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The Radical’s Appeal: From the Waffen-SS to ISIS
Westerners are shocked that recent immigrants from the Middle East to Europe and the United States are said to be flocking to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq. More disturbing still, apparently a few “westernized” second-generation Muslims are likewise traveling to fight alongside ISIS.
But perhaps the most inexplicable development is the handful of American and European recruits who are supposedly recent converts to Islam and who have no ethnic Middle East identity or, indeed, previous experience with Islam. Such neophytes can become the most radicalized, evolving from being a new Muslim convert to a violent jihadist in nearly instantaneous fashion. It is almost as if a transcendent ideology has the ability to infect Western and Westernized youths anywhere on the globe to join a common, though murderous, religious enterprise.
Something similar happened during the Nazi wartime expansion throughout Europe from the Atlantic to Moscow, and from the Arctic Circle to the Sahara. In the beginning, by the time of the conquest of Poland in October 1939, the Third Reich had formally created three full combat divisions of the state Nazi party police—known officially as the Waffen-Schutzstaffel (“Armed Protective Squadron”) or Waffen-SS.
Only those with proper “Aryan” bloodlines were initially allowed to join (Jews and other supposed “subhumans,” such as Slavs and Poles, were prohibited). Troops of the Waffen-SS saw themselves as elite combat units under the direct operational control of the Nazi Party rather than the army itself, which otherwise had larger strategic command of the Waffen-SS divisions.
Status followed from enlistment. As Germany seemed unstoppable in its heyday before Stalingrad and Kursk, so it became especially fashionable for young German and Austrian males to be seen in Waffen-SS regalia, giving them the image of the true believers who were the tip of the spear that was so easily cutting through Europe.
Promotion of the Waffen-SS was based on the premise that there was a large subset of Germans who wanted to fight not just because of their German affiliations and patriotism, but rather out of a deeper, more shared racial affinity, fostered by the Nazi idea of a superior Aryan race that transcended national boundaries. The young men who volunteered did not necessarily have backgrounds in extremist politics, a history of racism, or even criminal records. Instead, they seemed to be drawn by the idea that they were the armed avatars of the unstoppable march of the Nazi Wehrmacht throughout Europe—and later the Soviet Union and the Mediterranean—and that their shared Aryan genealogies made them the super-Germans in an otherwise master European race.
Waffen-SS soldiers wore distinctive gray-green uniforms with the SS rune, stitched-in badges, and Death’s Head pins. Waffen-SS divisions were usually noted for their fanatical devotion to Nazism, were often allotted the Wehrmacht’s best weapons, exhibited an aggressive, if not occasionally criminal, fighting spirit (the units had a habit of turning up near where civilians and prisoners would suffer mass murder), and showed sometimes-misplaced zeal that could prove tactically or operationally unsound. Division names likewise were not just numerical (e.g., 1st SS Panzer Division or 6th SS Mountain Division North), but additionally eponymous, aimed at further fostering Nazi élan: “Death’s Head,” “Adolf Hitler,” “The Empire,” “Hitler Youth.”
As the Waffen-SS gained notoriety in the easy border victories of 1939-41, Heinrich Himmler began to open recruitment into the Waffen-SS to almost any of the peoples recently conquered by the Third Reich (again with the exceptions of the so-called Untermenschen). Tens of thousands of young, supposedly Aryan-looking foreigners flocked to enlist. At first, there were the obvious Nordic volunteers from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Later there were Croats, Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians—and members from dozens of other countries, from Spain to Romania. At times, even a few hundred captured Allied prisoners joined Waffen-SS units. By the war’s end, foreign volunteers (and some conscripts) had swollen the size of the Waffen-SS to over 38 Divisions, 25 of which were made up of foreigners. Eventually 300,000 to 500,000 non-Germans were said to have served in the Waffen-SS.
Why would a Dane or Dutchman wish to join a military organization that had defeated, occupied, and humiliated his own country? Perhaps it was precisely the fact that thousands of young men had been defeated in battle, lost confidence in any national identity, and, in some cases, blamed their own weak governments for such pathetic resistance to the victorious Third Reich, that made youths susceptible to joining such a macabre organization.
The allure of the Waffen-SS, like that of ISIS’s pan-Islamic ideology, was that it was aimed at affinities—in the former racial, in the latter religious—that transcended national boundaries and created a higher notion of male bonding and brotherhood. Waffen-SS volunteers from Norway or Belgium were no longer defeated peoples, but, in fact, fellow blond, blue-eyed Aryans, seemingly no different from their German conquerors. Their only fault was that they were born on the wrong side of a border, in a society that had not fully appreciated their racial superiority. Race could now serve as a universal tie among such discontents, and provide a bond with those who appreciated racial singularity. Likewise, a disenchanted Muslim youth in America becomes special only when he joins ISIS and basks in the idea that he is not alone, but one among hundreds of thousands like him.
