Hein: Yes, these are complicated studies and very hard for us to defend. To further explain, there is no doubt in my mind that a few bad things were done by men wearing the uniform of the German Waffen-SS. But here is the question that must be asked that is not, were they under orders to carry out their act? The reason this is important is because if they were lone criminals you can not condemn the entire SS for the actions of a very small percentage. Sadly I feel this is the case. We had many foreign volunteers with us, and they brought with them many old hatreds and prejudices with them. This caused some disciplinary problems, and in some cases acts of crimes, again this was a tiny percentage. In Greece, we had a Romanian Volksdeutsch who disliked the Greeks and spoke of wanting to punish as many as he could. This concerned us and he was transferred to a home unit. We only wanted professional soldiers with us who understood the world was watching us and we had to show a very good face.

I know we went out of our way to promote good relationships and mercy, but war is war. One thing we are slandered for is taking hostages. We did this sure, to aid military investigations, especially in Italy where the bandits were bad. It is ironic that the Allies arrested my wife as a hostage when I escaped my POW camp. German forces did the same thing, if a bandit leader was identified; any of their family could be arrested to try to get them to come in. This is just how things worked back then. They were not harmed, and the worst would be if they had harbored the bandit then they were sent to prison. In only very extreme situations, with higher authority could they be executed, and it would be for aiding in a capital crime. Now in many cases in the east, bandits and their families were turned over to the militia; this is where hatred comes in. I understand they could be very harsh, as it was a tit for tat war. In the big cases like Malmedy, Oradour-sur-Glane, and Le Paradise I have many reservations. The stories come from Allied soldiers, and our men say there was no massacre. At Malmedy for instance, I am told by eyewitnesses that the Americans broke away [after surrendering-Ed.] and were running, some even firing on German soldiers.

This caused some Americans who were obeying orders to find themselves engaged by newly alerted soldiers who fired on anything in a different uniform. I am sorry, but this is no premeditated crime as is asserted. The only way this is a crime is if our men ordered them into the field and then gave the order to kill all prisoners. This was not our orders, and this order was not given as thousands of Americans were taken prisoner by the SS panzer corps. We had a racial tone to our fight, and most SS men hated to see our race fight each other to the death. It was a tragic war. I understand that Oradour had circumstances that blew up out of our control. A fire that was set was made much worse by hidden explosives inside a church that sadly caught fire, or someone inside accidentally set off munitions that exploded and killed those inside. These are sad acts, but it was not German policy to cause them. We had to contend with illegal acts and respond; our reactions were within the rules of war. As I said you cannot condemn an entire army based on the isolated action of a small bunch of criminals who act outside of orders. When these men were caught, either in the SS or the army, they were dealt with very severely, even to the point of being shot. I believe the myths of the eastern front poison many scholars. The Soviet Union has told a history that says we raped and killed throughout the war. I believe they exaggerate their losses, and the cause of the losses.

I can tell you I saw great acts of compassion by our men towards both the soldiers and civilians of the USSR. Our men would go out of their way to take prisoners and to help the wounded. I saw our medical units stop often to help at collection points for prisoners. I also saw examples of Russian nurses helping our soldiers as well. It did not turn evil until at war's end when Ilya Ehrenburg [Jewish propagandist from Russia] let loose his demons upon our land. By that I mean he actually encouraged his soldiers to rape, kill, and loot anywhere they went. This was aimed at Germans, but they also attacked Poles, Romanians, Czechs, and the Baltic nations. While on the staff I saw reports of mass rapes and killings come in by October 1944. We had many situations where foreign volunteers were refusing to take prisoners due to what they were seeing in retaken towns. Our men, SS men, were taught to be very disciplined and to obey orders, so I am not aware of any situations where SS units refused to take prisoners or shot POWs. Of course our former enemies disagree and pin all their bravado on how good they were and how bad we were.

What was the hardest part of being an officer in the Waffen-SS?

Hein: Hmm, that is a tough question. I would have to say keeping my men focused and in the fight with so much going on with the home front. Many of our men had family, friends, or relatives who were affected by the bombings. We had to be available, and make Priests available if they needed one. New recruits were the hardest as they had to be broken in, it took a new soldier a few weeks to get familiar and comfortable. They could be a handful at first. I remember in 1940, the early 38/40 machine pistol had a bad habit of firing when bumped or dropped. We had to always be on guard that no new soldier had one, they could be quite careless and soldiers were shot. We had many brave men and sometimes they had great input into a battle plan, and in the SS we were given a lot of latitude in decision making. The hard part was making sure their ideas did not disrupt the chain of command.

As officers we always led our men from the front, a difference between us and the army. We lived, bathed, and ate just like our men as it built respect and showed comradeship. I would say writing the letters home to family was always a sad task, but one that was very important as it gave the family closure on what happened. Enforcing discipline was hard, as it angered you when someone did not follow the rules, this rarely happened in the LAH [Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler], but when it did it was frustrating. Cowardice was enough to get you removed from the unit or worse. Most SS men were volunteers so this was not an issue except later in the war with men who were assigned without asking to be. Many Luftwaffe and Kreigsmarine men cried to go to safe units as they knew our reputation as hard fighters and fearlessness against death. That was why we wore the skull, we feared nothing.