Malgré-nous

According to the order of Robert Heinrich Wagner, the Gauleiter of the occupied Alsace, dated August 25, 1942, 100 thousand inhabitants of Alsace and 30 thousand inhabitants of Lorraine fell into conscription to the German armed forces. However, all of them had to be forcibly sent to the army: only 2,000 people volunteered to join the Waffen-SS due to the strong French philosophy of the region ^[1] . Many French who refused to go voluntarily to the Wehrmacht were blackmailed by threats to deport their families in case they refused to serve ^[1] . Those who agreed to serve in the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS were immediately transferred to the Eastern Front . In the Waffen-SS as a whole, very few immigrants from Alsace and Lorraine served.

Many “malgre-nu” deserted from the Wehrmacht in order to join the French Resistance or flee to Switzerland , which put their families at risk: they were driven off to forced labor or arrested and thrown into concentration camps ^{[2] [3]} . According to historians, about 40 thousand Alsatians and Lorigans deserted from the army or evaded conscription ^[4] , but many, because of fear for their families, did not dare to leave the ranks of the Wehrmacht, for which they were accused of collaborating with the Nazis after the war. In July 1942, 1,500 "malgre-nus" who were captured by the Soviet Union were released and sent to Algeria , where they joined the Free French forces ^[2] .

Of the 130 thousand people who fell under the call - 32 thousand "Malgre-nu" died in battle. 10,5 thousand are missing, but are recognized as de facto dead. From 5 to 10 thousand who were captured did not live to see their release: most of the prisoners who were killed were in the Soviet prisoner of war camp near Tambov . All the surviving prisoners of war were released by 1955. 40 thousand "Malgre-nu" received the status of disabled after the war.

In 2012, in Tambov, in a French square, a sculpture of a French sculptor Paul Flicange was installed under the name Malgre-nous in honor of those killed in the Rada camp near Tambov ^[5] .

Despite the unwillingness of many to cooperate with the Germans, 14 people became notorious as participants in the Oradur-sur-Glane massacre ^[6] . Of these, 13 were forced to force troops, one signed up as a volunteer volunteer. In 1953, 13 malgru-nu were sentenced to various prison terms, and the fourteenth - a volunteer - was executed. The verdict led to mass protests in Alsace, since most of the "malgre-nu" did not voluntarily go to the Waffen-SS, and on February 19, 1953, the French parliament was forced to announce a general amnesty ^[7] .

In the story of Peter Vershigora "People with a clear conscience":

But these were not Germans, but Alsatians. The battalion was guarded by this section of the railway and a large railway bridge over the Grouse . Misha Tartakovsky shrugged helplessly. The prisoners either did not speak German at all, or spoke a dialect that my translator clearly could not do.

• Honneur et fidélité
• French Foreign Legion
• Forgotten soldier

• Kevin Heller, Gerry Simpson. The Hidden Histories of War Crime Trials. - Oxford University Press, 2013. - ISBN 978-0-19-967114-4 .
• David Kaplan, Guntram Herb. Nations and Nationalism: a Global Historical Overview. Volume 4. - ANC Clio, 2008. - ISBN 978-1-85109-907-8 .

• FRANCE: The Malgré-Nous (English)