The Truth About Latvian “Volunteers”

On February 10, 1943, an announcement by Hitler appeared in which it was stated that also Latvia was “allowed” to organize an SS-legion of volunteers. It was to be commanded by Latvian officers, to have all types of armament and to be stationed in the vicinity of the Latvian border.

One could assume that this newly organized national legion would become a center of attraction for heavily tried Latvian people, in view of the fact that by the time the legion was organized the Russians had approached very close to the Latvian border, no one desired the return of a Bolshevik era, and the entire nation fondles the ardent hope of seeing the revival of a Latvian national army, and it appeared that the legion could serve as the first step toward this goal.

As usual, however, the German occupation authorities saw to it that this undertaking initiated by themselves suffered a fiasco in as much as it was to be voluntary: the consciousness of being disliked conquerors kept the Germans constantly worried of losing power, which finally resulted in quite the contrary to what had been hoped for in the beginning.

This also happened with the organization of the Latvian legion. The Latvian general, Bangerskis, who in the beginning had been selected as commander-in-chief of the legion, was soon transferred to the position of inspector of the legion, and a German Major General Hansen was put in his place as Commander of the Legion. The so-called Latvian local administration also failed to receive from the leading representatives of the occupation authorities clear and definite guarantees that the legion would be stationed in the vicinity of the Latvian border. Rumors of this spread very quickly throughout the country, and the result was a general abstinence from the legion. The first group of legionnaires who had registered and had to swear an oath to the Fuehrer consisted of barely 300 men, which is clearly shown by the photograph taken of this act on the Dom Square in Riga. The Latvian officers and non-commissioned officers have been particularly passive in joining up with the legion which has been quite frankly admitted by the Inspector of the legion, General Bangerskis. It is therefore not at all amazing that the so-called first director general, General Dankers, upon whom had been placed the main responsibility as representative of the Latvian local administration for the recruiting results of the legion, felt called upon to issue a public statement, in which he appealed in particular to the reserve officers and others and reminded them that it was their duty to join the legion of volunteers. Ten days later, i.e., on March 19, an announcement appeared by General Schröder, Commander of the SS-Police forces in Latvia, which stated:

“During the past weeks all young men born in 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923 and 1924 who have registered with the police or the labor authorities have been sent induction notices. Every man born in these years who has not yet received such notices or does not receive it within the next few days is hereby summoned to appear on the dates given below during states hours at the pertinent recruiting office with the necessary documents of identification in a sober condition. Food for one day should be brought . . .

“Whoever fails to comply with this last summons will be punished in accordance with existing military laws."

The occupation authorities felt in advance, however, that the mobilization would not give the desired results on a “voluntary basis.” Therefore Dr. Drechsler, the Commissar General in Riga, hastened already on March 8 to issue a strictly confidential instruction to the recruiting headquarters, whereby the commanders of these headquarters were instructed how they were to discharge their duties. The full text of this instruction is as follows:

Commissar General in Riga
       — III Aso —
District 2: Labor Division
Riga, March 8, 1943

To the Herrn Commanders of the Recruiting Stations established in the General District of Latvia

Re: Muster of the years 1919-1924.

Past experiences give rise to fears that the muster does not create the desired spirit among the manpower on a voluntary basis in favor of the three services. It is particularly conspicuous that recruiting for the Army has far from attained the necessary proportions. Consequently, I cancel the notice contained in my instructions of February 26, 1943, under Number 10, according to which recruiting for the Army is to be done only voluntarily, effective immediately. Simultaneously, article 9 of the instruction of the Reich Commissioner dated February 16, 1943, is now exclusively and fully effective in the general district of Latvia. Therefore in carrying out the muster the following is to be observed : The manager of the recruiting headquarters sees to the distribution of the conscripts among the three services. Wishes can be expressed, but they shall be taken into consideration only within the limits of necessity. The following basic rules are to be observed in the distribution:

(a) Equal preferences to all three services (SS-Legion, Army, Labor force). As my inquiry in the SS-training headquarters in Riga showed, although the assignment of demobilized forces to the SS-Legion should be done only on a voluntary basis, nevertheless considerable influence should be exerted by the recruiting manager in order to lay the proper emphasis on inclusion in the SS-Legion.

(b) All “kv” men over 168 cm tall should then be assigned to the Legion, and all others under this size and all “gvf” men should be assigned to the Army, if they are not included under article c.

(c) All “gvf” men fundamentally belong to the labor force, and also qualified workers, in accordance with article 13 of the instruction of the Reich commissioner, which is to be conformed with. Workers that after having completed their training have had at least two years of experience in their profession should be assigned according to their profession in the labor force, particularly qualified workers in the metal and woodworking industry.

(d) Should it appear that in regard to personnel of article 7-g of the instruction of the Reich commissioner a new mobilization is necessary, this shall be achieved through the Commissioner general.

(Signed) WURTHMANN,

Senior Government Counsellor

The notice of General Schröder, Chief of the SS-police forces in Latvia, dated March 19, 1943, actually converted recruiting for the Legion into compulsory mobilization, from which no one had the right to abstain. Thereupon the local district commissars on the basis of the above mentioned notice soon issued their own decrees in order to carry out the mobilization in the various districts of the land.

As to how this mobilization is actually being carried out, certain refugees who were still in Latvia in the end of May relate the following:

Already at the end of February and in the beginning of May young men 19 to 24 years of age began to receive written summons which, however, bore no signature. The summons stated that the addressee was to appear at a certain time and certain place for a “muster.” What the goal of this “muster” was the summons did not say.

