Hendrick Verton - In the Fire of the Eastern Front

We were born into an era which we could not determine, but which paved the way for something enormous. It was an era in which Communism was lifted out of its local setting and wanted to grow and spread throughout Europe. We banded together as its opponents, in wanting to ensure an honourable place for our nation, within the nations and new community of Europe.

We believed that with our ‘élite organisation’ of not only upright German, but European ‘volunteers’ from the north-westerly lands, following the victory against communism, we could produce a reform, a Perestroika so to speak. With our participation in the Waffen SS we were treated on an equal basis, as every other. Some of us advanced to ranks above German soldiers, such as the battalion commander who was a Dane, or like my brother Evert, a Dutchman, or I too, on a smaller scale, with 12 to 48 German soldiers under my command.

In Bad Tölz at the Junkerschule, the party programme of the NSDAP was discussed amongst us, and dissected and criticised by the European officers, without any disciplinary action. What we practised, on a small-scale, gave us hope for the future, with not only Germany destined to lead. Was that to be Utopia, only an illusion? Perhaps, but we thought then that it was possible. ‘Lady luck’ didn’t see it like that. She saw to it that, after a lost war, we analysed and learned from this analysis.

A life without a zenith, a youth without reaching the heights or without ideals, was not for us. We lived in a time that needed the utmost effort. Perhaps it was the best that could have happened at that time in our manhood. It was a probation period for us that we came through with flying colours. Those of us who feel guilty must bow to that guilt. Today, what we fight against, whether as an individual or as a group, is the refusal of individuality, which is unjust and basically immoral!

“Everything that is unjust nurtures the seed of destruction.”

Asaga, that long epic of heroic achievement, in Medieval prose, was narrative of a long, involved account of a series of incidents. But it is not the same as a fairy-tale in prose. I guarantee that nothing of my account is a fairy story. My feelings and views from that period of my past are also honest.

In my narration I have not tried to glorify, but to present a document that is as correct as an eyewitness from that era can describe. In this present day such a document is a bitter necessity. The past was not always ideal, for us or our opponents. I felt neither wistfulness nor nostalgic longings in writing my book. The facts therein are pure unadulterated facts that are not to be twisted by others for their own false ends. My life was and is worth living.

With this Epilogue I wish to give my heartfelt thanks to my comrade and former Second World War officer and Oberstleutnant of the Wehrmacht Adolf Kruger, who read my book as a competent editor and corrected it. The same applies to Heid Ruhl, another former wartime officer and later senior teacher, who also assessed and gave a criticism on my book. Further thanks go to my brother-in-law, Dip.Eng. Jan Carl van dem Berge, and to Mrs Birgit Guden who typed my handwritten manuscript.

Federal Republic of Germany

Federal Chancellor

Bonn 17.12 1952

General (Retd) P. Hausser

Ludwigsburg / Wittenburg

48 Asperger Street

My Dear General,

In retrospect, I would like to send you encouraging information, that in my speech that I gave in Parliament on 3 December 1952, one topic embraced the Declaration of Confidence for the former German Wehrmacht, inclusive with the members of the Waffen SS, inasmuch as they fought honourably for Germany, their Fatherland.

I remain, in deep respect,

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Cavalry Raids of the Civil War

Ghost, Thunderbolt, and Wizard

Pickett’s Charge

Witness to Gettysburg

Doughboy War

After D-Day