13th Waffen Division of the SS Handschar
In WW2, Thousands of Slavish Muslims served in one of the most unique and notorious Waffen-SS divisions â the 13th Waffen Division of the SS Handschar.[1] [2][3]
Though, in fact, in the scope of enormously Holocaust unique event in history, these units played a very minor role, the will and readiness was there, especially on the side of the spiritual recruiter and motivator, the Mufti.
References
- â Lepre, George. Himmler's Bosnian Division : the Waffen-SS Handschar Division, 1943-1945. United States: Schiffer Military History, 1997.
..the story of the "Handschar," a Muslim combat formation created by the Germans to "restore order in Bosnia." What actually transpired was quite different
- â Trigg, Jonathan. Hitler's Jihadis: Muslim Volunteers of the Waffen-SS. United Kingdom: History Press, 2011.
Overview By the end of the Second World War there were soldiers of more than thirty different nationalities in the Waffen-SS, and Reich Germans themselves were in the minority. How did a regime that believed so completely in the racial superiority of its population come to welcome hundreds of thousands of foreigners into its military elite? Who were these foreign SS men, and why did they fight so long and so hard for such a murderous regime?Hitlerâs Jihadis provides an analysis of some of the most intriguing and controversial of these foreign volunteers â the thousands of Muslims, from as far away as India who wore the SS double lightning flashes alongside their erstwhile conquerors. Jonathan Trigg gives an insight into the pre-war politics that inspired these Islamic volunteers, who for the most part would not survive. Those who did survive the war and the bloody retribution that followed saw the reputation of the units in which they had served berated as militarily inept and castigated for atrocities against unarmed civilians. Using first-hand accounts and official records, Hitlerâs Jihadis peels away the propaganda to reveal the complexity that lies at the heart of the story of Hitlerâs most unlikely âAryansâ.
- â Eleonore Lappin, The Death Marches of Hungarian Jews Through Austria in the Spring of 1945, YadVashem.
In Gau Styria, Croatian Waffen-SS men were also deployed as guards for the Hungarian Jews.... These were members of the Waffen-SS divisions âHandschar,â âKamaâ and âPrinz Eugen.â Report of the Head Security Office for Upper Austria to the Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen in Ludwigsburg, (ZStL) Zl 9AR-Z 85/61, November 6, 1962, Archives of the Republic (AdR) BuMinI 457-13/57.