him speak. I felt it: in this moment, fate had called me for the second time! I rushed through the cheering masses to the podium and now stood in front of him: "Mr. Hitler! I am Julius Streicher! At this hour I know it: I can only be a helper, but you are the Führer! I hereby hand over to you the folk movement created by me in Franconia.

    Questioning, he gazed at me from the blue depth of his eyes. There were long seconds. But then, he took my hands with great warmth: "Streicher, I thank you!"

    So fate had called me the second time. But this time it was the greatest call in my life.'
    -Julius Streicher's Political Testament: My Affirmation, Mondorf, House of Internees, August 3, 1945

    [Above: Carl Jung]

  • 'There is no question but that Hitler belongs in the category of the truly mystic medicine man. As somebody commented about him at the last Nürnberg party congress, since the time of Mohammed nothing like it has been seen in the world... The outstanding characteristic of his physiognomy is its dreamy look. I was especially struck by that when I saw pictures taken of him in the Czechoslovakian crisis; there was in his eyes the look of a seer... Hitler is a medicine man, a spiritual vessel, a demi-deity or, even better, a myth.'
    -Psychiatrist and philosopher Carl Jung

  • 'German politics is not made, it is revealed through Hitler. He is the Voice of the Gods... Hitler governs by revelations. Hence the hypersensitivity of Germans towards criticism or attacks against their leader. It is a blasphemy for them because Hitler is their Oracle.'
    -Carl Jung, 'The Observer' of London, October 1936

    [Above: Pat Buchanan]

  • '...he was also an individual of great courage, a soldier's soldier in the Great War, a political organizer of the first rank, a leader steeped in the history of Europe, who possessed oratorical powers that could awe even those who despised him. But Hitler's success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path.'
    -From a 1977 column discussing John Toland's biography of Hitler

    [Above: Florentine Rost van Tonningen]

  • 'I still count our meetings with Adolf Hitler as highlights in my life. For us he was a leader who dedicated, and sacrificed, himself for his people, one who eminently fulfilled his life's mission. He united his countrymen, of all classes and stations, from the aristocracy to the farmers and laborers, as had no man before him. His soldiers fought heroically to the last, particularly the men of the Waffen-SS, not only Germans but from across Europe. Like my beloved brother, who died in combat in the ranks of the SS, and my husband, I think of Adolf Hitler as the first European.'
    -Florentine Rost van Tonningen, Ninth IHR Conference, February 18-20, 1989, Huntington Beach, California.

    [Above: Ferdinand Schörner]

  • 'Hitler's work and mission are a holy legacy for future generations. Those of us who are still alive have the duty to fight on.'
    -General Field Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of the German Army Ferdinand Schörner

    [Above: Rosa Mitterer]

  • 'He was a charming man, someone who was only ever nice to me, a great boss to work for. You can say what you like, but he was a good man to us.'
    -Rosa Mitterer (August 13, 1917 - July 15, 2010), former maid of Adolf Hitler.

    [Above: George Lincoln Rockwell]

  • 'If I were religious, I would say Hitler was the second coming of Christ. I think Hitler was a gift from Providence, I think he was so far above anything that I'll be able to accomplish that it's almost sacrilegious for me to speak of myself in the same terms with him.
    My objective is to carry out what Hitler started, not to model my own person on Hitler because this is impossible.'
    -Commander George Lincoln Rockwell.

    [Above: Marcel Déat]

  • '[Hitler] commands, and is obeyed. But it is not by right of birth: Adolf Hitler is a humble child from a family possessing neither coat of arms nor ancestry.
    He works with his hands, he is an unknown infantryman of the Great War: he did not become master and chief by way of military fortune (...), weapons did not help him into power.
    So what is it exactly? The slow revelation of a people's identity engendered little by little thanks to Hitler's political discourse: the irresistible expansion of this warmth and of this flame within him which seizes and embraces millions of men.
    He commands (...) primarily because he is loved, because the masses recognize themselves in him and discover themselves through him, remembering that they were pulled from the abyss by the force of attraction and hope that resided in him.'
    -Marcel Déat, Aspects of a Great Destiny

    [Above: Heinrich Himmler]

  • 'On one occasion, Himmler recited to other people the following passage from the Gita, in which Krishna says to Arjuna: Every time when man forgets the sense of justice and truth, and when injustice reigns in the world I become born anew, that is the law.

    Having read these words, Himmler added: This passage is directly related to our Führer. He did arise during the time when the Germans were in the deepest distress and when they did not see any way out. He belongs to these great figures of light (Lichtgestalt). One of the greatest figures of light reincarnated himself in our Führer.'
    -Heinrich Himmler: The Nazi Hindu, in an interview with German cultural philosophers and writers Victor and Victoria Trimondi by the International Business Times, April 10, 2012

    [Above: Karl H. von Wiegand]

  • '...a man of the people, a private soldier during the war, a carpenter by trade, a magnetic speaker, having also exceptional organizing genius.

    Aged 34, medium tall, wiry, slender, dark hair, cropped toothbrush mustache, eyes that spurt fire when in action, straight Grecian nose, finely chiseled features, with complexion so remarkably delicate that many a woman would be proud to possess it — with all a bearing that creates an impression of dynamic energy well under control...

    This is Hitler... He is one of the most interesting characters I have met...'
    -Hearst Newspapers foreign correspondent Karl H. von Wiegand, November 1922

    [Above: Robert Ley]

  • 'We believe that Almighty God has sent us Adolf Hitler, so that he may rid Germany of the hypocrites and Pharisees.'
    -Robert Ley

    [Above: George Lansbury]

  • '[Hitler] appeared free of personal ambition... wasn't ashamed of his humble start in life... lived in the country rather than the town... was a bachelor who liked children and old people... and was obviously lonely. I wished that I could have gone to Berchtesgaden and stayed with him for a little while. I felt that Christianity in its purest sense might have had a chance with him...'
    -George Lansbury, British politician and social reformer, impressions after meeting Adolf Hitler in April 1937

    [Above: Adolf Hühnlein]

  • 'I was possessed by his philosophical outlook on the world, it drew me to him, held me fast, and inspired that sort of disciplineship which only ends with death.'
    -Adolf Hühnlein, leader of The National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK)

    [Above: Dr. William L. Pierce]

  • 'What will count in the long run in determining Adolf Hitler's stature is not whether he lost or won the war but whether it was he or his adversaries who were on the side of the Life Force, whether it was he or they who served the cause of Truth and human progress. We only have to look around us today to know it was not they.'
    -Dr. William L. Pierce, author and leader of the National Alliance, from the article 'Adolf Hitler — The Measure of Greatness'


  • 'Everything on this earth can be made into something better.
    Every defeat may be made the foundation of a future victory.
    Every lost war may be the cause of a later resurgence.
    Every visitation of distress can give a new impetus to human energy.
    And out of every oppression those forces can develop which bring about a new rebirth...'
    -Adolf Hitler, 'Mein Kampf'

  • [Most pictures - Click to enlarge]

    [Above: German military postage stamp from Tunisia, North Africa, circa March/April 1943. Click image to see other examples.]

    [Above: The stunningly handsome ace fighter pilot Hans-Joachim Marseille.]

  • Hans-Joachim Marseille (December 13, 1919 – September 30, 1942, of French Huguenot ancestry, was the Luftwaffe's most capable fighter pilot and flying ace of Africa during World War II. Marseille had 158 victories against the British Commonwealth's Desert Air Force over North Africa to his name. He flew the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter for his entire combat career. Marseille had more victories against Western Allied aircraft than any other pilot. He earned the nickname 'The Star of Africa'. His comrades loved him, as did the general public, whom he fast became their hero. His superiors, however, had to deal with his 'playboy' lifestyle. He had a tendency to break the rules and even ran off with a woman during his time in Africa and was a 'missing person' for a while because of it.

