Léon Degrelle

Discussions on the foreigners (volunteers as well as conscripts) fighting in the German Wehrmacht, those collaborating with the Axis and other period Far Right organizations. Hosted by George Lepre.
User avatar
Georges JEROME
Financial supporter
Posts: 9946
Joined: 10 Mar 2002, 14:04
Location: France
Contact:

DEGRELLE

#16

Post by Georges JEROME » 13 Apr 2003, 18:37

Degrelle who had a great sens of provocation married his daughter in 1962 in Spain
wearing the parade uniform of the spanish phalange with collar badges of SS Standartenführer.

pic from "Degrelle m'a dit" by Duchesse de Valence
Attachments
Degrelle.62.JPG
Degrelle.62.JPG (38.06 KiB) Viewed 2649 times

User avatar
Georges JEROME
Financial supporter
Posts: 9946
Joined: 10 Mar 2002, 14:04
Location: France
Contact:

DEGRELLE

#17

Post by Georges JEROME » 13 Apr 2003, 18:44

Degrelle in spanish phalange uniform with his german war awards

(Duchesse de Valence Degrelle m'a dit)
Attachments
Degrelle.JPG
Degrelle.JPG (167.2 KiB) Viewed 2655 times


jose luis
Member
Posts: 46
Joined: 11 Apr 2003, 18:20
Location: Málaga España

#18

Post by jose luis » 19 Apr 2003, 12:52

Maxime_Penen wrote:AHA! Thanks alot... Btw, is that the older Burgundian flag behind his back?
´Sir: The flag behind degrelle is one of lot of 4 Company flags "Wallonie Division" with Burgundian cross in red over white fond. The flags are exposed in the Degrelle home in Málaga, Spain, and Leon Degrelle told me a interesant hystory about the recovery of flags at WWII end.
Regards

HM
Member
Posts: 1572
Joined: 20 Sep 2003, 09:12
Location: Netherlands

Re: Léon Degrelle

#19

Post by HM » 04 Jan 2009, 21:32

just found this one of Degrelle, picture taken on 01.01.1945/promotion to SS-Obersturmbannführer

HM.
Attachments
Degrelle.jpg
Degrelle.jpg (32.17 KiB) Viewed 2314 times

Borys
Banned
Posts: 633
Joined: 20 Jul 2007, 18:00
Location: Warszawa Rzeczpospolita Polska

Re: Léon Degrelle

#20

Post by Borys » 05 Jan 2009, 17:12

Ahoj!
In a book on Western volunteers in the Waffen-SS, the Wallonien formation was described as having the singular distinction of being:
- a non mountain unit
- yet wearing the Edelweiss,
and
- in the Wehrmacht, not SS pattern

:)

Borys

British Sapper
Member
Posts: 235
Joined: 31 Aug 2005, 00:43
Location: North West, England

Re: Léon Degrelle

#21

Post by British Sapper » 17 Jan 2009, 03:40

Borys wrote:Ahoj!
In a book on Western volunteers in the Waffen SS, the Wallonien formation was described as having the singular distinction of being:
- a non mountain unit
- yet wearing the Edelweiss,
and
- in the Wehrmacht, not SS pattern

:)

Borys
They were also the only SS unit to have padres, which Degrelle asked Hitler for this special permission.

Malbret17
Member
Posts: 99
Joined: 18 May 2007, 00:46
Location: France

Re: Léon Degrelle

#22

Post by Malbret17 » 17 Jan 2009, 17:48

Hello, British Sapper

I have red your response about padres in Wallonie - if I understand what you mean by padres - but other divisions had padre :
Division Charlemagne had three of them : Mgr. Mayol de Lupé, abbé Lara and abbé Verney.
Division Galicie which was catholic (the first one),
and imams for muslim soldiers.

Regards.
M17

Rob - wssob2
Member
Posts: 2387
Joined: 15 Apr 2002, 21:29
Location: MA, USA

Re: Léon Degrelle

#23

Post by Rob - wssob2 » 17 Jan 2009, 20:39

Do you mean "padres" as in chaplains? Or parades?

Yes many of the SS units comprised of foreigners had parades and public reviews.

On April 1, 1944, the SS staged a parade through Charleroi and Brussels for the Degelle's unit, the SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Wallonien, which had just been rebuilt at Wildfleken.

Elements of the LSSAH and Hitlerjugend divisions both watched and participated in the event; in fact the Walloon SS had to borrow LSSAH vehicles for the spectacle.


During the event, Degrelle proudly proclaimed "We were a battalion and we became a brigade. Tomorrow we will be a division!!!"

Degrelle was in many respects the poster-child for the Waffen-SS volunteer movement, and as such was used a propaganda tool by Himmler to illustrate the supposed "pan-European" nature of the fight against Communism. The purpose of the parade was also to intimidate the local Belgian population that the Germans, and specifically the SS, still were in charge. Most of the cheering crown photographed by the SS war correspondents were relatives of the Walloon SS.