When the persons in question found themselves in the stipulated place and had been “mustered” by a medical committee, they were offered the choice of one of three possibilities: either

  1. to join the Latvian Legion as a “volunteer,”
  2. to sign up with one of the branches of the German SS, or
  3. to join the German army as a so-called “Hilfswilliger” (auxiliary).

The latter were destined for various auxiliary work near the front, for example, to dig trenches, build airfields, etc. They wear the uniform of the German army and are armed with a rifle. After a certain time and under certain circumstances, however, they are sent to fight in the front lines.

The refugees claim definitely to know that the young men who appeared at the “muster” were no longer offered a choice between military service and labor service, as was formerly the case in recruiting volunteers.

Those youths who were mustered in the end of March were quite frankly told in the recruiting stations that they must join the Legion—there was no other alternative for them.

As it was generally known what the so-called “muster” and “medical examination” actually meant, the young men of the stipulated mobilization years attempted by all manner of means to avoid the mobilization. In the beginning they denied having received the summons. In this connection the Latvian newspaper Tevija published an explanatory article which stated that appearance at the “muster” for young men of the military years was mandatory, regardless of whether they had received a personal summons or not. Whoever refused to observe this warning would be severely punished.

After this explanation a mass flight of young men began from their registered homes to their friends in the forests. Then, however, in order to impress the young men into the “three service branches,” a true manhunt began—a repetition of the manhunts already known from Poland, whereby whole city sections were surrounded. The young men were then dragged out and deported in freight trucks.

This compulsory mobilization drove the inhabitants into deep despair. They backed up their youth to protect them. In this the farmers were of particular assistance, helping the refugees to find a hiding place or furnishing those who had fled to the forests with food and other indispensable objects.

What the youths, subject to the mobilization themselves, thought of it, is clearly shown by the enormous number of young men escaping from the mobilization and by the mass flights to the forests. In the legion, however, both among the officers and the men, a strongly marked national spirit existed, tinged with a feeling of deep opposition toward the Germans. This spirit frequently has led the legionnaires almost to the point of open revolt against the occupation authorities, and only the realization that thereby the aims of the Bolsheviks might be furthered has held them back from such a step.

By the end of 1943 the lists of the Latvian Legion were filled, and the young men who were mobilized last summer have been simply detailed to the German Army. It should be observed here that Alfred Rosenberg, Minister of the occupied Ostland, as early as May 11, 1943, signed an announcement according to which all inhabitants of Ostland were recognized as being “worthy” of admission to the German Army.

Officially it is unknown how many “volunteers” actually have been assigned to the Latvian Legion; according to various information it is between 25 and 45 thousand men. In case of mobilization this figure does not seem to be exaggerated. It is estimated that there are approximately 15,000 people in Latvia 20 years of age. If this figure is taken as an average and granted that one half of them avoided the mobilization, it would still leave some 7,500 persons available for mobilization. As six years were drafted, the multiplication of this figure by six gives the already mentioned figure 45,000.

Moreover, the Riga broadcasting station officially announced that the Latvian Legion consists of six regiments, and that the following Latvian officers had been appointed regimental commanders: 1) Colonel Apsitis, 2) Colonel Januks, 3) Colonel Kripens, 4) Colonel Skaistlauks, 5) Lieut. Colonel Veiss and 6 ) Lieut. Colonel Lobe.

The legionnaires of the Latvian Legion receive their military training in camps some 20 kilometers behind the front. The students of universities, high schools and other higher institutions detailed to the Legion are trained as commissioned and non-commissioned officers, at first in Latvia in four different places, after which they are sent to Germany where they receive further military training in the vicinity of Munich and where they finally receive officer’s rank.

Wounded legionnaires and those in Riga on leave from the front relate that the sector of the front between Leningrad and Velikie Luki is principally assigned to Estonian, Latvian and Finnish legionnaires. It appears that the demand raised by the national volunteers from the very beginning, not to be scattered in small groups throughout the German Army, has to a certain extent been taken into consideration by the Germans by the creation of the Legion.

The only weapons of the “volunteers” until the formation of the Legion were rifles. On the front, however, they soon captured machine guns from the Russians and refused to turn them over to the Germans. Already the original “volunteers” demanded from the Germans that they be furnished with all necessary equipment mechanical and automatic weapons, artillery, etc. Evidently the Germans have been compelled to comply with these demands, for at present the Latvian Legion is equipped with all types of automatic weapons and artillery.

The Latvian legionnaires now wear the uniform of the German Army, and in addition wear only the small badge of the Latvian Legion. At first the “volunteers” were sent to the front in the old uniform of the Latvian national army, so that the Russians immediately recognized them. When any of these volunteers were captured by the Russians, they were horribly mistreated. Near Velikie Luki corpses of Latvian volunteers were found who had been scalped; from some of them the Russians had pulled the skin off their hands like gloves, others had had their eyes gouged or burned out. Near Stalingrad some of the Latvian volunteers had been stuck on poles. The reason for these tortures is that Soviet Russia continues to consider Latvia a part of the Soviet Union after Latvia's forcible annexation in August 1940. Thus the Latvians are between the devil and deep sea: the Germans mobilize them, the Russians torture and kill them if captured.*


* Appears as “kill and torture” in the original.

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