    At 20 years old Marseille participated in the Battle of Britain, where he strangely scored no notable successes. He was a charming, daring person to all who knew him, and he loved night life. This caused a lot of problems with his flying as he was often too tired to fly the next morning. As a result of this he was transferred to North Africa in April 1941.

    His destiny awaited him above the hot sands of North Africa. Under the patient guidance of a new commander, who recognized in Marseille something special, he became a legend.

    On September 1, 1942, during the course of three combat sorties he claimed 17 enemy fighters shot down. For this superhuman feat he earned the most coveted awards in Germany: The Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds.

    Only 29 days later, Marseille was killed in a flying accident, when he was forced to abandon his fighter due to engine failure. Smoke filled the cockpit and he was forced to eject from his plane. Because of the smoke he didn't realize the plane was at the wrong angle and he struck the vertical stabilizer of his aircraft. He probably died instantly, or was knocked out preventing him from opening his parachute.

    As one could imagine, it was a terrible blow to the morale of his comrades. The unit had to be taken out of active service for a whole month because of his death.

    In his autopsy report, Dr. Bick stated:

    'The pilot lay on his stomach as if asleep. His arms were hidden beneath his body. As I came closer, I saw a pool of blood that had issued from the side of his crushed skull; brain matter was exposed. I turned the dead pilot over onto his back and opened the zipper of his flight jacket, saw the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords and I knew immediately who this was. The paybook also told me.'

    He died unbeaten.

    [Above: Marseille receiving the Swords to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves from Adolf Hitler, July 1942.]

    [Above: The final resting place of a hero. The grave of the Star of Afrika, Hans-Joachim Marseille.]

    [Above: This pyramid monument was erected by his comrades after Marseille's death. The original monument was withered away by time, so a new one was erected in the 1980s by comrades and even his past enemies who honored him.]

  • Mathew P. Letuku, alias Mathias, was a South African British conscripted soldier taken prisoner by German troops on the morning of June 21, 1941 at fortress Tobruk. At first Mathias volunteered to work as a driver for the Germans, then he befriended Marseille and became his assistant in Africa. The two would become such good friends that he would attend a ceremony for Marseille decades later.

    [Above: Mathew P. Letuku, smiling brightly.]

  • The 16th German Africa Corps reunion took place on September 1-2 1984 in Stuttgart, Germany. The German Bundesregierung invited Corporal Mathew P. Letuku from South Africa as guest of honor.

    [Above: The Star of Africa and Mathias, a friendship forged under unusual circumstances!]

  • Click here to see other pictures of Hans-Joachim Marseille

    [Above: 'Machmet Hadaiuhov is a North Caucasian. His tiny people of slightly more than 150,000 inhabitants are Mohammedans. When the North Caucasian territory was occupied by German troops in 1942, it transpired that the Soviet rule had been particularly violent there. Numerous North Caucasians accompanied the German Army when it evacuated the country again. They are freedom-loving mountaineers who have been to a certain extent pressed into the North Caucasian industries by the Soviets, though they take every opportunity to evade this oppression. The North Caucasians are excellent marksmen.'
    -Signal magazine, English edition.]

    [Above: Volunteer from North Caucasus.]

  • The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The peoples from this region supplied the Axis with a large body of volunteers which were utilized for a variety of purposes. They served heartily as anti-partisan and police units, for example.]

    [Above: Volunteer from the Caucasus with a German MG 34 machine gun.]

    [Above & below: August 21, 1942 , National Socialist flag planted on Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in the Caucasus and Europe. This was done by the 1st Mountain Division during the German drive to the Caucasus.]

    [Above: The robust men of the 1st Mountain Division on the march.]

    [Above: Resting in the snow.]

    'The Agent of Destiny'

    [Above: Charles Augustus Lindbergh.]

    'The Jews are one of the principal forces attempting to lead the U.S. into the war. The Jews' greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio, and our Government. I am saying that the leaders of the Jewish race wish to involve us in the war for reasons that are not American.'
    -Charles Lindbergh, September 11, 1941

  • Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974), was an American aviator, inventor, author, explorer and a staunch anti-war activist.

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh and his famous 'Spirit of St. Louis'.]

  • On May 20-21, 1927 Charles Lindbergh attained world fame for his nonstop flight from Long Island, New York to Paris, France, a distance of almost 3,600 miles in the single-engine, single-seat monoplane the Spirit of St. Louis. It was the first time in history that a person was in New York one day and Paris the next day. For this feat the young 25- year-old U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve officer was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest American military award possible.

    Lindbergh was the first ever Time magazine 'Man of the Year' in 1927 and remains the youngest at age 25 to hold the title. Tragically his 20-month-old infant son also made the cover of Time magazine in 1932 when he was kidnapped from his crib and murdered. It was a highly publicized tragedy and was often called the 'Crime of the Century'. To this day it is uncertain who the murderer was, despite Bruno Richard Hauptmann being convicted and executed for the crime in 1936.

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh on the cover of Time Magazine.]

  • Lindbergh and his family left the United States because of all the media attention. Eventually they decided to move to Europe for three years. During that time Lindbergh visited Germany several times and toured their aviation facilities. The famous female German test pilot Hanna Reitsch demonstrated the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 helicopter for him and he was the first American allowed to examine the Junkers Ju 88. Hermann Göring presented Lindbergh with the Commander Cross of the Order of the German Eagle in 1938 on behalf of Adolf Hitler. This prestigious decoration was for Lindbergh's famous flight in 1927 and his contributions to aviation. Lindbergh greatly enjoyed his time in Germany and was highly impressed, saying:

    'I did not feel real freedom until I came to Europe. The strange thing is that of all European countries, I found the most personal freedom in Germany.'

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh being presented a sword of honor of the German Air Force by Hermann Göring at Carinhall during his visit to Germany. On the far left is Lindbergh's wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1936.]

  • When the world began to turn against Germany Lindbergh was one of the many American voices that spoke out against going to war. U.S. Ambassador Joseph Kennedy (father of J.F.K) asked Lindbergh to write a letter to the British to warn them that war against Germany would be a terrible mistake and that Germany was right to be fighting against Communism. In 1940 he became the spokesman of the anti-war America First Committee and gave speeches to huge audiences. Everywhere he spoke he received standing ovations. Many referred to him as an 'agent of destiny'. He received a flood of letters from supporters, one such letter, from October 1940, said:
    'The future of this nation depends on men as you, so do not let any one discourage you, but keep up the addresses till the White House makes it impossible for you to get radio time as they have Father Coughlin.'
    [Hitler's American Friends - The Third Reich's Supporters in the United States, Bradley Hart, 2018, pg.175]

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh speaking at the America First rally.]

    He wrote in his autobiography:
    ' I was deeply concerned that the potentially gigantic power of America, guided by uninformed and impractical idealism, might crusade into Europe to destroy Hitler without realizing that Hitler's destruction would lay Europe open to the rape, loot and barbarism of Soviet Russia's forces, causing possibly the fatal wounding of western civilization.'

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh and America First.]

  • Because of Lindbergh's wish for America to stay out of the war President Roosevelt publicly called Lindbergh a 'defeatist and appeaser'. Lindbergh resigned his commission as a colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps after Roosevelt questioned his loyalty for simply for not wanting to go to war with a country that wanted peace with America. The President's insults didn't stop Lindbergh's efforts to stop the war. In 1941 he gave a speech, 'Who Are the War Agitators?' in which he said that the three groups, 'pressing this country toward war [are] the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt Administration'.

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh in Germany in the 1930s.]

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh (third from right) in Germany in the 1930s.]

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh (far right) and his wife visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, October 1931. Courtesy of the Japanese magazine 'Historical Photograph', October 1931 issue, published by Rekishi-Shasin Kai.]

  • Speaking of Jewish groups he said,
    'Instead of agitating for war, the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way for they will be among the first to feel its consequences. Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastation.'

    [Above: Anne Morrow Lindbergh in Japan, 1931.]

  • During this time Lindbergh's wife Anne wrote in her diary:
    '... I have the greatest faith in [Lindbergh] as a person — in his integrity, his courage, and his essential goodness, fairness, and kindness — his nobility really... How then [to] explain my profound feeling of grief about what he is doing? If what he said is the truth (and I am inclined to think it is), why was it wrong to state it? He was naming the groups that were pro-war. No one minds his naming the British or the Administration. But to name "Jew" is un-American — even if it is done without hate or even criticism. Why?'

    [Above: Anne Morrow Lindbergh.]

  • After the war Lindbergh saw that most of his warnings about war were true with most of Eastern Europe under the heavy boot of Communism. But alas his voice had been drowned out by the screams and moans of the warmongers and war profiteers and the world had paid the price in the blood of tens of millions.

    After the war, Lindbergh went on to advocate for the preservation of indigenous peoples and endangered species. He spent his final years on the island of Maui in Hawaii and died of lymphoma on August 26, 1974 at the age of 72.

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh 'OUR HERO' American air mail envelope from the 1920s/1930s.]

    [Above: Charles Lindbergh was honored on this 1998 American stamp.]

  • Click here to see more pictures of Charles Lindbergh

    'Life is easier than you'd think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable.'
    -Kathleen Norris

    [Above: Kathleen Norris.]

  • Kathleen Thompson Norris (July 16, 1880 – January 18, 1966) was a hugely popular American novelist and newspaper columnist. She was one of, if not the, most widely read and highest paid female authors in the USA for almost fifty years! She wrote from 1911 until 1959, churning out 93 novels and countless short stories, many of which became best sellers, selling millions of copies. Her writing was showcased in many of the top magazines of the day, such as Ladies Home Journal, McClure's, The Atlantic and many more.

    Described as 'delightfully witty, deeply sympathetic, and whole-heartedly sincere. She knows people -- their hearts, their problems, their hopes, their fears, their courage.'

    One of her books boasted that she '...has held varied jobs as a school teacher, saleswoman, bookkeeper and society editor for a large newspaper. Consequently, she is a woman of wide experience, who brings to her books an understanding of rich and poor alike which makes her one of today's most popular writers.'

    Kathleen Norris used her books to promote traditional values, morality, the importance of family, the sanctity of marriage, selfless charity and the nobility of motherhood.

    She was an adamant supporter of The America First Committee, the largest and most popular American isolationist, anti-war group in the USA. The group's main purpose was keeping the United States out of World War Two. Membership reached 800,000 paying members spread over 450 chapters! Two future presidents, John F. Kennedy and Gerald Ford, were supporters and financial contributors of the organization. In one of Kennedy's donations he attached a note which read:

    'What you are doing is vital.'

    Norris' stiff arm salute (see below) was controversial for many years after, as you can imagine. Predictably the Amerca First Commitee ceased to be after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The enemy of mankind had gotten what it most wanted: WAR.

    [Above: Senator Burton K. Wheeler, Charles Lindbergh, and novelist Kathleen Norris giving a stiff arm salute at an America First Committee rally, New York, October 30, 1941.]

    In 1911, after having her first child, she penned her first novel, aptly titled 'Mother'. It became a huge hit and a national sensation, even earning the praise of former president Theodore Roosevelt. Mother was firm in its espousing of traditional values and was stoutly against birth control, which was being pushed more and more at the time.

    [Above: Mother sold millions of copies and is still be printed today. Outrageously some of the printings have been censored! Truly insane world we live in. It must have been too wholesome for the publishers.]

    [Above: Two of Norris' vast publications.]

    Although Norris' exact beliefs toward National Socialist Germany aren't really known, one doesn't have to know they are a National Socialist to be one. Norris held life-affirming beliefs her whole life, and was an immensely positive force for good. Many of the tenets of National Socialism were amongst Norris' most treasured and guarded beliefs. The fact that she spoke at America First rallies and gave the 'Hitler salute' tells us really all we need to know.

    Kathleen Norris died January 18, 1966, in San Francisco at the age of 85.

    A stiff arm salute right back at ya, sister.

    [Above: Ninety-three novels and a cold, dark grave. The last resting place of Kathleen and her husband Charles Norris.]

    'Time passes, love remains...'

  • Click here to see more pictures of Kathleen Norris and her books

    [Above: Prince Demchugdongrub.]

  • Prince Demchugdongrub, also known as Prince De or De Wang (February 8, 1902 – May 23, 1966) was the leader of a Mongol independence movement in Inner Mongolia and the leader of Mongolia.

    [Above: Ceremony celebrating the foundation of the new government.]

  • In May 1935, as the leader of the Mongols of Inner Mongolia, Prince Demchugdongrub established an alliance with Manchukuo, where its leader, Henry Puyi honored Demchugdongrub with the title of Martial Virtue Prince of the First Rank.

    Also in 1935 the Chinese, who had occupied Mongolia, pulled out its troops. Japanese General Minami met with Prince Demchugdongrub in August 1935, the Prince promised a close alliance with Japan, and Minami promised financial assistance to the Prince.

    [Above: Demchugdongrub, second from right, with several Japanese and Mongol dignitaries.]

  • Over the next few years the Japanese assisted the Prince in liberating other districts and provinces of Mongolia, which were occupied by Chinese troops. In 1936 the large Japanese Kwantung Army established the Mongol Military Government with Prince Demchugdongrub as the commander and Toyonori Yamauchi as the advisor. The Japanese proclaimed that Demchugdongrub was on a mission to 'inherit the great spirit of Genghis Khan and retake the territories that belong to Mongolia, completing the grand task of reviving the prosperity of the nationality'.

    [Above: Demchugdongrub, middle, with Japanese officers.]

  • Over the next months a monarchy was set up with a Mongolian congress planned. A military was built and a mutual assistance agreement with Manchukuo was also concluded in July 1936, with Japan providing military and economic aid.

    [Above: Demchugdongrub, on the left, with Japanese officers.]

  • The years that followed saw the Prince's expansion, defeats and victories. Ultimately with Japan's loss in WW2 the Prince lost his most powerful ally and China forced his Federation to collapse. Demchugdongrub was placed on house arrest in Beijing for four years under the supervision of the Kuomintang government. Just before the communist victory and the founding of the People's Republic of China in August 1949 he managed to establish an autonomous government in the westernmost region of Inner Mongolia.

    [Above: Demchugdongrub, on a meeting in Japan in 1938 with high ranking leaders.]

  • But it wasn't to be. The Prince's dreams of a united and strong Mongolia ended forever. In December, under threat by the communist army, Demchugdongrub was forced to flee to Mongolia where he was eventually arrested by the communist People's Republic of Mongolia the following February and deported to China in September. He was charged with 'treason' by communist China.

    Under communist supervision, 'he' wrote nine memoirs and was pardoned 13 years later. After his release from prison Demchugdongrub worked in an Inner Mongolian history museum in Hohhot until his death at the age of 64.

    [Above: Demchugdongrub, on a visit to Japan in 1938.]

    [Above: Gabrielle 'Coco' Bonheur Chanel.]

