nazi's in NATO fighting in Afghanistan

[george graves]

[der affe]

i am going to let that one pass, as he was just a soldier, not in the
Totenkopfgruppe (3rd SS Division) or Einstatsgruppen, he was a PAK 40 gunner (anti tank) serving his country.

he did time in prison after the war, as most German soldiers did, and paid his debt for serving his country, nothing else.

being Jewish i can understand your anger though

[Rocla]

i had always wondered what the Finns thought about it, there were 3 (?) SS Wiking Divisions made up of Finns and othere is mixed Wiking SS divisions.

i know it was to get away from the influence of Russia, but how do people feel about it or those who joined today?

i had always wondered what the Finns thought about it, there were 3 (?) SS Wiking Divisions made up of Finns and othere is mixed Wiking SS divisions.

i know it was to get away from the influence of Russia, but how do people feel about it or those who joined today?

~25 year earlier

"Finnish 27th Jäger Battalion (German: Königlich Preussisches Jägerbataillon Nr. 27), was an elite light infantry unit in German Army 1915–1918 which consisted mainly of the volunteers of Finnish Jäger troops.
The recruitment of the Jäger volunteers from the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland had to be secret, and was dominated by Germany-influenced circles, such as university students and the upper middle class. The recruitment was however in no way exclusive. The recruits were transported across Finland's western border via Sweden to Germany, where the volunteers were formed into the Royal Prussian 27th Jäger Battalion. It was continuation and expansion to the "Boy Scout Training" (Pfadfinderkursus) and Lockstedt training group (Ausbildungstruppe Lockstedt), which had given military training to Finnish volunteers eager to fight for independency.
More than 200 university students had participated in the so-called Boy Scout training – they dressed in Boy Scout uniforms during the training, and they became the officers of Finnish Jäger Troops. This group was expanded by extensive recruitment autumn 1915 and spring 1916. Goal was to grow the unit to 1,200 men, including artillery and pioneers. As the new recruits included working class young men and farmers as well as sailors, not so many of them knew German. So it was necessary to create military guide books in Finnish, and the commanding vocabulary was created.
On 1916-05-09 the battalion was baptized[clarification needed] to Royal Prussian 27th Jäger Battalion (Königlich Preussisches Jägerbataillon Nr. 27) and received new, green uniforms.
The Jäger Battalion participated in the ranks of the German Army from 1916 in the battles of World War I on the northern flank of the eastern front.
After the outbreak of the Civil War in Jägers who intended to engage on the "White" (non-socialist) side in the war were released. In Finland, these 2,000 volunteers were simply called The Jägers (Finnish pl. Jääkärit)."

But back to ww2, summer 1942 Finnland was in what we call "continuation war" Finnland let germany invade and fight the war at soviet front, strongly believing that we could survive the war as an independent democratic country, capable of maintaining its sovereignty in a politically hostile environment.

1944 peace contract with Soviet Union forced Finnland to exile German military from Finnland. Finnland and Germany made a secret contract for peacefull retreat of German military to Norway.

The retreat plan didn't work and Germany and Finnland were now in war known as Lappland war.

German troops were forced to Norway by april 1945, escaping Germans used "scorched earth" strategy and burn and exlploded pretty much everything .

WW2 veterans used to call all Germans with name "Lapin polttaja" meaning Lappland burner.

After all this Germans were seen as enemies by the common people.

i know it was to get from the influence of Russia, but how do people feel about it or those who joined today?

As you see our relations for Nazis are far more complicated than just those three SS divisions, in other hand we should be very thankfull for all the training and support we got from Nazis an on other most veterans and their children think Nazis as people who desroyed infrastructre of northern Finnland.

At the time we had other things to worry than the SS recruits, today nobody seems to remember except some neonazi wannabees.

I was born at 1976 and had very low intrest for WW2, both my grandfathers served in Soviet front and I never heard them or their frends discuss anything about Wiking division or other volunteer nazi action.

I guess it is sort of taboo, but can't really tell, most people nowadays just don't have opinoins of anything that doesn't directly matter their everyday life.

[der affe]

the "nordic" countries had a "special" relationship with the nazi's much different than the rest of Europe.
Finland had an even more unique situation such as you had posted. more a question of national survival than a belief in Nazi ideals. i am glad to see that vets are handled in a different way in your country.

funny thing, my old roommate is Finnish and he to this day, still hates Russians for invading/trying to invade his country. he is the singer for the band Nightrage and i found him a WWII Finnish army musician's rign that he wears all the time.

[Rocla]

still hates Russians for invading/trying to invade his country.

Hate is a strong word.

Most Finns don't hate Russian people, but almost everyone has somesort of antipathy towards late Soviet Union.

[sonnyqm3]

Russian ppl are cool, it was the Soviet government that was wacko..

[Deutschland über alles]

i always think people are ignorant when they say things like

Russian ppl are cool, it was the Soviet government that was wacko..

where did Russia get its government from....? Kenya?
just like Mexico...the government wasn't imported from wacko land.
im not trying to directly insult sonnyqm3...i have been hearing a lot of people say this lately.

[Farbin Kaiber]

funny thing, my old roommate is Finnish and he to this day, still hates Russians for invading/trying to invade his country. he is the singer for the band Nightrage and i found him a WWII Finnish army musician's rign that he wears all the time.

Crazy. One of my brothers more fav bands.