My Grandfather was a soldier in the Waffen SS

I'm fairly sure my post here won't be a popular theme but this is/was my family and I'm proud of my family. My Grandfathers name was Max Hansen, he was born in our town of Niebull, Germany on July 31st 1908.
My Grandfather was a wonderful locksmith which had been our family business in Germany for 75 years. According to my Grandmother, my Opa was not a firvent Nazi, he simply found his way to serve his country and to him the SS was the elite of the elite. In 1939 he he became the commander of the 12th Company in the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler.

In 1941 he was awarded the German Cross in Gold and promoted to Sturmbannfuher (Major) and given command of the II./1st Panzer Grenadier Regiment LSSAH. It was whie commanding this battalion during one of the battles for Kharkov that my Grandfather won the Knights Cross after his battalion broke through to Red Square and was involved in
hand to hand fighting from house to house.

After the heavy fighting in the Ardennes Offensive he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross. My Grandmother told me countless stories he told her about the atrocities that the SS were commiting and that this played a terrible weight on his shoulders. He was regularly letting American and Britsh prisoners escorted to their lines and released to their respective army's. This came out during his trial in 1946. He was found not guilty on all the charges except one. He was charged with being involved with a criminal element of the Third Reich, his commanding of a Waffen SS Division. His last rank was Standartenfuher (colonel)

 

Hi Mattsage, you are welcome to choose to post here and don't worry: nobody won't blame you for your ancestor. First of all, you were not born when this happened, secondly from what you say he was not declared a war crimminal. What is condemned on this forum is boasting Nazi ideology, not being the descendent of one. If people would blame you for this they would be just as prejudist as the Nazis themselves.
As long as you post your story in a historical way things are fine with me. Pictures and details would be welcome too. Expect some of our members to check if you say the truth though, some members have posted invented stories, so there might be some suspicion until we know you a little better.
Enjoy your stay.

 

I would guess that you have a lot of information on SSLAH plus your Grandfather's memories.

In 1940 was 12th Company an Artillery Unit within SSLAH?

If your grandfather was in 12 Company SSLAH (probably part of 3rd battalion under Trabandt) then he would probably have been in Reserve at the battle of Wormhout, 28th May 1940.

Most of the battle is now understood but there is a discrepancy about the 2nd Battalion Commander, Schutzek, who was badly wounded.

One Author claims he was wounded at 9.00am in an unauthorised attack on Wormhout and the other claims that this happened at 1.30pm in the Village Square. Do you have any idea which is correct?

 

Thanks for sharing your story and welcome to the forums!

 

Very good job bringing this forward! I feel no prejudice, I actually for a while had a man live down my street who was in the Waffen SS on the Eastern Front. He's long since been dead now but truly, no worries.

Welcome to the forums!!

 

Welcome to the forum and thank you for telling us about your grandfather's service in WW2.

 

Welcome Aboard! Just chiming in my $0.0000000002 (adjusted for economic speedbumps)....nobody is held accountable for the actions of their relatives, especially when they weren't even born yet. Don't feel like you need to hide anything, it sounds like your grandfather was a stand-up guy who (similar to Rommel) was highly patriotic and wanted to serve his country. Due to the politics of the time, the best way to do that AND to serve with the elite of the elite was to go the route he did. It simply sounds like once he found out, the best way he could figure to still serve his country and to keep his own honor intact was to continue what he was doing, while at the same time going above and beyond for POW's that fell into his hands. Gotta respect the 'nads it took to do that, especially in the paranoid atmosphere of the later months of the war. Dunno about anyone else, but I wouldn't mind hearing more stories he may have passed along.

:S!

 

sir, i for one will look forward to your posts about your grandfathers life during the war.after all, we must chose a side, right or wrong,then live with what we do.

 

Be proud of him they did a great job at Kharkov! No reason to shame for anything!

 

Your Grandfather was mentioned in the List of Officers in May 1940 - see below. but why is he listed as Pioneer Corp and 12th Company?

 

I'm going to ask the first guarded question. Where would your grandfather have been at the time of the Norfolks barn incident? Have to ask.

 

Apologies, I meant the Warwicks not the Norfolks. Where was your grandads 3rd battalion at the time of this incident?

 

I can tell you.

3rd Battalion was in Reserve having already been used to cross the Aa Canal against French Opposition.

There has never been any allegation of mistreatment of prisoners against Trabandt the 3rd Battalion Commander - all the problem seems to have been with 2nd Battalion and specifically, Monke, Baum and 8th Company.

 

Yeah thats what I've found. But cheers anyway. Drew on ww2 talk has written an amazing thread on wourmholdt massacre as an aside.

 

Anyway welcome to the forums, my question was personal and not meant to
antagonise. There is quite a bit about your grandad on the net already.

But since we mentioned the parent unit of SS Liberstadt we wont or shouldnt ever forget the others side to the stories of this division.

The Battle and Massacre of Wormhout - 28th May 1940 - World War 2 Talk

 

Seems like he has been scared off.

 

I sure hope not. It was a great read. To know what anyone's family did during the war is nice to read about. There is going to be good and bad and I didn't see any bad. Would love to hear some more of his wartime experiences.

 

Frankly no-one but Max Hansen knows if he committed a War Crime. Do I know if my father or grandfather (and he definitely would have shot any Germans) committed a War Crime in WW2 or WW1 or my Great Grandfather in Afghanistan - of course not and even if they did I am not in any way guilty. I am prepared to argue that SSLAH were the most murderous bunch of soldiers to grace the battlefield but from what I have read so far the Contributor is not arguing that SSLAH should not be condemned for their many many war crimes against unarmed POWs and civilians.

If he can provide any piece of information, however small, that enables us to understand any Battle then he owes it to history to do so.

12 Company SSLAH seems to have been a machine gun company in 1940. Seems there were two Officers with the name Hansen in the Regiment.

 

Repeated the post sorry - now deleted