In contrast to the Third Reich, the defeated societies of Waffen-SS volunteers supposedly collapsed because of the plague of liberal democratic license, fueled by mongrels, communists, and Jews. When an 18-year old rural farm boy from the Lorraine or a disgruntled young Belgian dockworker had the choice of either wearing a shiny new uniform, carrying state-of-the-art weapons, enjoying adventure abroad, holding down a well-paying job, gaining a sense of purpose and mission with like kind, winning women, and enjoying the status that accrues to the winning side … or doing the unappreciated drudgery of working for foreign overseers — well, it’s no wonder that Hitler and Himmler had no difficulty finding good SS storm troopers abroad.
An unhappy, 20-something, second-generation North African immigrant might face similar choices. Is he to keep restlessly hanging about the streets soaking up drugs, glued to video games, and remaining bored in a suburban or inner-city culture that seems defeated and lacking in strong identifies? Or should he venture to the in-the-news front on the Syrian-Iraqi border, where young devoted Muslims of all types are joining together to crush their infidel opponents and thus forge a new pan-Islamic Reich?
Note as well that the heyday of Waffen-SS recruiting was between 1939-43, when it seemed likely that Germany might win the European war. In contrast, by 1944 the Waffen-SS was forcibly conscripting foreigners who otherwise had no desire to die for a crumbling Third Reich and its bankrupt ideology. ISIS is also fueled by just such opportunism. As 24/7 global news presents its seemingly unstoppable onslaught from Syria to the gates of Baghdad — with updates that particularly iconic cities like Mosul or Fallujah have fallen — the recruitment of young, would-be fanatical Muslims soars, with visions of religious purpose, fame, spoils, women, and power that one does not find in Minneapolis or Rotterdam.
Yet should ISIS meet its own Stalingrad — as in the fashion that al-Qaeda was destroyed in Anbar Province during the Surge — it would be less likely that teenagers from the London suburbs or the American Midwest would find such mercenary service especially romantic rather than dirty, dangerous, and ultimately lethal. (By 2008, very few European Muslims wished to sneak into Anbar to fight the Americans). Beheading defenseless journalists to a global Internet audience is one thing; ending up as anonymous mulch from the carpet bombing of B-52s is quite another. When the defeated and disgruntled returning ISIS veteran ends up at Leavenworth rather than boasting on his Facebook page, recruitment will go down.
So what would stop the new ISIS version of the old Waffen-SS foreign volunteer divisions? I doubt propaganda would do much. Waffen-SS volunteers from France were not lured back home from fighting at Leningrad by BBC appeals to democracy, decency, or racial tolerance. The volunteer pool only dried up when the Third Reich was seen as losing, when Allied troops took a most unkind view of Waffen-SS soldiers, and when it became as unpopular to brag of Waffen-SS membership in 1945 as it had been trendy to claim in 1940.
There are, of course, differences between 1940 and 2014. An all-encompassing Islam is not quite the same as Nazi ideology. ISIS volunteers fight, for the most part, in unconventional fashion, not inside Tigers or Panthers. Their black robes don’t dazzle like Waffen-SS uniforms. Perhaps the likeihood of a pan-continental caliphate seems less attainable than that of a pan-continental Third Reich. But all that said, both the Waffen-SS and ISIS appeal to the same mixed-up values and aspirations of directionless Western young men in times of turbulence.
As in the past, so too now: the way to stop the allure of such murderous “elite” groups is to defeat their cause, humiliate their leaders, ensure that their ideologues pay a terrible price for their savagery, and make it clear that there will be a hard penalty to pay for joining such a fascist—and ultimately losing—organization. In September 1945 it was not a safe thing in Paris to brag of Waffen-SS service; the same should be true today of boasting of joining ISIS in Detroit.
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Great piece. Thanks Victor.
Momentum matters. The United States has demonstrated for decades now that with rare exception, we will not vigorously pursue anything. Our steps are half-steps, for our convictions are half-caonvictions. An ancient enemy has taken our measure, and found us to be composed of half-measures.
The uncle of the Boston bombers, Ruslan Tsaernev, said it very well, “What I think is behind it: being losers”. Similarly, the guy who murdered the Canadian honour guardsman was a loser and misfit, a drug addict who fell out of society. These losers want to fit in, to be important, to be victors.
The media need to start distinguishing between Muslims who just want to lead their lives quietly, and these losers who are drawn like moths to the flame because they don’t fit into society and are failures. From my reading of the Hamburg cell that spawned 9/11, it seemed as if they too were losers, often coming from middle class homes, not being able to fit into Western society, feeling isolated and only seeking comfort in group dissatisfaction.
My big question for VDH would be: As you have often said, in 1946 you couldn’t find Nazis in Germany, nor could you find many in favour of Japanese imperialistic expansion in that nation. As you have also pointed out, Germans didn’t consider WWI a “loss” since it was settled by the Versailles Treaty, as opposed to WWII which was concluded by total victory and humiliation, which certainly brought an end to military aggression.
For the subset of radicalized Muslims and/or Wahhabists, how does one inflict total destruction and humiliation, within the context of these individuals who feel that this is the essence of their religious belief? Very very difficult, if it has to come extraneously.
Can’t remember where I saw this, but another similarity: both groups have an eliminationist intent towards those who aren’t part of the “in” crowd. If you were a Jew, Communist, Gypsy, homosexual, etc. in 1943 in the wrong place, your value as a human being was zero. The same holds true for apostates, Yazidis, unbelievers, and — Jews, nowadays.
