As a Finn im so grateful for every german, swede, norwegian, estonian and hungarian that helped us during those times, either with supplies or blood. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten. Eläköön Suomi!

CORRECTION: When I stated the leader of the DNSAP in Denmark, I named the leader of the youth wing as the party leader. I'm not sure how I made this mistake. My apologies. I've been very kindly corrected by a Dane. The actual leader from 1933-1945 was Frits Clausen. The information was all about Frits Clausen but I somehow put Von Schalburg's name instead.

Should I turn this into a small mini series on the SS Wiking going from this episode right up to the end in Berlin and their fates after the war?

after seeing the documentary; The Last Battle Of Europe, you start to wonder... like REALLY wonder...

With German help Finland remained indipendent!!! Thank you for the help!!!

There is an ancient saying:"You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." So true in most aspects of human life.

One word - anti-communism. Here in Sweden 🇸🇪 many people volunteered to go to Finland 🇫🇮 when it was attacked by Russia and many saw the German attack on Russia as the continuation of that. Then there were also some real life Nazis, of course, but in general the support for the Nazis was never strong.

Many today dont understand the power dynamics at play in Europe after WW1. Moscow, Berlin & London were the three centres of military power. The French & Belgian humiliation of Germany in the Ruhr assured thered be a war. As France's ally Britain was humiliated at Dunkirk, again Norway..as the Germans pushed them out of continental Europe - leaving Moscow & Berlin to fight. For other nations it was more often "Who to fight against?" than "Who to fight for?". Ukrainians & Croats fought to be free FROM Russia. Belarus fought to be rid of Nazi butchery. The Baltic States saw tgeir chance to be free of Stalin. The Nordic states had no desire to be communist. People weren't fighting for leaders, they were opposing a particular ideology..

My great great uncle and his cousin served in the third ss panzer Korps which was largely made out of Wiking, thank you for honoring these men

This video was Sigmar's video request! If you'd like me to make one of your videos then be sure to sign up to my patreon! Thanks for all the support lately fellas, things are going well. Much appreciated!

Thank you for all your effort and historical work

I fished in the Bering sea with a few Scandinavian descendants. They really are built different. I couldn't deny that they were superiorly built for the insane job we were doing.

This video certainly is well received. I look forward to more.

I'm not part of the usual viewers but I enjoy the well researched and put together videos. Bravo

Great video, hope to see more.

Why is there a Swedish flag in the thumbnail? There where only a couple of hundred Swedish volunteers in the Waffen SS. Half of them worked for the Swedish Military Intelligence

Wherever you saw “extremism”, it was because of communist infiltration and outright invasions so there was little choice, either bow to communism or stand and fight back. What would you do?

i met a fellow whos family moved to america after their house in Karelia was siezed by the soviets. they were a rich norwegian family that was labeled as kulaks by the soviets and expelled

I once saw a late war SS recruiting poster from Denmark. Death was dressed as a Russian soldier, sitting on the caboose of a train (looking at the viewer) (heading for Siberia?). And then just one word across the poster at the top: NEVER!

This video very nicely illuminates, how complicated that war was, including various alliances that seemed like strange bedfellows at a superficial level.

Thanks for your work

Because Germans helped Finns, they demanded counter action, which were men from Finland. Finnish government wanted to have these volunteers to be part of Wermacht, but Germans wouldnt have it. 1400 Finns were directly assimilated into SS Wiking, unlike majority of volunteers who formed own legions with own commanders. Like French Charlemagne. Finnish volunteer Lauri Törni alias Larry Thorne, is the only SS soldier who is buried in Arlington Military cemetary. After WW II he fleed to US and became legendary green baret , he died on a mission in Vietnam. His US memorial is the Larry Thorne Headquarters Building, 10th SFG(A), Fort Carson, Colorado.

Awesome. We have such an information vacuum on these subjects. Keep up the good work!

Your channel is excellent. Extremely well edited and delivered with the kind of thoughtfulness that’s rare these days. Well done.

Turn this into a mini series, I'd literally watch videos of you talking about Hitler's favourite Teletubbies.

An excellent show,, thank you Brother🇦🇺

Nice vid

Another great video! Could you make a video on Himmler or some of the other high ranking members of germany someday? A mussolini video would also be cool.

German was the second language in Sweden before the first and 2 world war , and I do not know but I would be surprised if it was not the same in the other nordic countries, after the 2 world war Sweden changed that to english. For a long time before that change both the German language and culture was as strong as the American and Brittish is today in Sweden.

Why are you using the Swedish flag with your claim about Scandinavians? Sweden had the fewest volunteers by far. Denmark, Norway and Finland all had more volunteers. A mere 200 Swedes joined the Waffen SS.

I am thoroughly enjoying your channel. Objective history. Respect.

