Friday, August 24, 2012

Reference Materials about Norwegian Volunteers



Title                 Norske Offiserer i Waffen-SS
Writer             Geir Brenden, Tommy Natedal, Knut Flovik Thoresen
Publishing     2012
Page              
ISBN               9788292870648 (8292870644)
A story about 141 (out of 200+) Norwegians who graduated from SS-Junkeschule Bad Tölz. Each man has short bios (1-3 pages w/photo). Lots of interesting information on their wartime experiences as well (before the war, invasion of Norway, volunteering, at the front, at Bad Tölz, being officers, post-war imprisonment etc).

Title                Frontfighters: 
                        The Norwegian Volunteer Legion of the Waffen-SS, 1941-1943
Editor             Richard Landwehr
Publishing     Merriam Press, 2011
Page                202
ISBN              1435758536 (978-1435758537)
The Norwegian Volunteer Legion of the Waffen-SS, 1941-1943. Traces the unit through training, transfer to Russia, installation on the Leningrad front, re-assignment to Norway and final disbandment. 220 photos and illustrations.


Title                Nordmennen på Østfronten: 
                        deres egen historie i bilder
Writer            Egil Ulateig and Geir Brenden
Publishing    Forlaget Reportasje, 2005.
Page               164
ISBN              8299529972 (9788299529976)
A pictorial documenting book about Norwegians serving in the Waffen SS during World War II. The book contains around 200 pics, most of whom have never been published before, many being "happy snaps" taken by the soldiers themselves. All pictures are commented in both English as well as Norwegian. A general introduction to the subject of the book is also written in English. Otherwise the introduction of each chapter in the book is in Norwegian only. 

 
Title               SS-Schijäger Batallion "Norge": 
                       Norwegian ski infantry on the Eastern Front 1941-1944
Writer           Geir Brenden; Arne Håkon Thomassen; Laurent Lecocq
Publishing   Leandoer & Ekholm, 2011.
Page              254
ISBN             9789185657063 (9185657069)
A story of Norwegian frontfighters who fought above the Polar Circle during the war as an elite ski infantry battalion among SS ‘Nord’ Division ranks.

Title               De som falt: 
                       nordmenn drept i tysk krigstjeneste
Writer           Eirik Veum; Geir Brenden
Publishing    NRK, 2009.
Page               400
ISBN              9788281783003 (8281783001)
"De som falt" (Those who were killed). A collection information about hundreds Norwegian frontfighters who were killed for Hitler and theirs Germanic Empire’s dream during World War II.


Title              16 år og Hitlers soldat:  
                      historien om Ivar Skarlo, en norsk soldat på Østfronten
Writer          Odd Helge Brugrand
Publishing   Kagge, 2011.
Page              290
ISBN             9788248911654 (8248911659)
A dramatic story about a Norwegian teenager name Ivar Olsen, who joined Hitler’s army when he only sixteen and fought for the German military and political expansion on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. Lost his left arm at the age of eighteen, the strong boy survived the war and will be remembered as a hero in Estonia, but not in his native Norway. 


Title               På liv og død en frontkjempers erindringer: 
                       Ørnulf Bjørnstad med divisjon Wiking i Russland 1941-43
Writer           Ørnulf Bjørnstad
Publishing    Mapaid, 2011.
Page               135
ISBN              9789949217564
A memoirs of Ørnulf Bjørnstad, a member Nasjonal Sjamling, who served as a member of the Waffen-SS. He fought in the Eastern Front with the elite SS ‘Wiking’ Division from Dnieper river to Caucasus before discharge in June 1943.


Title                Veien mot undergangen historien om de norske frontkjemperne
Writer            Egil Ulateig
Publishing    Vega forl, 2010.
Page                390
ISBN               9788282111393 (8282111392)
A complete account of 6,000 Norwegian front fighters during World War II. Told about theirs true reasons to served Hitler’s army, theirs battles, and the harsh judgement that fall into theirs remaining life. Based on numerous primary sources.

 


Monday, August 13, 2012

Arabic Section of Radio Zeesen


Radio Zeesen, name after a village near Berlin, was the German shortwave broadcasting station near Berlin-Konigswusterhausen. Consisting of a lattice tower of pitch pine timbers, it was one of Germany's first short-wave broadcasting transmitters. It was equipped with four transmitting arms, at 90-degree separation, surmounted by two omnidirectional aerials. In 1939, the wooden tower was replaced by a 70-metre high steel mast with a single omnidirectional aerial. Thus, the reception of Radio Zeesen was better than that of any other station broadcasting,

The propaganda ministry had supervised the station since April 1933. In September 1939, it came under the direction of department of the Foreign Office headed by Ernst Wilhelm Bohle. Its Arabic section had several transmitters in Athens and Tunis from 1940 to 1942. The Arab Committee of the Foreign Office determined the content of the Arabic broadcasts. 

The Arabic programs were rabble-rousing rather than factual. Their aim was not to inform, but to incite antisemitism and to boast of German successes. They were targeted at a mass audience rather than intellectuals. Thus, the United Nations was dubbed the “United Jewish Nations,” and the Jordanian king, Emir Abdullah, was mocked as “Rabbi Abdullah” for wanting to negotiate with the Zionists.

The programmes were, however, produced professionally. Inflammatory harangues were skilfully interspersed with Koranic citations and musical interludes adapted to local tastes. Among the Arab native speaker were Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Rashid Ali al-Kaylani (ex-Iraqi prime minister), and Habib Birgiba (later the president of Tunisia). 

Radio Zeesen, and its Arabic section, ceased operation in April 1945.

More Information
Jeffrey Herf, The Jewish Enemy. Nazi Propaganda During World War II And The Holocaust (Belknap Press, 2006)
Jeffrey Herf, Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World (Yale University Press, 2011)