As for chaplains, yes, some SS foreign units had them (and imams, in the case of the 13th SS) It was a cynical means for the SS to get foreigners to join the units and did not mean that the SS broadly tolerant (or even moderately) of religious freedom.
Sorry if I´m beeing ignorant here, but apart from beeing in SS, he also wears the edelweiss of the mountain troops
It's basically the same style badge. The Wallonische Infanterie Bataillon Nr. 373 (precursor to the 5th SS Sturmbrigade) was briefly attached to the 5th Mountain Division in the spring of 1942, which is why you see photos of Degrelle and other Belgian SS wearing the eidelweiss.
Degrelle who had a great sens of provocation married his daughter in 1962 in Spain
wearing the parade uniform of the spanish phalange with collar badges of SS Standartenführer.
If by "great sense of provocation" you mean that Degrelle was an unrepentant, racist, anti-Semetic, fascist and pro-Nazi, then yes, that is correct.

User avatar
Benoit Douville
Member
Posts: 3184
Joined: 11 Mar 2002, 02:13
Location: Montréal

Re: Léon Degrelle

#24

Post by Benoit Douville » 17 Jan 2009, 22:05

I am not here to defend Degrelle but Degrelle had absolutely nothing to do with concentration camps, so calling him an anti-Semitic and a racist is making generalization, he wanted to fight against Bolchevism like the majority of the foreign volunteers.

Regards

Jan-Hendrik
Member
Posts: 8695
Joined: 11 Nov 2004, 13:53
Location: Hohnhorst / Deutschland

Re: Léon Degrelle

#25

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 17 Jan 2009, 22:10

Well, in a czech book on german occupation of Prague I found a pic of a kind of official assembly in a town hall were Degrelle is sitting in front row of the auditory. Can anyone tell me when and why he was in Prague?

Jan-Hendrik

User avatar
Marcus
Member
Posts: 33963
Joined: 08 Mar 2002, 23:35
Location: Europe
Contact:

Re: Léon Degrelle

#26

Post by Marcus » 17 Jan 2009, 22:16

Benoit Douville wrote:I am not here to defend Degrelle but Degrelle had absolutely nothing to do with concentration camps, so calling him an anti-Semitic and a racist is making generalization, he wanted to fight against Bolchevism like the majority of the foreign volunteers.
A few links with his post-war views:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 1#p1252251
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 9#p1198879
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 89#p879989
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 33#p238933

/Marcus

Rob - wssob2
Member
Posts: 2387
Joined: 15 Apr 2002, 21:29
Location: MA, USA

Re: Léon Degrelle

#27

Post by Rob - wssob2 » 17 Jan 2009, 23:02

Hi Benoit -
I am not here to defend Degrelle but Degrelle had absolutely nothing to do with concentration camps, so calling him an anti-Semitic and a racist is making generalization
I am not making a generalization; I am specifically referring to Degrelle's "open letter" Holocaust denial letter and the Violeta Friedman trial. See the links Marcus posted, specifically the Degrelle and the Zorro thread.
he wanted to fight against Bolchevism like the majority of the foreign volunteers.
Back in the 1930's-40's it was known as "Judeo-Bolshevism."

User avatar
Benoit Douville
Member
Posts: 3184
Joined: 11 Mar 2002, 02:13
Location: Montréal

Re: Léon Degrelle

#28

Post by Benoit Douville » 17 Jan 2009, 23:28

All right, point taken concerning Degrelle, I have read the link posted by Marcus but I still believe that the majoity of foreign volunteers wanted to fight against Bolchevism. I also still believe Degrelle was a great soldier winning the Ritterkreuz.

Regards

Rob - wssob2
Member
Posts: 2387
Joined: 15 Apr 2002, 21:29
Location: MA, USA

Re: Léon Degrelle

#29

Post by Rob - wssob2 » 18 Jan 2009, 02:53

I also still believe Degrelle was a great soldier winning the Ritterkreuz.
Degrelle won the Knight's Cross because the SS wanted him to win it. It suited their purposes.

As for the "elite combat reputation" of the Walloon SS, as the German after action reports of the Aug 1942 seizure of Cheryakov indicate, that reputation was a very, very carefully stage-managed by the SS and the Reich Propaganda Ministry.

User avatar
tom_deba
Member
Posts: 1165
Joined: 07 Jul 2004, 16:43
Location: Poland

Re: Léon Degrelle

#30

Post by tom_deba » 23 Jan 2009, 00:50

The most strange thing in Degrelle's vision of world is the mixture of Christian and National-Socialist beliefs.

Post Reply

Return to “Foreign Volunteers & Collaboration”