Charles Sydnor: Soldiers of Destruction...

[Timo]

I wonder if any of you has the book Soldiers of Destruction by Charles Sydnor? If so, I am looking for his description of gottglaubig in the Waffen-SS.

Regards,
Timo

[Andy H]

Timo,

I have this book at home and I will contact you again, but could you give me some help.

Who, What or Where is gottglaubig and around what date if applicable are we looking at.

Hi Ho Silver Away

[Dan]

Who, What or Where is gottglaubig and around what date if applicable are we looking at.
Belief in God "Gott"=God and "Glaubig"=believe

best
Dan

[Richard Murphy]

It's been a long timne since I read this excellent book from cover-to-cover, and don't recall the subject being brought up much, if at all. It's not mentioned in the index.
Eicke notoriously punished infractors of the rules very heavily (And publicly.), but I don't recall any punishments being reported involving religion.

Regards,

Rich

[Timo]

Thanks for the replies,

From a reaction to a message I posted on Felgrau, I understand that this book gives a good description of the freedom of religion in the SS and it is this description I am after in order to find an answer to my question.

Gottglaubig is the usual word used in official documents to note that somebody was religious, without giving details about the exact religion. This because officially in Nazi Germany one believed in God, but was not a catholic, a protestant, etc. Thus I wonder how much freedom of religion an SS man had. For example, did the SS have catholic and protestant priests or just priests for all christian religions?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Regards,
Timo

[walterkaschner]

Timo,

I have the 1990 edition of Sydnor's book, which I have not read for a long time, but just thumbing through it I found the following:

"Another of Eicke's innovations was his vehement antireligious campaign. Since he aimed to create in his men a hatred of the churches as enemies of National Socialism, all members of the SSTV were pressured intensely to renounce theri church affiliations. By 1936, Eicke's efforts resulted in official renunciation of Christianity by a substantial majority of the men in the SSTV. These renunciations periodically resulted in serious and permanent breaches between Eicke's young recruits and their parents. Eicke responded by opening up his own home to men in the SSTV who had been renounced by their parents and who wished to spend their leave at home with a family. In addition, he declared it the duty of every member of the SSTV to befriend comrades suffering such treatment at the hands of their parents." p.29

In a footnote to the above, Sydnor quotes from a memo which Eicke composed and circulated in 1940:

"Prayerbooks are things for women and for those who wear panties. We hate the stink of incense; it destroys the German soul as the Jews do the race. We believe in God, but not in his son, for that would be idolatrous and paganistic. We believe in our Führer and in the greatness of our Fatherland. For these and nothing else we will fight. If we must therefore die, then not with 'Mary, pray for us'. We will depart as freely as we have lived. Our last breath: Adolph Hitler!"

There may be more elsewhere in the book, but I can't recall it. Hope this helps. Regards, Kaschner

[Scott Smith]

Timo wrote:

I wonder how much freedom of religion an SS man had. For example, did the SS have catholic and protestant priests or just priests for all christian religions?

The Walloons very much had their own Catholic chaplains. Degrelle writes that when they were incorporated into the SS they negotiated all terms with Himmler.