  • Gabrielle 'Coco' Bonheur Chanel (August 19, 1883 – January 10, 1971) was a French fashion designer and founder of the extremely popular brand Chanel, popular even to this day. Chanel took the fashion world by storm and was known for liberating women from the confining 'corseted silhouette'. Sporty, casual couture clothing became the new chic. Chanel was also a brand of handbags, jewelry and fragrance. The still famous perfume Chanel No. 5 was Coco Chanel's signature scent.

    Coco was an energetic woman full of drive and determination. Her business acumen quickly shot her up the ladder of the fashion world. Along with being an influential fashion designer, she also was a popular socialite.

    [Above: Gabrielle 'Coco' Bonheur Chanel.]

    Coco Chanel's childhood was the polar opposite of her later luxurious life. She was born to an unwed mother in a charity hospital, also known under the less forgiving moniker of 'poorhouse'. Her mother found work as a laundrywoman and her father was a nomadic street vendor. In 1884 her parents finally married and had a total of five children together, Coco being the second child born to them.

    At the young age of 12, Coco lost her mother to bronchitis. Her mother had been just 31 years old. Her father decided to send the children away, the two boys off to work on farms and the three girls to a convent. The convent's religious order was the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary and it was 'founded to care for the poor and rejected, including running homes for abandoned and orphaned girls.' Coco lived under the strict rule of the convent until she turned eighteen. She then moved into a boarding house for Catholic girls in Moulins.

    [Above: Gabrielle in her 20s.]

  • It was the years that Coco lived in the convent and learned to sew that would later help to shape the rest of her life as a fashion designer. But for now that sewing skill landed her a job as a seamstress. During this time she sang in a cabaret for extra money and made her stage debut at a cafe-concert in Moulins. It was at this point in her life that she attained the nickname 'Coco' and it stuck.

    Coco met a young wealthy French textile heir and ex-cavalry officer named Etienne Balsan. The 23-year-old Coco lived in luxury with him for the next three years. He showered her in gifts of diamonds, clothes, jewelry, etc.

    All the gifts however did not keep Balsan's mistress from having an affair with one of his friends, Captain Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel. Capel was also wealthy and he was integral in Coco's rise to fame in the fashion world. He financed her first shops and even influenced the conception of the distinctive Chanel look. The perfume bottle design for Chanel No. 5 may have been influenced by either Capel's Charvet toiletry bottles or his whiskey decanter. Coco was devastated when their nine year romance ended suddenly when Capel died in a car accident in 1919.
    'His death was a terrible blow to me. In losing Capel, I lost everything. What followed was not a life of happiness...', she told a friend twenty-five years after his death.

    As Coco Chanel's business flourished and became quite lucrative, it attracted the attention of Theophile Bader who wanted to sell Chanel No. 5 in his department store. He introduced Coco to Pierre Wertheimer who, along with his brother Paul, made a deal with Coco to provide full financing for production, marketing and distribution of the perfume. The Wertheimer brothers got the best end of the deal as they got seventy percent of all profits, Bader got twenty percent, which left a mere ten percent for the creator of the famous scent. 'The bandit who screwed me', is how Coco described Pierre Wertheimer, and for good reason! Much harsher words seem more appropriate for this man...

    [Above: Gabrielle 'Coco' Bonheur Chanel.]

  • When the war began in 1939 Coco closed her shops as she rightly believed that it was not a time for fashion. Her political views were shaped as she saw the threat that Bolshevism was to Europe and she also saw that it was brought to Europe by Jews. During the German occupation Coco lived in the same hotel as some of the German military staff. She even dated a German military intelligence officer named Hans Gunther von Dincklage.

    It was during this time of German occupation that Coco tried to seek help from the government to get her company back. The Wertheimer brothers who owned the majority of it were Jewish and she hoped the National Socialist government would allow her to have sole ownership after seventeen years of unfair but unfortunately legal business practices by the Jewish brothers. The National Socialists were trying to end all of the unfair usury that had a stranglehold on so many European countries and their people. But alas Coco had no such luck, the two scheming Jewish brothers had handed over her business to a French citizen in anticipation of the laws against unfair business practices. She was out of luck.

    Researcher Hal Vaughan claims that he unearthed documents that prove that Coco was actively working with the National Socialist Germans. He says that she worked directly under SS chief of intelligence General Walter Schellenberg. Her goal would be, via her extensive connections with the rich and powerful all over Europe, to try to convince Winston Churchill to not instigate war with Germany. In 1943 she traveled to Berlin with Dincklage to meet with Heinrich Himmler to flesh out the plans to try to calm the fires of war. The plans ultimately fell through and as we all know the war raged to fill the pockets of the profiteers who would hear no offers of peace. Winston Churchill was part and parcel of this group of immoral and bloodthirsty profiteers. When Germany no longer occupied France there were a few attempts to bring Coco to trial for collaboration with the Germans, all to no avail without sufficient evidence.

    [Above: Gabrielle 'Coco' Bonheur Chanel.]

  • After the war the Wertheimers returned and the Frenchman returned the Chanel company to them. They were intensely afraid that Coco's wartime affiliations with the Germans might hurt their business, as the deceptive propaganda machine was on full throttle demonizing the Germans. If they had a court battle with her this might all become public, so instead they came to an agreement. Coco would own 2% of Chanel worldwide. This made her one of the richest women in the world. If 2% was so lucrative, just imagine how rich the two Jewish brothers, who didn't have anything to do with the creation of her company, must have been. Usury was back in full swing in France.

    SS General Schellenberg faced the unjust Nuremberg Military Tribunal at the end of the war. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment for 'war crimes'. Coco and he must have been good friends and comrades, she even came to him when he got sick with incurable liver disease after his release. She paid for all his medical care and living expenses and financially supported his wife and family. She even paid for his funeral when he died in 1952.

    She continued working in the fashion world into her seventies. Coco Chanel died at the age of 87 in 1971 at the Hotel Ritz in Paris.

    [Above: The elixir of immortality for Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel.]

    'India adores these men... The hypnotism of the INA has cast its spell upon us.'
    -Mahatma Gandhi

  • The Indian National Army (INA) was led by Chandra Bose during the latter half of WWII. Its goal was the liberation of India from British occupation. The INA was supported by Japan who helped equip, train and coordinate its soldiers. The INA found many eager recruits from Indian POWs who had previously been conscripted into the British army and captured by the Japanese. Japan virtually opened the doors of its POW camps for Chandra Bose and other Indian revolutionaries to recruit.

    [Above: Ex-British army Captain Mohan Singh shaking hands with Major Fujiwara after the creation of the Indian National Army. Circa August 1942.]

  • Mohan Singh (1909–1989) was an Indian captain in the British army and later a member of the Indian Independence Movement. He was instrumental in organizing and leading the First Indian National Army in South East Asia during World War II.

    Captain Mohan Singh's British battalion, the 1/14 Punjab Regiment, was virtually destroyed in the northern part of the Malaya Peninsula by superior Japanese forces. Singh surrendered soon after.

    [Above: Iwaichi Fujiwara (March 1, 1908 - February 24, 1986).]

  • Singh joined the movement for Indian freedom while he was a POW of Japan. While a POW he was sought out by Major Fujiwara Iwaichi, chief of intelligence of the 15th army. Fujiwara was tasked with intelligence gathering and contacting the Indian independence movement with the aim creating an alliance with Japan. His staff included two Hindi-speaking interpreters.

    [Above: A Japanese navy soldier guarding Indian POWs after the fall of Singapore. Circa 1942.]

  • Major Fujiwara had already been in contact with Giani Pritam Singh. Pritam Singh was a leader of an Indian liberation movement which had already raised an army from Indian POWs.