Which other foreign SS divisions would you like me to cover?

Good video. perhaps do a vid about those who joined Germans in Eastern Europe/soviet controlled areas sometime?

A series on this division would be incredible

It could go deeper into history before the 1930ies. But within the given framework, it is a good overview.

Why does the thumbnail have swedish flag behind finnish soldiers?

The Fins are a Baltic people much like Latvians and Lithuanians. They are not Germanic Scandinavians by blood but culturally they have been influenced by Scandinavians by quite a bit. Most people don’t know about the different genetic groups in Europe except for the main ones so they assume that everyone east of the Germans are Slavic but that’s not true at all. Even the Hungarians are not Slavic, as they are an ethnic group called the Magyars. Romanians are not Slavic either as they are descendants from the ancient group known as the Dacians.

I am from Norway and would like to add a few notes regarding the situation. During the interwar period, people were not as happy as to get by as you paint it. This is a common mistake made by historians as people like to ignore the political situation in Norway before ww2 so they can more easily demonize the Germans for invading. After the Communists seized power in Russia, Communism was spreading rapidly and in Norway, the political situation heavily divided between the communists and the nationalists. The Communists would organize strikes to get what they wanted, sabotage the military, raise the soviet union flag in the flagpole during the National Day instead of the Norwegian Flag, and wrote songs and poetry of their dreams of a "Soviet-Norway". The Nationalists on the other hand participated in volunteer work and were very supportive of Finland's struggle against Ussr Aggression. Schools did alot of volunteer work by making backpacks, mittens, scarves and other equipment which was shipped to Finland to help the Brave Nationalists defending the Border of Scandinavia against communism. Many Norwegians also travelled to Finland to volunteer as Soldiers in the Winter War. Even one of the most famous Norwegian Resistance Fighers, Max Manus had served in Finland as a volunteer Soldier fighting Communism. After ww1, Communist Politicians in Norway had began to heavily defund the Military, which is a critical reason to why Norway was so helpless against the German Invasion in 1940. They argued that after the devestations of ww1, there shall be no more wars and made plans to dissolve the Norwegian Military and replace it with an unarmed landguard. It is heavily theorized that the main reason the Communists in Norway was so rampant on defunding and unarming the military, was so that Norway would be vulnerable enough for a Communist Revolution. When the war broke out, England made plans to invade Norway to get a foothold on the Northern European Continent. Germany learnt of this plan but didn't invade until the Norwegian Government, which office's was held by the Communist Party (The Labour Party/Worker's Party) failed to uphold the laws of Neutrality, when they allowed English soldiers to kill Germans on Norwegian Ground. After the war ended, the communists in Norway started pretending to not be communists as they had fled to England in 1940 and was allied with the west as the cold war was breaking out. But they had close ties to Moscow and there are many documentaries about Norwegian Communists serving as spies for the Soviet Union during the cold war. Also keep in mind that the greatest number of casualties of Norwegians during World War 2 was civilians killed by British Ships. Fish boats and civilian vessels were targeted for fear of them being secretly smuggling Germans and Weapons. Nasjonal Samling (The Norwegian NS Party) was the biggest political party in Norway by 1943, with more party members than current day Norway has soldiers. In total, a little over 5000 Norwegian Men volunteered in the Waffen SS, and a great reason for this was to Defend the West against Communism, as we already know that The Soviet Union was going to Invade Europe in 1942 and conquer her under Soviet Rule.

a very good channel

Its really inspiring reading about the Norwegians in the SS during the war. They were incredible fighters and i am very proud of them. Its a shame they still have such a bad reputation in Norway

Just a small additional note, the more radical predecessor of IKL in Finland, Lapuanliike, was banned in 1932. IKL was founded as spiritual successor, but it never achieved popularity in such manner.

If you haven't already, (your videos are amazing btw) could you one day make a video on ss charlemagne? The french ss volunteer division who fought against the Soviets in berlin

We're going on a adventure!

Very good and fair thinking.Keep up the historical education.

Please make a video about Latvians too, thank you!

Great division and good summary. I would love the mini series on these men. They accomplished alot

The leader of the very small and insignificant Danish Nazi party DNSAP was the until the reunion in 1920 German citizen Fritz Clausen, not C.F. von Schalburg. Schalbourg, however, was the leader of Frikorps Danmark - the Danish volountary “freikorps” that fought on the Eastern front which was later absorbed by the SS Viking division.

Sweden was not a liberal democracy during WWII, it was a constitutional monarchy with a conservative socialist govermant, which held a almost isolation styled neutrality foreign policy, yet strongly anti sovietism. Lindholm himself even commented after the war that if Germany would have occupied Sweden, like its neigbhours, there'd be no need to change the govermant since similare policies where already at play. Look at Folkhemmet etc for instance. Not close to the liberal state that Sweden is today, infact so far apart that the PM at the time Per Albin Hansson probably would ve called a fascist racist by todays standards lol.

6:15 lmao wonder where we heard that before...

I would like to point out however, that the IKL reached a membership of 100,000 and were a nationwide phenomena. There were also several, smaller national socialist parties in finland. Arguably the largest being the Finnish People's organization (suomen kansan järjestö) which had around 20,000 members at its peak. Also, do you know how communism was banned in finland? It was the legal predecessor of the IKL, the Lapua movement who got it done. They arranged a 12,000 man march on the capital and demanded communism be banned. And they were successful.

Thank you, an exceptionally well-researched and insightful take on the matter at hand. Though not part of Scandinavia (but of the Nordic countries), Finland also contributed a battallion and some more to the Wiking. This was not what the Finnish government wanted, though; they suggested a battalion to be trained and serving in the Heer. It was repeatedly refused by Himmler, so they went to train and fight with the Wiking. They were discharged in 1943, after heavy fighting to join the Finnish Army.

0:32 you forgot to mention the remnants of the blue division. Btw great episode as always

Because they knew that it was only a matter of time before Soviet International Communism moved Westward and they were justifiably terrified of the prospect...

They shall be remark as heroes. They fought against communism not for the sake of Germany, but for the sake of Europe and they’re Nations. I am proud of my nation, who stood shoulder to shoulder fighting against them as The Blue Division, and then, The Blue Legion, defending Berlin to the very end.

Broooo, in the future you would make videos of another history topics??, like idnk, Ancient Rome and Greece, crusades, etc

Note: It is the "Hird" in Norway, menaing vanguard, and not as expressed in the video as the "Herd", although both words implicated herd-mentality during WW2.

i'd definitely like more videos on the viking, please make it a series. (i'm biased as a norwegian though).

What i understandt of Finnish ss man is that they went to germany get military training and was suppose to return to fight in Finland same as what happened during Finnish civil war. These men were ”forced” to stay in germany and join ss and for this Finland got lot of weapon support from Germany.

Alot of the Danish volunteers were former soldiers who felt they had been backstabbed by the government for surrendering. Even though the outcome was never in doubt, they felt like they hadnt had the opportunity to show that they were good, hard fighting soldiers. So in a bit of a twist, they joined the germans to prove that they could fight and the stigma against them was unjust.

A lot of danes joined Frikorps Danmark and received the blessing of the danish government.

Could you do an episode about The Finnish SS Wiking

My great grandpa has an SS Wiking ring though he won't tell me how he got it lol.

more videos about ss volunteers would be good, maybe about french and belgian or even the russian ss divisons. or go more in depth what they did in the war, the spanish blue division is also legendary

This is the first time I have heard of this lol

The men in thumbnail are not Swedes, but Finns in my home city.

I think its in Twilight of the God by Thorolf Hillblad. A Swedish volunteer in the SS. He talks of a follow country man, with a large young family who volunteered. It struck me the belief in his conviction, that it was a battle for civilization itself, to leave his safe neutral country and his family. To risk it for their future and fight in another nations uniform. I think the Sweden of today proves these Men to be on the highest order. Not the cheap mercenaries which do such things nowadays with no moral compass or political world view.

The Finns sniped the shit out of the Soviets.

Well done very objective history. Please forward more material

Finland is not really Scandianavian from what i understand. But it counts as Nordic.

Brilliant video Zoomer. Im interested in this era and over the decades I've read much about it. A very interesting story i read was of two Irishmen who served in the SS. Their names were Frank Springer and James Brady. I believe they were captured in Jersey in 1940, and Joined the Germans. They were in the Brandenburgers, and both fought in the battle of Berlin in 1945. Both married German women and survived the war. Could you do a bit research on these two?

I have a deep respect for the Finns. Can't even explain it, really. I absolutely love those people, and I've always found them to be the unequalled masters of expressing the emotion of anger. There really isn't anyone quite like them. There's something about the sincerity and seriousness of the way they show their anger that speaks to the soul. It's almost like you are witnessing something from long long ago, like something that other Europeans have forgotten. One wonders if the Finnish people were the original inventors of anger, and the rest of us European peoples are somehow just attempting to mimic them, but it isn't the same.\o

Did Wiking members stay in the Netherlands around end 1941, begin 1942?

Lol look at Sweden now. Oops I mean Swedestan 😬

DO THE MINISERIES

Fascism literally means anti-communist so if someone calls you a fascist it isn’t much of an insult.

Perhaps because they realized who the true enemy was.

Look into Oskar Dirlewanger. Serving in Poland and Belarus, Dirlewanger is closely linked to many atrocities, being considered one of the most cruel and brutal individuals throughout the course of World War II, with his unit being responsible for the deaths of at least "tens of thousands" in Poland and Russia.[1] He also fought in World War I, the post-World War I conflicts, and the Spanish Civil War. He reportedly died after World War II while in Allied custody.

