Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Reference question on WW II

A patron came into Peninsula Library looking for information on two topics:

1. Jewish soldiers in the Finnish Army who participated in the siege of Leningrad

2. Ukranian soldiers who served in the German Army.

He knew about both, yet wanted printed information so that he could prove the points to someone. He said he served in the US Army and was at D-Day; when US soldiers captured Nazi soldiers at Normandy, it turned out that they were not speaking German, and that they were Ukranian. He also knew about Jewish Finnish soldiers, and related to me a story of Finnish Army Marshal Mannerheim: requested by a German officer to not have Jews serving alongside Germans, he told the German that said soldiers were Finnish, and that he would not be told who could serve in his Army.

I did find material on the web, including a link to an article in the Jewish Quarterly, and information at Yad Vashem.

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was a soldier and a politician, became president of Finland.

14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Ukrainian)

No comments: