In the Fire of the Eastern Front: The Experiences of a Dutch Waffen-SS Volunteer, 1941-45

Foreword by Dr. Erich Mende

[Dr. Erich Mende was a Member and Vice-Chancellor of Parliament from 1963 to 1966, and Chairman of the Liberal Party from 1960 to 1967.]

There is a Latin saying, “Vae victis!” i.e. woe to the vanquished, referring to the ‘Contempt of the Victor’, which Germany was made to feel at the end of World War II. It was confirmed once again, inasmuch that the German population stood under a collective guilt, for which every individual was penalised. The ‘victors’ released laws in all of the Allied occupied territories, for the annihilation of National Socialism and militarism, and with a total re-education programme. The Germans and their sympathisers had to learn from their mistakes and the error of their ways, and return to a liberal and lawful system of democracy.

A campaign of revenge also began against all those Europeans that had worked hand in glove with Germany, those who had lent a sympathetic ear. It lasted for years. Finally, with insight and common sense, politicians, unions, publishers, and the Church, led by Konrad Adenauer, Kurt Schumacher and Theodor Heuss, won the upper hand against false judgement and targeted insinuation, in order to achieve a balance of the truth.

It took over forty years to reveal to the rest of the world that Russia was responsible for the mass murder of thousands of imprisoned Polish officers and soldiers in Katyn. The Allies, as well as other European countries, despite knowing the truth, blamed the German Wehrmacht. This was done without any hint of a guilty conscience. More than half a million people suffered under the wrath of the ‘victors’ and their contemptible direction. Being either a close neighbour of Germany, or of the same moral code, many took up arms against Bolshevism, as ‘volunteers’ in Germany’s army. Their actions were regarded as treason, their sacrifices and sufferings in the theatre of war despised.

A Dutchman and his family describe how this really was, in all its shocking reality. European conduct, ideals and neighbourly friendship towards Germany, weave through the whole book, whether in East Prussia or in Silesia. In the defence of Breslau, Hendrik Verton reveals the brave conduct, ethical moral code, and sacrificial assistance given by the European ‘volunteers’. Only those who experienced the bitter German-Russian war can testify to the honest and conscientious truth of this book. I can recommend it to students of contemporary history, for its coherent collection of times, dates, and events.

It only remains for me to say that the author and his brother, whose large family stem from Holland, have greatly contributed to the rebuilding of German democracy, in the capital of Bonn, over the last forty years. In every way, my encounter with the Verton family was, at this time, a mutual acknowledgement for an expanded and peaceful Europe of ‘fatherlands’.

[Author’s Note: Dr. Erich Mende died on 6 May 1998. He had read my manuscript, which had been typed up to that point in time. Being very bitter over the defamation of Germany’s soldiers, he supported my work by offering and writing the Foreword to my book.]