sveahk wrote: ↑27 Nov 2019, 10:00
Sheldrake wrote: ↑26 Nov 2019, 18:25
sveahk wrote: ↑26 Nov 2019, 16:55
Born in Switzerland, but flying in the Luftwaffe as a German citizen.
Cheers Hans K
Like Americans in the RAF?
If the Americans had a British passport when flying in the RAF, yes.
Cheers Hans K
I am not sure what the point is of the question on this thread. This is getting bogged down in definitions of nationality.
Ownership of a passport isn't the only definition. If a person swears an oath of allegiance to the leader of one country it usually violates the terms of their previous citizenship. So a US National swearing an oath of allegiance to the British crown automatically lost their US Citizenship- though it was restored post Pearl Harbour. However, US born members of the British forces would not automatically receive a British passport. That is a policy still applying to British servicemen and women. Between 5 & 10% of the current day British Afrmed Forces are recruited from Commonwealth countries. However, that does not make them legally British citizens with a right to live in the UK until several years service and residency in the UK. Most Commonwealth countries are happy with this arrangement and allow their citizens to serve in this way. Others e.g. South Africa has mercenary laws that strip citizenship of anyone serving any other organisation as a soldier.
If this debate is restricted to the which non German servicemen remained cigtizens of their original country we have a debate about the citizenship policies of their country of birth.
The largest contingent of foreign citizens serving in the Wehrmacht were those of the Soviet Union. USSR policy was that any soviet citizen serving the Germans was a treacherous citizen, regardless of whether a Hiwi or one of the national legions - Georgian, Uzbek or Cossack or in the Latvian, Lithuanian or Estonian SS, or as an "Ethic German." How many served in the Kriegsmarine or Luftwaffe, I don't know, but there must have been some Hiwis at least in the Luftwaffe ground forces.
"Ethic Germans" from eastern Europe served in many arms of the Wehrmacht. These were considered by the Third Reich as German citizens, but not necessarily by their birth state. Polish citizens were subject to ethnic segregation between German, Pole and Jew. Anyone judged German was eligible for service in the Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine.