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MUTINY IN THE BALKANS: CROAT VOLKSDEUTSCHE, THE WAFFEN-SS AND MOTHERHOOD*
In the fall of 1979, the prominent Danube Swabian Friedrich Binder greeted the appearance of Otto Kumm's history of the Seventh SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division-a division overwhelmingly composed of ethnic Germans from the Balkans-with little enthusiasm. He points out that "Vorwarts Print Eugen": Geschichte der 7. SS Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division "Print Eugen"1 is the work of a German divisional ex-commander and does not reflect the views of Swabians;2 he states that Kumm's attempt to glorify this division fully misrepresents an ethnic group whose members were the victims of reprisals far greater than any suffered by the Germans of the Third Reich. Reaction to the book will continue to reflect negatively upon the expatriate Swabian community, he claims: "Leider nutzt es uns nichts, wenn wir konstatieren, daB die Landsmannschaft der Donauschwaben mit diesem Buch absolut nichts zu tun hat.113 He criticises Kumm's historical method of interspersing documentary evidence with "SchwArmereien": as when, for instance, the writer claims that the division offered an imposing image of power and might, or when he reflects upon Himmler's positive view of the Print Eugen.4 Similarly, Binder takes exception to the ex-commander's description of Swabians as "prachtvolle Menschen and Soldaten, aber vollig unmilitArisch in Haltung, Auftreten, Denk- and Sprechweise im altpreuBischen Sinne."5 Swabian recruits, he objects, had no interest in becoming Prussian-style parade soldiers; they were abused and misused.6
Binder's response to Kumm's history of a Waffen-SS division composed largely of ethnic Germans feeds into a controversy that has yet to be further examined objectively. To what extent were ethnic Germans the victims of the Third Reich's policy of aggrandisement? To what extent were they active participants and Fascist supporters? The Prinz Eugen Division, in which most Swabians served, has received few praises, apart from Kumm's, of its military conduct. George Stein's classic study of the Waffen-SS summarises the prevailing view:
Perhaps the most shocking evidence against the Waffen SS was presented [in the Nuremberg trials] on behalf of the Yugoslav delegation. It dealt with the criminal activities of the 7th SS Gebirgsdivision "Prinz Eugen" and offered graphic descriptions of the burning of villages, the massacre of their inhabitants, and the torture and murder of captured partisans.... Even evasive witnesses before the International Military Tribunal,...