War crimes of the Schalburg Korps

[Rob - wssob2]

[Split from "Schalburg Korps"]

The Schalburg Corps ostensible purpose was to create a "prouder, more self-asserting and stronger Denmark" but it is in essence a collaborationist security unit. The Schalburg Corps was subdivided into an arms-bearing unit (Group I) and a civilian unit (Group II). The corps CO was the last Frikorps Danmark commander, Knud Børge-Martinsen.

From 1943-45, the Schalburg Corps assisted with Nazi attempts at suppressing the Danish Resistance. The corps employed brutal methods, engaging in retaliatory assassinations of suspected resistance members or retaliatory sabotage actions nicknamed "schalburgtages." The Schalburg Corps worked alongside "Group Peter" - a German plainclothes death squad that targeted suspected Resistance fighters.

In reprisal for Danes supporting the Allied D-Day invasion,the Schalburg Korpset destroyed Copenhagen's famous Tivoli Gardens.

Commented one Danish resistance fighter on the Danish collaborating paramilitary forces like the Schalburg Korpset : "The dogs were worse then their master."

[Panzermahn]

It is easy to described in a one-sided manner the actions of Schalburgkorps. In order to do an objective historical research, one must ask the motives of why the Schalburgkorps was set up in the first place.

As Rob-WSSOB2 has mentioned, the Schalburgkorps was involved in retaliatory assassinations. As the Danish resistance refused to engaged the German forces in an open manner allowed by the Hague Convention of 1899, the German forces has no option but to engage in a counter-terror operations against the terroristic acts such as hidden ambushes, assassinations of German soldiers and officers by the Danish Resistance in a cold, calculated and cunningly grand scheme designed to provoke German forces in an asymmetrical warfare.

Regarding Knud Børge-Martinsen, I believed the Danish Government in the 1960s stated that his execution was harsh.

Collaboration is a common theme in WW2 and not just exclusive to the Axis powers as well. For example, Charles de Gaulle collaborated with Britain against the Vichy Government, the British and American governments collaborated with the Soviets to cover-up the Katyn Massacre during the war, the Americans collaborated with the Japanese war criminals of Unit 731 to cover-up the crimes against humanity and war crimes that the latter perpetrated in China and Soviet Union collaborated with Germany in partioning Poland in 1939 are the most obvious ones to say.

The lesser known ones are the ones like how the Americans collaborated with Italian gangsters and organized criminal groups such as Mafia during the Allied invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland in 1943, how the French Resistance collaborated with French gangsters and criminal groups ("the Marseille Gang/Connection"), how the French Resistance collaborated with Spanish communists to allow the latter to have a base in French territory to launch an attack against Spain (a neutral country in WW2), how the Zionists collaborated with Adolf Eichmann pre-1939, how the Jewish Betar Movement collaborated with Mussolini's Fascist Government in the 30s, how Poland collaborated with Germany in 1938 to annex several Czechoslovakia's territories ("Zaolzie"), how Britain collaborated with Soviet Union to invade Iran which is a neutral country in 1943 or Baltic Jewish communists who collaborated ("Stribai") with Soviet Union during the invasion of the Baltic States in 1940.

History is not always black or white but perpetually coloured with shades of grey in between them.

[Marcus]

Panzermahn, the topic in the Schalburg Korps not other cases that you might think is worse or similar, stay on topic.

/Marcus

[Marcus]

A post on the book Schalburg By Mikkel Kirkebæk was split off into a new thread at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 9&t=193683

/Marcus

[clausewitz12345]

As Rob-WSSOB2 has mentioned, the Schalburgkorps was involved in retaliatory assassinations. As the Danish resistance refused to engaged the German forces in an open manner allowed by the Hague Convention of 1899, the German forces has no option but to engage in a counter-terror operations against the terroristic acts such as hidden ambushes, assassinations of German soldiers and officers by the Danish Resistance in a cold, calculated and cunningly grand scheme designed to provoke German forces in an asymmetrical warfare.

Regarding Knud Børge-Martinsen, I believed the Danish Government in the 1960s stated that his execution was harsh.

As the Schalburgkorps wasn't able to hit the resistance, they targeted random Danish innocent civilians.
By the way the Schalburgkorps was originally set up by the Germans as a form of Germanic SS (Danish Allgemeine-SS) in occupied countries. All this is described in detail in the book "Håndlangerne" a dissertation by Henrik Lundtofte.
Maybe the death penalty for Obersturmbannführer Knud Børge Martinsen was harsh (I don't believe that an official statement was ever made by the Danish goverment to that effect) but it was clearly justified and worsened by the fact that the crimes were committed during wartime.
Regards
Claus

[Panzermahn]

As the Schalburgkorps wasn't able to hit the resistance, they targeted random Danish innocent civilians.
By the way the Schalburgkorps was originally set up by the Germans as a form of Germanic SS (Danish Allgemeine-SS) in occupied countries. All this is described in detail in the book "Håndlangerne" a dissertation by Henrik Lundtofte.
Maybe the death penalty for Obersturmbannführer Knud Børge Martinsen was harsh (I don't believe that an official statement was ever made by the Danish goverment to that effect) but it was clearly justified and worsened by the fact that the crimes were committed during wartime.
Regards
Claus

There seems to be a lack of understanding on historical facts where something does not happen without the causality behind it.

Denmark was regarded by Germany as Nordic brother country hence the Danish government was allowed to exist (until late in war when Germany full took over). If the Danish resistance engages the German Wehrmacht in an open way as prescribed by the Hague Conventions, would there be a need to established Schalburgkorps to target resistance and civilians?

Crimes committed during wartime is not automatically a war crime (in the case of Martinsen who murdered a fellow Corps officer who had an affair with the former's wife)

[clausewitz12345]

There seems to be a lack of understanding on historical facts where something does not happen without the causality behind it.

Denmark was regarded by Germany as Nordic brother country hence the Danish government was allowed to exist (until late in war when Germany full took over). If the Danish resistance engages the German Wehrmacht in an open way as prescribed by the Hague Conventions, would there be a need to established Schalburgkorps to target resistance and civilians?

Crimes committed during wartime is not automatically a war crime (in the case of Martinsen who murdered a fellow Corps officer who had an affair with the former's wife)

This (statements above) is simply historical incorrect.

Claus
MA (history)