    [Above: Giani Pritam Singh died in a plane crash on March 24, 1942.]

    [Above: Giani Pritam Singh and family.]

  • In the days that followed Fujiwara, Pritam Singh and Mohan Singh recruited thousands of Indian POWs. All Indian prisoners of war and stragglers were placed under the command of Mohan Singh. He was initially asked to restore order in the town of Alor Star in Malaysia, which had fallen to riots and looting since the retreat of its former occupiers the British. Mohan Singh was a capable leader, he built a military structure that worked very well.

    Finally, the Azad Hind Fauj (Free India Army) was born. Thousands of eager Indian POWs and Indian nationals living in South East Asia joined the cause. By September 1942 the number of volunteers reached 40,000.

    [Above: A Japanese officer of the Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) with an Indian officer of the Indian National Army in Singapore, 1942.]

  • Mohan Singh was promoted to general of the Free India Army. In a conference held in Bangkok in June 15–23 1942, the Indian Independence League was inaugurated under the leadership of Rash Behari Bose. Bose was an Indian revolutionary who had fled India to Japan in June 1915 and who had been living there ever since. One of the 35 resolutions passed by the conference, Mohan Singh was appointed commander-in-chief of the 'Army of Liberation for India', better known as the Indian National Army (INA).

    [Above: Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary leader Rash Behari Bose (May 25, 1886 – January 21, 1945).]

    [Above: Rash Behari Bose and his wife Toshiko.]

  • On December 29, 1942, General Mohan Singh was removed from his command and taken into custody by the Japanese military police. The details regarding the reasons for this are unknown, beyond he had purportedly grown disenchanted with the Japanese.

    The Indian National Army floundered until the arrival of another great Indian leader arrived, Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose had arrived from a German U-boot from Germany in June 1943. He had met personally with Adolf Hitler and asked him for advice. Bose told Adolf Hitler that he had great respect for him as a fellow freedom fighter. The leader of Germany told Bose that he would go as close to India as possible--which meant the Far-East. Adolf Hitler arranged a meeting with Japanese officials for Bose.

    The great Chandra Bose revived the Indian National Army and the rest is told elsewhere.

    [Above: Prem Sahgal.]

  • Colonel Prem Kumar Sahgal (March 25, 1917 – October 17, 1992) was an officer of the British Indian Army during WWII. In February 1942 Sahgal was fighting the Japanese in Malaya when he was captured and made a prisoner of war. Like many Indians, P.O.W.s and otherwise, he joined Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army, thereby gaining his freedom.

    India had long been occupied by the British, and naturally it was a dream of every Indian to be free.

    Sahgal had years of experience serving the British military, which was no doubt helpful when he joined the Indian National Army. He served as the commander of the 2nd Division and led the 2nd Infantry regiment at Popa (Burma) against General Frank Messervy's 17th Indian Division during the latter half of the Burma Campaign.

    The end of WWII and the surrender of the Indian National Army meant imprisonment and trial for its members. Sahgal, like so many others, was put on trial for treason in 1946.

    These trials provoked outrage all over India and are now known as the INA trials. The charge of treason was not upheld and India would gain its independence a short time after in 1947.

    [Above: Indian stamp from 1997 bearing the images of Shah Nawaz Khan and Prem Sahgal.]

    [Above: Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon.]

  • Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon (18 March 18, 1914 – February 6, 2006) was a patriot and officer in the Indian National Army (INA). At the conclusion of WWII he was tried with other INA patriots like Shah Nawaz Khan and Prem Kumar Sahgal and charged with 'waging war against His Majesty the King Emperor'.

    Dhillon's father was a veterinarian, and he himself dreamed of being a doctor. But alas, he did not pass the examination of the Punjab University in 1933.

    Unsure what to do next, it was recommended to Dhillon that he join the military. He joined the Training Battalion of the 10/14th Punjab Regiment on May 29, 1933.

    Little did he know, but destiny had chosen him for an important role. He was chosen to be one of the liberators of his country, and one of the brave founders of a modern, free India.

    He was paid a mere fifteen rupees per month and was considered an average cadet. But he was anything but average. He spoke Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and English.

    WWII pulled him into strange lands, under the flag of British Occupied India. After being captured, he would become the nucleus of the newly born Indian National Army (INA). On February 17, 1942, Dhillon joined the Indian National Army.

    Ironically, Dhillon was awarded the position of major on September 10, 1942. From a lowly 'average soldier' making 15 rupees a month to a man leading a revolutionary force to free his homeland. A beautiful irony.

    In December 1943 Dhillon was appointed second-in-command to Major J.W. Rodrigues in Singapore. He took on his new responsibilities with zeal. Not only did he help raise the 5th Guerrilla Regiment, but he was was responsible for training, discipline, morale, and the general welfare of the troops. His troops would later prove themselves in battle.

    [Above: Newspaper article showing Dhillon.]

    On August 21, 1944, from Bangkok, he flew to Rangoon on Bose's personal aircraft, the 'Azad Hind'. There he was given the rank of the Deputy Adjutant General and also the Deputy Quartermaster General in the Divisional headquarters at the first anniversary of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind.

    Dhillon was in charge of celebrations and a review of the 2nd Division of the INA. A ceremonial parade was held on October 18, 1944. Our 'average soldier' was anything but.

    Dhillon remained loyal until the end. He was eventually charged with 'waging war against the King Emperor, and the court was bound to sentence the accused either to death or to deportation for life.'

    But we all know that didn't happen. The Indian people rose up all over India. British rule was slipping away. The men of the Indian National Army had planted a seed and they had watered it with their blood.

    [Above: Lakshmi Sahgal.]

  • Lakshmi Sahgal (October 24, 1914 - July 23, 2012) was a famous woman of the Indian independence movement. Sahgal was also a high profile officer of the Indian National Army (INA), and the Minister of Women's Affairs in Chandra Bose's Azad Hind government.

    Sahgal studied medicine and received a degree from college in 1938. A year later, she received her diploma in gynecology and obstetrics. She worked as a doctor in an Indian government hospital until 1940 when she relocated to Singapore. This would prove to be a fateful decision. While in Singapore she met members of Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. In Singapore she established a clinic for the poor, in her spare time she began to play an active role in the India Independence League.

    In 1942, after the shocking Japanese victory in Singapore over the British, Sahgal helped wounded prisoners of war, most of them fellow Indians who were a part of the British Empire's slave colonial army. Many of these men were eager to join the Indian National Army.

    [Above: Captain Lakshmi Sahgal and Chandra Bose review women volunteers of the Indian National Army.]

    The movement floundered for some time in Singapore until the arrival of the great Subhas Chandra Bose on July 2, 1943. In the following days he spoke of his desire to form a women's regiment of volunteers. Lakshmi and Bose soon met and she was charged with forming a women's regiment, called the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. This regiment was one of the only all-female combat regiments of WWII. Female volunteers eagerly joined and soon Lakshmi was made captain of the group.

    Captain Lakshmi was arrested by the British army in Burma on May 1945, she remained there until March 1946 when she was sent to India to be tried with treason.

    Indian Independence soon turned Captain Lamshmi and many other Indian patriots from traitors to heroes.

    [Above: Captain Lakshmi Sahgal standing beside Chandra Bose in the front row, third from right, with other Indian National Army officers.]

    [Above: Art featuring Captain Lakshmi Sahgal.]

    [Above: Shah Nawaz Khan.]

  • Shah Nawaz Khan (January 24, 1914 – December 9, 1983) was an officer in the Indian National Army during World War II. Like Sahgal, Khan was captured by the Japanese and recruited by the INA in 1943 as a prisoner of war. Khan was captured while serving in the British Indian army as a captain after the fall of Singapore in 1942.

