Voldemārs Veiss
Voldemārs Veiss (German name Waldemar Weiss , born November 7, 1899 in Riga , Latvia ; † April 17, 1944 ibid) was a lieutenant colonel in the Latvian army , standard leader in the Waffen SS and a major Nazi collaborator in the Baltic States .
Veiss' role as a Nazi collaborator
When the Latvian capital Riga fell into the hands of the German Wehrmacht on July 1, 1941 , the occupying forces under SS Brigade Leader Walter Stahlecker began to build up local law enforcement. They relied on Latvian nationalists like Voldemārs Veiss. Immediately after taking over the Riga radio station on July 1st, Veiss' voice could be heard. He called for open struggle against the "enemy within", against alleged "traitors", and meant Jews and " Bolsheviks ". After the address, many volunteers volunteered and started the pogroms leading up to the building of the ghetto in Riga . Veiss' allies included the Latvian Viktors Arājs . Thousands perished in the weeks that followed.
On July 20, Stahlecker disbanded the paramilitary groups, ordered the formation of a police organization and put Voldemārs Veiss at its head. At the end of 1941 a "Latvian self-government" was formed in the Reichskommissariat Ostland under German control , with Veiss as the representative of the "General Director for Internal Affairs". From autumn 1941, the Wehrmacht deployed Latvian police units under Veiss' command as part of the Russian campaign at the front and in the fight against the partisans and the civilian population, for example in Operation Winterzauber . In 1943 the so-called Latvian SS Legion was formed for the war effort. Voldemārs Veiss became the commander of the "Volunteer Regiment" of the 2nd Latvian Brigade with the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer . In 1943 and 1944 Veiss received several medals for bravery, including being the first Latvian to receive the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, which Adolf Hitler had specially donated on the occasion of the attack on Poland .
On April 7, 1944, he was seriously wounded in fighting on the Velikaya River . He was taken to the SS military hospital in Riga, where he died of his injuries a few days later. He was buried on April 21, 1944 after an elaborately staged funeral service in the Riga Cathedral.
literature
- Andrej Angrick , Peter Klein: The "Final Solution" in Riga. Exploitation and extermination 1941–1944. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2006. ISBN 3-534-19149-8 .
- Valdis O. Lumans: Latvia in World War II , ISBN 0-8232-2627-1 , ISBN 978-0-8232-2627-6 , Fordham University Press 2006.
- Arthur Silgailis: Latvian Legion , ISBN 0-912138-35-1 .
- Karl Heinz Gräfe: From the thunder cross to the swastika. The Baltic States between dictatorship and occupation . Edition Organon, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-931034-11-5 , short biography p. 442.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Some sources speak of "thousands". See Valdis Lumans: Latvia in World War II , Fordham University Press 2006, p. 237.
- ^ Hugh Page Taylor: Uniforms, organization and history of the Waffen-SS , Vol. 5, 1986, p. 77.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Veiss, Voldemārs |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Weiss, Waldemar (German name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Latvian collaborator and member of the Waffen SS |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 7, 1899 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Riga |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 17, 1944 |
| Place of death | Riga |