Brazilian pilot (Egon Albrecht)

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Hulse,

If one is the nationality of the country one was born in, I would be Jamaican and my sister Maltese!

It seems clear that Albrecht did not have primary loyalties to Brasil as he served in the Luftwaffe after Brasil became an enemy power.

As a curiosity it is interesting to adopt him as Brasilian retrospectively, but it is difficult to see him as a Brasilian when he himself made other choices.

Cheers,

Sid.

[ignacioosacar]

Hi Sid,

What about the Argentinians who served the Allies while the country was NEUTRAL, mostly in the British Armed Forces? In your opinion do they adjust to the same pattern referred of their loyality or should they be classified in a different status?
Argentina declared war to the Axis a few weeks before the war was over.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Ignacio,

Anglo-Argentine pilots never flew for a country Argentina was at war with. They therefore never had to decide in favour of one or the other. Interestingly, at least one Anglo-Argentine who flew for the RAF in WWII also flew supply flights for Argentina to the Falkaland Islands during the Falklands War against the UK four decades later! I presume that his primary loyalty was to Argentina. (See the book Alas de Trueno, published in English as Wings of Thunder.)

By contrast, German-Brazilian pilots flying for the Luftwaffe were flying for a country Brazil was at war with from mid 1942. In flying for the Luftwaffe thereafter they were making a choice of primary loyalties. I make no judgement on their choice, I just observe that they themselves seem to have decided by their actions that they were more German than Brazilian.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Rob - wssob2]

I must say that I'm proud of him (Egon Albrecht), as brazilian with deutsche ascendents (like me ). He fought with bravery for his believes.

Yes, and those beliefs included support for a racist, psychopathic dictator and a "Jew-free" Europe.

I agree with Sid; it's most likely that Albrecht considered himself German. According to Third Reich standards, he was volksdeutsche; amd whatever foreign soil he happened to be born on was immaterial.

[Hülse]

I must say that I'm proud of him (Egon Albrecht), as brazilian with deutsche ascendents (like me ). He fought with bravery for his believes.

Yes, and those beliefs included support for a racist, psychopathic dictator and a "Jew-free" Europe.

I agree with Sid; it's most likely that Albrecht considered himself German. According to Third Reich standards, he was volksdeutsche; amd whatever foreign soil he happened to be born on was immaterial.

Sorry guys, but I believe that questions that are clear today as racism and freedom of religion were clowdy in that times. We can not support that wrong ideas, but we cannot jugde decades after their believes also. Please remember that racism and anti-semitism were common even within allies societies, before and after WWII. Anyway this is not the focus of this post...

Many deutsche-brazilians were enlisted in the wermarcht and luftwaffe against they will (quote book "Brazilians soldiers of Hitler" in a free translation). In that book survival soldiers told how they enter and survived the war... as sons of germans the enlistment was required after 1933 and many of then were "trapped" by situations of study travels or sickness (was very common for european imigrants send the sons to study in the old continent or recover from diseases/health problems). There are three important facts that I can oppose the idea that they were more germans than brasilians:
1) If they refuse to fight probably they were shot;
2) In all cases described by the book, the german HQ don't sent brazilian borned soldiers to fight in Italy, with the allegation that they can't fight against brazilian soldiers (maybe they know that prisioners can be shoted as traitors);
3) Almost all known survivors returned to Brazil as soon as possible.

And finally don't misunderstood my afirmation of proud, I am very proud of Brazilian Expeditionary Force (that fought beside allies) too. I'm not ideology defender, I just admire the courage and the will to fight against the enemy. Please guys, no one soldier fight for a party or political issues, they fight for their own life, for the life of his comrades and for their parents on home.

PS. English is not my mother lang. so forgive my eng. wrongs.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Hulse,

Could you give more details of the book "Brazilian Soldiers of Hitler"?

I presume the title was originally in Portuguese? Who was the author, where and when was it published?

Cheers,

Sid

[ignacioosacar]

Dear Forum,

OS SOLDADOS BRASILEIROS DE HITLER, by Denninson de Oliveira

Cheers