    Khan was deeply inspired by Chandra Bose and helped recruit other P.O.W.s into the Indian National Army.

    Regarding Bose, Khan stated:

    'It will not be wrong to say that I was hypnotized by his personality and his speeches.
    He placed the true picture of India before us and for the first time in my life I saw India, through the eyes of an Indian.'

    Khan was a part of the Cabinet of Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind formed by Bose. Khan was later chosen to lead an elite INA army into North Eastern India, seizing Kohima and Imphal. In December 1944 he was appointed as Commander of the No. 1 Division at Mandalay.

    After WWII Khan was tried, along with General Prem Sahgal and Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, for 'waging war against the King Emperor' in a public court martial at the Red Fort in Delhi.

    He was convicted of treason by the British and sentenced to death, although it would be commuted by the Commander-in-chief of the Indian Army following great unrest and organized protests in India. The British eventually released 11,000 INA prisoners in a 'blanket amnesty'.

    [Above: Frederick Wilhelm Kaltenbach.]

  • Frederick Wilhelm Kaltenbach (March 29, 1895 – October, 1945) was an American citizen who went to Germany during WW2 to perform radio broadcasts to American soldiers fighting in the war.

    Frederick Kaltenbach was born and raised in Iowa. Soon after finishing high school he went on a cycling tour of Germany with his brother. He greatly enjoyed his time there and admired and respected Germany and the German people. While Frederick and his brother were in Germany WW1 erupted and a dark period in human history began.

    They returned to the U.S. and Frederick spent the next three years at Grinell College in Iowa. He took a temporary break from his education in June of 1918 and became a Second Lieutenant in the Coastal Artillery. He was honorably discharged less than a year later in April of 1919.

    His college education continued at Iowa State Teachers College where he earned his Bachelor's degree in 1920. Before beginning his teaching career he worked as an appraiser for seven years. His first job teaching was in Manchester, Iowa. A few years later in 1931 he took a job teaching high school at Dubuque's Senior High School in Dubuque, Iowa. He taught economics, business law and debate. He also earned his Master's degree in History from the University of Chicago in the early 1930s.

    The University of Berlin offered Kaltenbach a scholarship in 1933. He took a two-year leave of absence from his teaching job and moved to Germany. While working on his Doctorate the National Socialist Worker's Party was early in its leadership of the country and Kaltenbach liked what he saw. A country that had been devastated and demeaned by WW1, with incredible poverty and degeneracy was blossoming into something spectacular.

    Kaltenbach returned to his teaching job in Iowa and began a club for boys that was inspired by Germany's Hitler Youth movement in 1935. He called the club 'The Militant Order of Spartan Knights'. By this time the propaganda against Germany by the biased media was beginning to accelerate. The school actually terminated his teaching contract because of the club!

    With the inability to start a club or even teach in Dubuque, Kaltenbach decided to go back to Germany, the birthplace of this new, intriguing and hopeful movement. He became a freelance writer with occasional translating work for the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (German State Radio).

    Kaltenbach found love in Germany and in February 1939 he married a German woman named Dorothea Peters. He got the chance to give lectures at as many places as he could in the United States when the couple honeymooned there. He brought the message of a better way of life through National Socialism and warned that a war with Germany would be a mistake and that the reason the Allies wanted war was solely for financial reasons. When Germany's economy was rebuilt by the National Socialists the world banks could no longer benefit from them. Germany abolished usury and this practice made a small amount of people, mostly Jewish people, rich off of the hard work of the majority. It was a very unfair practice. Why should a small racial minority be some of the richest in the country? And this was happening in almost every country on earth. What if all countries could follow Germany's example? Freedom!

    [Above: Fred and his beautiful wife, Dorothea Kaltenbach, possibly on their wedding day.]

    When he returned to Germany Kaltenbach began broadcasting the news for the R.R.G's U.S.A Zone. In 1940-1941 he used an innovative way to get his message to fellow Americans with 'Letters to Iowa'. This was a broadcast to the U.S. and was specifically directed toward the Midwest. He opened each program with 'Greetings to my old friend, Harry in Iowa', and broadcast as if it was a letter filled with good advice to his friend back home. He warned that Roosevelt's re-election would be bad for America. It would only bring America into a senseless war with a country that didn't want war. Siding with Britain and enacting the Lend-Lease Bill would also be bad for Americans.

    Kaltenbach also did a radio show with another American, Max Koischwitz, called 'Jim and Johnny'. It was a comedy show and presented the message through humor.

    Kaltenbach continued broadcasting even after the U.S. declared war on Germany. He hoped to convince Americans to stop supporting the war effort.

    Kaltenbach spoke the truth over the German airwaves:

    'Franklin Roosevelt has made good. He has finally caught up with the war he has been chasing after for so long...

    America can make a fairly comfortable war out of this thing. If she has sense enough to keep her troops at home. To defend America it would not be necessary for a single American to work six days a week and ten hours a day. Why should you give up your auto, your gasoline and your tires to help the English keep Australia?

    Regardless of the effect which the glorious deeds of the German military forces is having on other Americans, I am sure it is filling the breasts of Americans of German descent with secret pride. Blood is thicker than water, and it is in times of crisis like the present that one's blood determines one's sympathies...'

    [Above: This graphic is taken from a period writing called 'American Traitors Abroad'. It profiled most of the American broadcasters who worked for the Third Reich.]

    When Kaltenbach heard the BBC announcement of his indictment for treason, he broadcast a reply on July 30th, 1943, defiantly declaring:

    'Technically I suppose I am guilty of treason -- of treason to Roosevelt and his warmongers, but not to the American people...

    'To have deserted the German people would have been an act of treason against my conscience. Thus on December 8th, 1941, I was suddenly confronted with the choice of committing a possible act of treason against my native America, or of deserting the German people in their hour of need. If I had taken the easy way out, I could have ceased my broadcasting activities with the excuse that as an American I should not be expected any longer to plead the cause of a country with which America was at war… It was not easy to turn my back perhaps forever on my friends in the United States, never to see the land of my birth again. I made then my choice, and I have never regretted that choice for an instant. Not even now.'

    Kaltenbach closed by saying that he had no 'apologies for doing my allotted bit to help the German people to a better future. I am not an enemy of the American people, but I shall remain an impossible enemy of those forces in America who wish to deny Germany her rightful place in the European sun'.

    Ending by using a quote from American founding father Patrick Henry: 'If that be treason, make the most of it.'

    The U.S. indicted Kaltenbach for treason along with Jane Anderson, Constance Drexel, Max Koischwitz, Edward Delaney, Robert Henry Best, Douglas Chandler, and Ezra Pound, in absentia. Sadly Kaltenbach was one of the millions of victims of the communists. His wife reported to the U.S Army that he had been arrested by the Soviets on May 15, 1945. They refused to surrender Kaltenbach to the Americans and they later revealed that he had died in a concentration camp in October of 1945.

    Murdered, no one will ever know what day or how, and like most of the great men and women of WWII who dared to fight the tyrants--he has no grave. But the absence of a grave for these shining souls has a deep and meaningful symbolism: they are not dead. They live in the hearts of all those who dare. Who seek truth.

    [Above: Frederick Kaltenbach's college yearbook picture and autograph.]

  • Click here to see more pictures of Frederick Kaltenbach

    [Above: This is a proposed sleeve shield design for Slovenian Waffen-SS volunteers. This was taken from a map produced by the SS (Germanische Leitstelle, Amtsgruppe D of the SS-Hauptamt), being one of the last documents produced by the SS foreign volunteers recruitment office.]

