SS-Obersturmfuhrer Ulf-Ola Olin

[Uninen]

http://panzer-archiv.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3240

I was searching via google and here i was directed to (AHF) however i found something else there that might interest those who would like to learn more, that topic there to which the link is to, includes pictures of the person and scans of a multi page article about him im some german book or magazine. 8)

[Hans N]

Uninen, thanks for sharing your findings.

Very interesting reading!

[Jan-Hendrik]

Whole story of Kampfgruppe Nicolussi-Leck could be found here :

http://forum.panzer-archiv.de/viewtopic.php?t=1402

Jan-Hendrik

[Georg_S]

He was the only German Cross in Gold holder from Sweden

Mark

SS-Oscha Sven-Erik Olsson SS-Pz.Div "Frundsberg"
was the only holder of DKiG from Sweden.

But most probably is Ola Olin what we called a "Finnland-Swedish"
because Finland was part of Sweden in 700 years, was parted once
because that Sweden lost one of all wars against Russia.

//Georg

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

Sven-Erik Olsson was an interesting case. Officially he was considered a "Swedish volunteer" because he held Swedish citizenship through his Swedish father. But his mother was a Baltic Deutsche, and he was raised in the German community in Pärnu, Estonia. So he came to the Waffen-SS in November 1939 essentially as a Baltic Deutsche volunteer, in a separate process from Swedes who volunteered for the German military. This information is from Agte's book Europa Freiwillige der Waffen-SS.

About Olin, his cousin Lars-Erik Ekerot also remained with Wiking after the departure of the Finnisches Bataillon. He survived the war with the final rank of Rottenführer, and according to Erik Norling's article in Siegrunen #66, Ekerot was tortured in American captivity, and died of the torture wounds soon after being returned to Finland after the war.

BTW, the whole notion of "Finland-Swedes" is a reference to men who were ethnic-Swedes, as opposed to ethnic-Finns. Before the war, perhaps 15% of the Finnish population spoke Swedish as a first language. This had been dropping continuously since Finnish independence in 1918, as many ethnic-Swedes, including most famously Mannerheim, made a point of speaking Suomi ("Finnish") as much as possible as a sign of national solidarity. In the 21st Century, I believe that less than 5% of the Finnish population speaks Sverige ("Swedish") as their first language. One of the many Finnish visitors here please correct me on this if I am mistaken.

Olin and Ekerot were both ethnic-Swedes, and thus referred to as "Finnland-Schwedes" by the Germans. The SS considered that the Swedish minority had positively influenced the ethnic-Finnish minority in the country, which is why the entire Finnish Waffen-SS contingent was given "honorary-Germanic" status, despite Suomi being an Asiatic Ugric language.

[Juha Hujanen]

Marc is quite right.The Germans hoped Finnish volunteers to be mostly ethic-swedes with strong right wing/fascist background.However Finnish goverment got involved and got rid of most right wing volunteers to be and in the end some 20% of all volunteers could be connected to be to "right wing".In most of volunteer legions right wing/fascist volunteers made some 60-70% of total manpower.

I would like to thank all members who did took part to this discussion of Ola Olin.What a wonderful forum,what a wonderful people.

Cheers/Juha

[Harri]

BTW, the whole notion of "Finland-Swedes" is a reference to men who were ethnic-Swedes, as opposed to ethnic-Finns. Before the war, perhaps 15% of the Finnish population spoke Swedish as a first language. This had been dropping continuously since Finnish independence in 1918, as many ethnic-Swedes, including most famously Mannerheim, made a point of speaking Suomi ("Finnish") as much as possible as a sign of national solidarity. In the 21st Century, I believe that less than 5% of the Finnish population speaks Sverige ("Swedish") as their first language. One of the many Finnish visitors here please correct me on this if I am mistaken.

The statistics says so but it is a bit tricky to tell exactly because there are lots of people who speak both languages fluently. They can self decide which one is their "first language". All Finns despite of their language are basically a mixture of the original Finnish tribes and Swedes with the tints of Russian and German blood.

Olin and Ekerot were both ethnic-Swedes, and thus referred to as "Finnland-Schwedes" by the Germans. The SS considered that the Swedish minority had positively influenced the ethnic-Finnish minority in the country, which is why the entire Finnish Waffen-SS contingent was given "honorary-Germanic" status, despite Suomi being an Asiatic Ugric language.

Well, only Germans can invent something as genious as that...

[Daniel L]

In the 21st Century, I believe that less than 5% of the Finnish population speaks Sverige ("Swedish") as their first language. One of the many Finnish visitors here please correct me on this if I am mistaken.

Sverige = Sweden
Svenska = Swedish

The SS considered that the Swedish minority had positively influenced the ethnic-Finnish minority in the country, which is why the entire Finnish Waffen-SS contingent was given "honorary-Germanic" status, despite Suomi being an Asiatic Ugric language.

As I understand it the terms "Germanic", "Slavic" and "Roman" were mostly used as a cultural definitions and thus the "honory-Germanic" status makes perfect sense.

Best regards/ Daniel

[Harri]

As I understand it the terms "Germanic", "Slavic" and "Roman" were mostly used as a cultural definitions and thus the "honory-Germanic" status makes perfect sense.

Did the Germans make also cultural definitions? I have thought that these definitions were on racial basis only.

So, one can be something "exactly", but it is also possible to be something "almost"... We call that in a term "phiz factor". Very interesting indeed.

[Daniel L]

Did the Germans make also cultural definitions? I have thought that these definitions were on racial basis only.

It appears that is a common misunderstanding.

Best regards/ Daniel

[Marc Rikmenspoel]

Thanks for the updates, folks! This language business gets complicated, as we all know (I'm an "American," but I speak "English," and I might have trouble communicating with Scotsmen and Australians, who also speak "English"!).

[Jampol]

Timo,

great text!! Do you have it also in German?
Greetings

[Mattlander]

is there a pic of him?

[Juha Hujanen]

http://panzer-archiv.de/forum/viewtopic ... 8732579ab6

Cheers/Juha

[Mattlander]

http://panzer-archiv.de/forum/viewtopic ... 8732579ab6

Cheers/Juha

Thank you Juha.