You would hope the disaffected youth would just start rock bands and take out all their angst there. Shame it doesn’t always work out that way.
Well said. Sun Tzu’s famous quote about ‘know the enemy and know yourself’ applies. We should have understood this lack of resolve before attempting something as near-endless as “nation building.” Now the amount of violence we’ll have to inflict has grown exponentially, just to convince the Jihadis we’re serious . . . which in fact we may not be.
Great article. However, one can’t discount the fact that some humans (and I use the term loosely) just like to fight and kill. Going someplace where orgiastic violence is encouraged and lauded sure beats spending time on death row… or in Europe’s case a few months in the clink.
We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.
– C. S. Lewis
Thank you, Victor. Very insightful and thought provoking.
I often wonder at our self-flagellation and hand wringing over civilian casualties when various flavors of islamist fighters intentionally use them as shields – armed with this knowledge of us. Does this not add to the perception of our half-heartedness? Rather than a desire to ‘hang out’ with ruthless killers, would not our ruthlessly destroying everything in their vicinity in order to get them, tend to make disaffected Western youth think twice before joining up?
Similarly, at home, the lone wolf converts cannot help but know the great efforts made to prevent ordinary citizens from defending themselves by being armed. Would they, too, not think twice if they knew they were likely to be promptly shot dead – before inflicting much mayhem – by a citizen who understands that the front lines are now everywhere; by citizens who are whole heartedly prepared to protect themselves, their families and their communities?
Cunctator has a good point at #4. Losers.
Which reminds of the question about why we tolerate the Muslim outreach ministries that are recruiting in most American prisons. This has already yielded a bitter harvest. The guy that killed the Army recruiter in Little Rock is a Memphis native who was converted to Islam and recruited into jihad while in prison.
Thank you Victor for a useful and historical comparison. Success or failure on the battlefield is the key to recruitment.
While this is an argument for intervention against the Islamic State, I still don’t know if any likely outcome will be beneficial to the United States.
Wow, VDH. Outstanding piece. I am particularly in agreement with your final paragraph. My take has been for some time that islam is at war with us and we must fight an ideological war with islam. This does not mean we must kill all muslims, but we must demonstrate for all that islam is a defunct ideology with no future or morals. We didn’t kill all Germans, but right after the war they were singularly unpopular in the world. They have spent a LOT of time attempting to atone for their misdeeds since. While one can argue that they have never really lost their fascist tendencies, they are VERY careful not to demonstrate that.
Islam needs the same “attitude adjustment”.
“Hans… are we the baddies?”
More seriously, I think Victor is entirely correct on this. One of the biggest attractions of totalitarian movements is how they offer meaning; you’re part of a cause, of something much bigger and — very likely– more exciting than yourself.
Small-l liberal democracies and republics do not offer this in the same way; by and large, it’s up to you to find your own meaning in life. That’s a feature for most of us, but it’s a decided bug for others.
Actually, America, classically, HAS offered opportunities galore – but atrophied welfare-rich societies run by feminized principles are place where young men have a very hard time finding meaning.
If our government were smaller and our freedoms greater, these young men would be much more likely to end up doing productive things with themselves. But the UK and Germany provide little or no hope of societal advancement, and so people seek meaningful existences in any way they can.
I guess I didn’t make that clear. What I meant was that totalitarian states can offer meaning directly, much as the SS and IS currently show. Small-l liberal states like the US and others have traditionally offered the means of finding one’s own meaning — whether through religion, or work, or what have you — but do not offer it themselves.
That rings hollow. Many brave young people join the US military to be part of something bigger, to have meaning, discipline, accomplishment. They are not losers for seeking that out.
It takes a lot of guts, or at least youthful delusions of grandeur, to go overseas and join a group like ISIS. Writing those folks off as “losers” is a convenient way to ignore the conditions that made ISIS their most attractive alternative. I am shocked, shocked, that these youngsters did not seek meaning in the Peace Corps or Teach for America…
Again, I quibble. Governments in liberal states do not offer meaning. But private companies and callings certainly do. That is, when they are free enough to do so. Stagnant countries designed to provide safe and boring lives also necessarily squelch non-governmental opportunities offered within the society.
We’re really not disagreeing here.
For some of the logic, and mechanisms, I HIGHLY recommend Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer” (1951). Fairly short, very readable, and one of those truly remarkable books that keeps you swinging between “wow, I never thought of that” and “of course, I knew that!”..,
From a friend of Latvian extraction:
The essential difference is that Latvians joined the Waffen SS … in response to the Soviet invasion and atrocities committed by the staunch ally of the US, Joe Stalin. As a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact Stalin invaded the Baltics and then waited for the Germans to kick the [expletive] out of the Poles before he invaded. Of course after the defeat of Germany those two morons FDR and Ike handed most eastern europe to Stalin.
This is especially interesting because some of the SS were Muslim. Hitler reached out to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and the Nazis created Muslim SS units. There are pictures of them in SS uniforms topped with a fez, and groups of them bowing toward Mecca.