What countries sympathized with the German cause?

[CJK1990]

What countries had populations that were generally supportive of and/or sympathetic to the German cause in World War II?

[Guaporense]

I think that the allies that Germany had were only allies because they shared a common enemy (Japan and Romania) or because Germany would crush them if they opposed (all the others).

The "German cause in WW2" was this: Everybody that is not "German" deserves only to: 1- Serve the Germans. 2- Die.

Don't expect anybody to support them voluntarily.

[bf109 emil]

What countries had populations that were generally supportive of and/or sympathetic to the German cause in World War II?

This is a good question and in most instances nearly every country had a certain percentage of population that was supportive or sympathetic to the German cause. Perhaps not on a majority basis, but in almost every country Germany had some public support.

Whether it be Austria which was overwhelming, Poland i believe had a number of ethnic Germans supporting Germany's cause, Norway formed a viking division of the SS, Finland fought along side of Germany, IIRC some middle east countries support Germany as a chance to abstain from french or colonial rule, and i believe some nations/population in the USSR such as Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and a large portion of Ukraine saw the Germans as liberators from Stalin and a socialist/communist rule prior to German atrocities which dampened the public view or support.

I'm sure if one looks, almost every country had a certain % of population that supported Germany, even in the USA if I remember correctly had in place a Nazi Party or support for Germany and well as Ireland also on a certain %

[ljadw]

there were a lot of countries supporting,or having sympathy for Germany,when it was winning(the band wagon effect) and none when it was losing

[Nimrod]

A lot of the above answers are correct, the other thing to remember is why countries (or specifically people and leaders) became sympathetic towards the (Nazi) cause. In the 1920's Germany had become economically weak and had little defense due to the sanctions imposed by the Treaty Of Versailles. A weak Germany was bad for trade and for Europe in general, particularly as a lot of westerners saw the Soviet Union as a continual threat.

[PeterOT]

Define 'sympathy' & 'support'.

Both might describe Spain, but only to a point - that point being Franco actually risking getting Spain involved in Germany's war. Does this qualify?

Does rhetorical but not material support qualify? Does saying nice things about the conquerer of Europe & then going mute in 1944 & 45 count. It would be nice if the person who started the thread actually did a bit of work on it, starting with definitions.

[JonS]

You know, in some limited respects it's useful to have people like CJK around, if only as a reminder that there really are people who think like this running around loose in the world.

Astonishing, but true.

[Jon G.]

What countries had populations that were generally supportive of and/or sympathetic to the German cause in World War II?

As Guaporense has pointed out, it might be more fruitful first to ask which countries and/or populations the Nazi Germans were generally sympathetic towards. Not many, to my recollection: Germany wasn't all that supportive towards Mussolini, for example, and their bed-sharing with Japan was AFAICS mostly a case of having common enemies.

In more specific terms, there were some groups (usually ethnic Germans) outside Germany who were supportive to the German cause and vice versa, but a) these groups usually ended up as part of greater Germany/in German orbit anyway, and b) German support was usually only evident for the specific purpose of adding new territories to Germany, such as the Sudeten Germans, German inhabitants of Danzig and Memel and so on.

There were also groups in various European countries which modelled themselves on the Nazis, but they were always in the minority, and generally (with Qvisling's NS-regime in Norway a possible exception) the Germans didn't really have time for them. Look for example to what happened to the pro-Nazi Iron Guard movement in Romania.

[Dave Bender]

The "German cause" was to destroy Stalin's Soviet Union. I think most of central and eastern Europe sympathized with this objective out of self preservation. If Stalin wins then most of Europe gets absorbed into his empire, as happened historically during 1945.

[Jon G.]

1/ The "German cause" was to destroy Stalin's Soviet Union. 2/ I think most of central and eastern Europe sympathized with this objective out of self preservation. 3/ If Stalin wins then most of Europe gets absorbed into his empire, as happened historically during 1945.

1/ Only from June 1941, before that they were buddies.
2/ As it turned out, self preservation basically amounted to a choice of being either hung or shot. The Nazis wanted Lebensraum and raw materials, not independence for Eastern Europe.
3/ Yes, mostly due to Hitler serving up the opportunity to expand his empire by giving Stalin the chance to join the winning side.

[PeterOT]

You know, in some limited respects it's useful to have people like CJK around, if only as a reminder that there really are people who think like this running around loose in the world.

Astonishing, but true.

Agreed. Keeps the sane & rational on their toes.

[Dave Bender]

Hitler serving up the opportunity to expand his empire by giving Stalin the chance to join the winning side.

Blaming Germany for British and American support of Stalin is rediculous. Put that blame where it belongs, on PM Churchill and President FDR.

[Jon G.]

How much support do you think would have been forthcoming from Roosevelt & Churchill to Stalin if Hitler had not attacked the USSR? Hitler & Stalin already had Eastern Europe carved up between them. It was Hitler who broke the deal, in effect letting Stalin join the Allies while keeping his gains from the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.

[Harro]

The question which countries sympathized with the German "cause" would only include those countries with a government that supported the nazi's excluding those puppet regimes installed by the German - right? For that matter I can only think of Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.

[Inselaffe]

On the issue of those states and or populations who were sympathetic towards NS Germany, wouldn't they mostly be states or groups who recieved sympathy or support from Germany in return as Jon G mentions above. The problem with that is that's quite a narrow group as we have to find people who were both 'ideologically acceptable' and 'racially acceptable.'

Much of Western Europe was racially acceptable to the Nazis but lacked the ideological drive. Look at Norway or the Netherlands, sure there were supporters of the NS cause in the Nasjonal Samling and the NSB, they sent volunteers to the Ostfront, helped out with the occupation etc. but most people didn't.

Then in Eastern Europe you have quasi-Fascist regimes such as Croatia and Slovakia who were quite close to the Nazis ideologically but whose states were comprised of people the Nazis considered their racial inferiors. Useful allies when hard pressed but you wonder how much sympathy these countries would have got from a victorious Germany. People within these regimes must have had some inkling of that.