  • The Province of Ljubljana (Slovene: Ljubljanska pokrajina, Italian: Provincia di Lubiana, German: Provinz Laibach) was the central-southern part of Slovenia, a country that was trisected and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary after the defeat of Yugoslavia in 1941.

    The invasion of Yugoslavia was necessitated by a British inspired coup after the government of Yugoslavia signed the Vienna Protocol on the Accession of Yugoslavia to the Tripartite Pact, thus becoming a member of the Axis.

    From the remains of Yugoslavia several countries sprang, including Serbia and Croatia, and the body of land discussed here, the central area of Slovenia now known as the province of Ljubljana. It was under Italian administration from May 1941 until September 1943, when the King of Italy betrayed the Axis and joined the Allied side. From then on the Germans quickly occupied The Province of Ljubljana, known as Provinz Laibach in German.

    [Above: Sign of The Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia.]

  • During the Italian administration of Ljubljana the Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia was formed. They were local armed auxiliary units composed of Chetniks and Slovene anti-partisans. On June 23, 1942, assisted by Chetnik leader Ilija Trifunovic-Bircanin, the Italians set up the first units of the Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia, dedicated to the 'annihilation of communism'. This armed group was one of several other groups organized to fight communism.

    [Above: The brave men of the Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia with Italian soldiers.]

    [Above: Ilija Trifunovic-Bircanin.]

  • After the Germans gained control of Ljubljana the remnants of these groups were reorganized into the Slovene Home Guard (Slovensko Domobranstvo). Part of their oath began:
    'I have entered into the Slovensko Domobranstvo voluntarily, into the battle and the destruction of communism that has already brought sorrow to my country and endangered all of Europe.'

    [Above: A young Ilija in Chetnik gear, 1907.]

    After the emergency change of hands in September 1943 the former general of the Royal Yugoslav Army Leon Rupnik was named president of the province. He established a mostly autonomous provincial administration until the communist takeover in May 1945. It's interesting that the Germans often gave their former enemies not only their freedom, but positions of power. In the case of General Rupnik, leadership of the entire country. The Allies? They hung their former enemies. Unlike the Germans, they had no chivalry whatsoever.

    [Above: General Leon Rupnik.]

  • Leon Rupnik (August 10, 1880 – September 4, 1946).

    Rupnik was openly pro-National Socialist even before the war and was also known to be very anti-Jewish. During his time as president he worked actively to see that Slovene culture flourished. A staunch anti-communist, he organized anti-communist rallies where he delivered fiery speeches.

    On May 5, 1945, Leon Rupnik was forced to flee to Austria with some of his officials. He was arrested by the British on the 23rd of July and handed over to the communists of Yugoslavia on January 1946. Big surprise, he was sentenced to death for treason after a 'trial' on August 30, 1946. He was murdered by a firing squad on September 4, 1946 at Ljubljana's Žale cemetery, and was dumped the same day in an unmarked grave. But the communist murderers only killed the man, not the truth he held in his heart, and some of his prophetic words live on.

    Rupnik gave many speeches and lectures and wrote tracts, some of which still remain. In a lecture he gave in Ljubljana in 1944, entitled 'Bolshevism: a tool of international Judaism' and subtitled 'Jewish endeavors towards global supremacy', Rupnik stated the following:
    'The Jews straight dogmatic hatred of all who are not Jewish is finally challenged everywhere by a revolt by the home nation that sooner or later removes all parasites from their country or limits by law their economic, religious and political activity...'

    In a lecture at Polhov Gradec, in June of 1944 Rupnik said:
    'With solid trust in the righteousness of the leader of Europe, of the German nation, we must calmly and with all fanaticism lead the battle against Jewish global supremacy serving Stalin's and Tito's bandits and their assistants, Anglo-American gangsters'.

    At a ceremony in January 1945 where the anti-communist home guard units, or 'Domobranci' swore oaths of allegiance, he said:
    'If the German soldier and you, my bold Domobranci, allowed these Jewish mercenaries to flourish, they would yet kill all decent thinkers, believers in the nation and homeland of true Slovenian birth together with their children... These are the nations of Europe, our broader homeland, in whose center the largest, German nation has taken upon itself the struggle against the Jewish corruption of the world'.

    [Above: This is a rare color photo of General Leon Rupnik (in black) and home guard members taking an oath.]

    [Above: Click on image to read 'In Memory of a Comrade', a commemoration by an SS comrade of Leon Rupnik, from Siegrunen Volume 6, Number 3.]

  • Click here to see more pictures of Leon Rupnik and the Domobranci anti-communist forces

    [Above: Lyenko Urbanchich.]

  • Lyenko Urbanchich (1922–2006) was a Slovenian-born Australian politician. During WWII he was a Domobranci propagandist, however his wartime activities didn't become known in Australia until 1979. Of course, since he was in a 'democracy' this ended his political career. He had helped create 'the Uglies' —a right-wing faction of the New South Wales branch of the Liberal Party of Australia, and had been appointed on the party's state executive.

    In June 1944 Urbanchich wrote in the Jutro (Morning) newspaper:
    'All those Anglophiles – that word is actually wrong, as they are not Anglophiles, but fruitcakes – must bear in mind that our anti-Communist battle would be all in vain if we were to make such a fatal mistake and take today's Anglo-American invasion troops for anything other than what they are, a Jewish-communist tool'.

    Also in 1944 he said in a broadcast on radio Lubiana:
    '... it is not important that I speak to you as the youngest Slovene journalist... (what's important is that) the truth which is older than I, which is centuries old (be proclaimed). That is, the truth about all the vile intentions of the chosen people, the 15 million Israeli race roaming the world.'

    Urbanchich was a strong supporter of General Rupnik. Further in the broadcast on radio Lubiana he stated:
    '... follow our leader, the experienced and homeland-loving General Rupnik, about whom we can say that God himself has sent him to us.... It is our duty to repeat over and over again, to exhaustion, that there is only one way, the way of General Rupnik.'

    [Above: Gregorij Rožman.]

  • Gregorij Rožman (March 9, 1883 – November 16, 1959) was a Slovenian Roman Catholic prelate. Between 1930 and 1959, he served as bishop of the Diocese of Ljubljana. He is largely noted for his compassionate support of the fight against communism and the German-Italian led fight against it.

    The communist Yugoslav government convicted him in absentia in August 1946 of 'treason' for collaborating with the Germans against the communist terrorists.

    Saying it was his duty to speak the truth, or else answer before God, he said:
    'To the end I will claim and teach that atheistic communism is the greatest evil and greatest tragedy for the Slovene nation.'

    [Above: January 30, 1945. Leon Rupnik, Bishop Rožman and SS-General Erwin Rösener review Dombranci troops in front of the Ursuline Church, Lubljana.]

  • In a Pastoral letter on November 30, 1943 he truthfully wrote:
    'I know that advocates of Communism and some other blind Catholics will reproach me that I am meddling in politics in a pastoral letter, which isn't a matter for a Bishop and doesn't appertain to the Church. But, dear believers, the battle against communism isn't political, but a religious matter, as it touches upon belief in God, one of the most basic truths of every faith, especially our Christian faith...'

    In another pastoral letter published on November 30, 1943, he wrote:
    '...only by this courageous fighting and industrious work for God, for the people and the Fatherland will we, under the leadership of Germany, assure our existence and better future in the fight against the Jewish conspiracy.'

    [Above: Leon Rupnik, Erwin Rösener and Gregorij Rožman.]

    [Above: Gregorij Rožman greets a Waffen-SS comrade.]

    [Above: 1000 lira note from Laibach. These notes featured one side in Slovenian and the other side German. Circa 1944. Very rare.]

    [Above: Close-up of 1000 lira note. Color difference is probably a scanning variation.]

  • Click here to see more currency from Laibach

    [Above: Envelope from the German administration of Laibach. Note the stamps are overprinted Italian stamps.]

    [Above: Envelope from the Italian occupation of Laibach. This envelope, from 1941, bears overprinted Yugoslavian stamps. The overprint reads 'Co. Ci' which stands for 'Commissariato Civile'. Click to see other examples!]

    [Above: A one lira currency note from 1944.]

  • Click here to see postcards and stamps from the German administration of Laibach and its eventual sovereignty

  • Click here to see postcards and stamps from the Italian occupation of Laibach

  • The NSAP was formed in 1933 by Sven Olov Lindholm after he split from the Swedish National Socialist Party (SNSP).

    [Above: Party badge of the Swedish NSAP.]

    [Above: NSAP badge variation]

    [Above: Sven-Olov Lindholm (February 8, 1903 - April 26, 1998), leader of the 'Swedish National Socialistiska Arbetare Partiet', or NSAP. Lindholm helped to recruit Swedes for the Waffen-SS.]

    [Above: Sven-Olov Lindholm.]

    [Above: Sven-Olov Lindholm (middle) at a speaking engagement.]

    [Above: Indoor NSAP meeting]

    [Above: Four Swedish members of the NSAP visiting Nuremburg for the National Socialist festivities.]

    [Above: The NSAP on the march in Mariestad in 1935. Note their flag -- a blue base background with a yellow swastika, as seen below.]

    [Above: Flag of the NSAP.]

    [Above: Female NSAP marching in a rare color photograph.]

    [Above: NSAP youth marching in another rare color photograph from the same parade as above.]

    [Above: NSAP men at a rally in Stockholm. Note the many different styles of pole tops, circa 1935.]

    [Above: NSAP party headquarters in Stockholm, circa 1934. Click to see another view.]

    [Above: NSAP art showing the historical progression of Sweden's warriors.]

  • Click here to see more pictures of the NSAP

  • Click here to see more pictures of Sven-Olov Lindholm

  • The Nordic Youth (Nordisk Ungdom) was a youth group of the National Socialist Workers' Party (NSAP), led by Sven Olov Lindholm. It was closely fashioned after the Hitler Youth.

    [Above: Nordic Youth logo.]

    [Above: Nordic Youth membership book.]

    [Above: Sven-Olov Lindholm inspects the ranks of the Nordic Youth.]

    [Above: Nordic Youth's Storm Torch (Stormfacklan) newspaper with Norway's Vidkun Quisling on the cover.]

  • The National Socialist Workers' Party (NSAP), led by Sven Olov Lindholm, in 1938 changed its name to Swedish Socialist Party, or Svensk Socialistisk Samling (SSS) in 1938. The swastika was eventually phased out and replaced with the Vasakärven (the Vasa, or Wasa sheaf), an old Swedish emblem used by King Gustav II Adolf. Of special note, in May 1945 the party's newspaper, Den Svenske Folksocialisten, was one of the first to state that no 'Holocaust' in Germany happened.

    [Above: Day badge, or 'tinnie' of the Swedish Socialist Party (SSS). These type of badges were often sold to fund projects or charities.]

  • The symbol of the SSS, the Vasa sheaf, shares a striking resemblance to the ancient Germanic/Saxon symbol the Irminsul. This symbol is shrouded in mystery, but it played an integral and important role in ancient pagan religion. Heinrich Himmler used the Irminsul symbol for his 'Ahnenerbe Stiftung Verlag Berlin' or Ancestral Research Foundation book publishers.

    [Above: The Irminsul]

    [Above: This work was done by Wolfgang Willrich during the Third Reich. Here you can see the Irminsul accompanied by other runes and symbolism.]

    [Above: An SSS meeting in Scania (Scania is the southern most province in Sweden).]

    [Above: Song book of the Svensk Socialistisk Samling (Swedish Socialist Party, SSS). The SSS organization was called the Nationalsocialistiska Arbetarpartiet (NSAP) until 1938.]

    [Above: An SSS outdoor rally.]

    [Above: A beautifully crafted day badge from May of 1939.]

    [Above: An SSS flag flying in Hangö (or Hanko in Finnish, it is a bilingual port town and municipality on the south coast of Finland), 1941.]

    [Above: An SSS poster for an event in Stockholm in 1941.]

    [Above: Membership card of the Solkorset 'sun-wheel' group, 1938-39.]

    [Above: Stationary header of Bruna Gardet (The Brown Guard). The Brown Guard was formed in 1941.]

    [Above: Membership card for The Sveriges Nationella Ungdomsförbund (The National Youth League of Sweden, or 'SNU').
    Click the picture to see other cards, circa 1940-1970.]

  • The National Socialist Bloc (NSB) was formed in the end of 1933 by the merger of several parties (Nationalsocialistiska Samlingspartiet, Nationalsocialistiska Förbundet and small local groups).

    The leader of the NSB was Colonel Martin Ekström. The party had ties to the Swedish upper class, but remained relatively small until its demise.

    [Above: National Socialist Bloc (NSB)]

    [Above: Martin Eugen Ekström.]

  • Martin Eugen Ekström (December 6, 1887 – December 28, 1954) was a Swedish military veteran of considerable experience and prestige.
    He later became the leader of the Nationalsocialistiska Blocket (NSB - National Socialist Bloc) an umbrella organization for multiple fascist and National Socialist groups.

    [Above: 1935 poster for the Nationalsocialistiska Blocket (National Socialist Bloc).]

    [Above: A stunning NSB Faithful Cross award.]

  • The Swedish National Socialist Party, or Svenska National Socialistiska Partiet (SNSP) was a National Socialist political party in Sweden led by Birger Furugård. The party was founded on October 1, 1930 after the merging of the National Socialist People's Party of Sweden and the New Swedish People's League.

    [Above: SNSP party pin.]

    [Above: Birger Furugård]

  • Birger Furugård (December 8, 1887 - 1961) was a Swedish politician and veterinarian. Inspired by National Socialism, he made several trips to Germany, even meeting with Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler. Furugård, together with his two brothers Gunnar and Sigurd, founded the 'Swedish National Socialist Freedom League' in 1924.

    [Above: From left to right, Birger Furugård, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. Circa late 1920s.]

    [Above: A very early photo of Birger Furugård and Hermann Göring in Lillsveden, Sweden.]

    [Above: Another early photo in Lillsveden, Sweden.]

    [Above: Birger Furugård's snowy gravestone.]

    The following year the party changed its name to the 'Swedish National Socialist Peasants and Workers Party'. In 1930 Furugård's party merged with the 'National Socialist People's Party of Sweden' and formed the 'New Swedish National Socialist Party'. Furugård was 'Riksledare', or National Leader, of the party. Soon afterwards the party changed its name to 'Swedish National Socialist Party' (SNSP). In March of 1931 Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were invited to speak at a public meeting in Sweden, but the police chief in Stockholm refused to give them permission. That's 'democracy' huh?!]

    [Above: Men of the SNSP.]

    [Above: An SNSP man from Stockholm ties the knot, 1932. Unlike most of the marriages of today this one probably didn't end in divorce!]

    [Above: SNSP party program, circa 1930.]

  • Click here to see more pictures of Birger Furugård

  • Click here to see more pictures of the SNSP

    [Above: German Embassy in Sweden flying the National Socialist flag at half mast on the day Adolf Hitler passed into eternity.]


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    -|- Third Reich Photographs -|-
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