Difficult times, difficult choices and lots of propaganda. Not easy for a simple man to know what is right or wrong.

National socialism is to the left, along with the national og international socialism of the Soviet Union, China, North Korea and Cambodia. Socialism means state ownership of the means of production (pretty much including people in most of these countries). Socialism can be small (national) and be nationally flavored, or big (international) and bland.

What are your thoughts on Veronika Kuzniar's work?

I'd love to hear more about my own peoples involvement in this war. We aren't taught much, if anything at all, about our participation, albeit through volunteers. It's often a comical joke in TV skits and such, that a relative had secretly volunteered and been a part of the Nationalsocialist German armed forces, as if it were disgraceful. Meaning; propaganda.

thanks

OK, in the Swedish election in 1936, SNSP were so bad that Furugård decided to disband the party. Within NSAP there were a lot of animosity between different factions so they split upp. The got less than 1% in that election. (they got 0.9%) Between 180 to 300 hundred swedes enlisted in SS-Waffen, som speculations has been made that up to 500 signed up, but that has never been substantiated. Germany were not allowed to recruit in Sweden.

This is not true Compared to other occupied countries there were actually very few scandinavians. A couple of thousands from Denmark and Norway. And from Sweden there were only a couple of hundreds. Check your sources

WE DEFETED THE WRONG FUCKIN ENEMY

,,,,Because as fellow European Christians they had understood and recognised the intentions of ZOG and the fate instore that awaited Europe if the christan axis lost the war, 80 years on they've been proven correct!

Reconstruction of Germania in ww2

Who wouldn't want to join? Looks wicked.

A few poonts concerning the Finns. First of all, during WW1 Finnish volunteers had illegally left the Grand Duchy of Finland, then belonging to Russia, to get military training in Germany, in order to free Finland of the Russian rule by military force. These Jaegers soon formed tho core of the White army officers that guaranteed the victory in the Finnish civil war in 1918. Later they formed the core of the Finnish army officers during WW2. Therefore going to Germany was nothing new for the Finns. In WW2 the role of the Finns was totally different than that of other Scandinavians (I ignore the fact that Finns are Nordic, not Scandinavians). After the Winter War Finland was in a situation where it had lost all fortifications on the Russian border, as the regions had been ceded to the USSR. Finland seeked German assistance as it was obvious the war in Europe would keep going on. The Finnish SS batallion was called 'panttipataljoona' s pawn batallion in Finland, as it was given to ensure German assistance in return. Some 1400 volunteers left. 255 were killed in action, 686 were wounded and 14 reported as missing. The operation was based on a two year contract between Finland and Germany, and it ended in the spring of 1943. The Finnish batallion was separated from the Wiking division and the men returned to Finland June 2. 1943. Therefore there were no Finns fighting for Berlin at the end of the war; the former SS-men had been fighting on the Finnish front to stop the USSR for the second time in the summer of 1944, and very likely some ended up to the Lapland war against Germany. Another very common misunderstanding about the Winter War: you often hear that in the war Finland lost more territory to the USSR than what was initially demanded by the Soviets before the war, as if accepting had been a better option. In reality, the USSR demanded all the fortified regions on the Karelian isthmus. It is like suggesting that give us all your weapons and ammunition and we shall not invade you, although we just took half of Poland and marched to the Baltic countries. If Finland had accepted the offer, I would now be writing a completely different story, and in cyrillic.

Actually the danish military were also left alone - the first years.

Fyi both kings during the great war and ww2 the kings of Sweden put alot of pressure on the politicians to join Germany. Finland is not Scandinavian but nordic

it's pronounced "vaffen", not "uaffen".

if so many volunteers joined the German army, it's because WW2 was an ideological war, not simply a war of conquest. Two visions of the world clashed, and some just chose to join the side of those fighting against bolshevism/capitalism

Some men also signed up due to strong anti-capitalist feelings, a desire to fight against England. Some of these men went on to serve on the eastern front instead. Generally, the volunteers fought for Europe, and their respective countries position and honor in the new post-war Europe. For that they were treated most disgracefully.

0:55 some men fight for country while others fight for and idea, which might explain why the chief of German military intelligence wilhelm canaries betrayed Germany and thus ensured a German defeat.

Sooooo many unpunished countries. So many.

Soviets lost 80,000 to the SS who lost only 50,000 in the battle of Berlin. What a meatgrinder for nothing. Neither empire exists today.

Germany, Sweden and Finland were natural ally.

Finland is part of Fenno-Scandia but not Scandinavia...confusing isn´t?

Lore of why did so many Scandinavians Volunteer for Germany in WW2 momentum 100