We all know what happened in the summer of 1940 in the west.... the defeat of France...
On June 28, 1940, Hitler drove by the Cathedral and was greeted by his soldiers in Strassbourg.
Once again a strange flag flies on the cathedral tower....
We all know what happened in the summer of 1940 in the west.... the defeat of France...
On June 28, 1940, Hitler drove by the Cathedral and was greeted by his soldiers in Strassbourg.
Once again a strange flag flies on the cathedral tower....
1940 Occupation and annexation “de facto”
The Armistice Agreement did not specify in any of its clauses the fate to be reserved for Alsace and the Moselle. However, the Germans soon occupied the three French departments of the Upper Rhine, the Lower Rhine and the Moselle, and in July 1940 Alsace was united to the Gau of Baden (renamed Baden-Elsass Gau) and the Moselle in the Gau of Saarland-Palatinate (renamed Westmark Gau). Both regions will be led by the Gauleiter Wagner (Alsace) and Bürckel (Moselle), who have full powers.
Gauleiter Wagner (1890-1944)
Very quickly they organized the return of the evacuated populations. Not everyone returned. Some preferred to stay in France, while others, deemed undesirable, were turned away at the border. More than 100,000 Alsatians and Moselle dwellers did not return to Alsace and Moselle in 1940. Some joined the maquis and the Resistance, while others continued their lives in the southwest. At the same time, the Germans released prisoners of war from these regions.
Two images of the return of those who left Alsace 22 years earlier...
The presence of German soldiers became widespread throughout the territory...
Place Broglie, Strasbourg
Last edited by TabsTabs1964; 05-05-2024 at 01:04 PM.
Out with the French stuff
A process of elimination of French culture, customs and ways intervened in all areas of daily life: the prohibition of speaking French, the disappearance of the French press, currency and stamps... The signs in the shops and on the streets are Germanized, but so are the names of the cities and towns, the names and surnames of people.
Strassburg. The Place Brolier renamed Adolf Hitler Platz
1940, Place kléber
French statues were removed, monuments to the dead were Germanized, associations were dissolved, the bishopric of Strasbourg and Metz came under the control of the German Church, libraries were purged of all books in French... Any trace of attachment to France had to disappear....
It is grace and honor. To be German!
This Germanization also involved the total expulsion of all undesirables and all elements considered "non-Germanizable": Jews, North Africans, Asians, naturalized French citizens, and then, more generally, Francophiles and Francophones. Moselle lost more than 100,000 inhabitants and Alsace 35,000.
But the Gauleiter wanted more than the administrative and economic integration of the provinces into the Reich. Their goal was to turn Alsace and Moselle into Nazi territories. Thus, the party was established and organizations were created to control the social and political space. In the annexed territories, the Gestapo were installed.
The entire population was caught in the Nazi net. The mass organizations organized the population by age, sex and profession. Education, culture, church, and leisure activities were in the hands of the Nazi authorities.
The population was subjected to restrictions of all kinds. Rationing, scrap metal and cloth collection, winter relief collection and for the front. There were all kinds of prohibitions and obligations for citizens.
As always happens, school-age children were a priority target. Schools, teachers and subjects were changed to change their minds....
The “Malgré-Nous” (1940 – 1945)
Malgré-Nous is a French phrase that means “despite us” or “in spite of us” It refers to inhabitants of the Alsace and Moselle (part of Lorraine) areas of France who were conscripted into the German armed forces during the WWII.
When the armistice between Germany and France was signed on June 22, 1940, Third Reich troops occupied Alsace and Moselle. Both territories were annexed following a decree signed by Adolf Hitler in October 1940. It was an annexation by force of fait accompli.
The desire for a forced Germanization of Alsace-Moselle led the authorities to impose compulsory German military service on the young men of these territories. At Moselle, he was ordained on 19 August 1942 by Gauleiter Josef Bürckel, responsible for the annexed Moselle.
First page of Latest News from Alsace of August 26, 1942, announcing the obligation for Alsatians to serve in the German army
Propaganda poster in Alsace in 1940s We Alsatians are now joining the fight for European freedom against plutocracy and bolchevism
In Alsace, it was established by order of Gauleiter Wagner on 25 August 1942.
Any refusal or desertion resulted in the confiscation of all the fugitives' property and the deportation of their family. Therefore, there was no alternative but to obey and present himself as a conscript in the German army.
The vast majority of recruited Alsatians would end up in the Ostfront
another porpaganda poster: Alsatians the front is calling you!
Between 1942 and 1945, 103,000 Alsatians and 31,000 Mosellans were forcibly conscripted into the German army. A large portion joined the Wehrmacht and between 8,000 and 10,000 of them joined the Waffen SS
Recruit poster for the Waffen SS. On April 28, May 8 and 15 in Strassburg
Fame And Honour Alsatian follow this example. Enlist!
Initially, the OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), judging the Alsatians and Mosellians to be suspicious and unreliable, opposed this incorporation. In addition, doubting their loyalty to the Reich, he limited the proportion of Alsatian recruits to 5% of the personnel of the same unit and forbade them to be assigned to sensitive services (intelligence, reconnaissance, etc.).
The matter dragged on until Hitler's final decision at Winnitza, Ukraine (August 9, 1942). German citizenship was imposed on soldiers on the day of the oath.
Images of the road to the east. A stop in Munich
To avoid the risk of desertion, the vast majority were sent to the Eastern Front.
Images of the nostalgic Alsatians in Russia...
One of them was Guy Mouminoux (13 January 1927 – 11 January 2022), known by the pseudonym Guy Sajer
Guy Sajer (1927 - 2022)
He is best known as the author of the Second World War memoir "Le Soldat Oublié", 1965, or "he Forgotten Soldier", which recounts his experience serving in the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front from 1942 to 1945, in the elite Großdeutschland Division
Russland, Schütze der Div Großdeutschland
His were enormously successful, but they are not the only memoirs of one of these forced soldiers. There are also more recommended books and even comics...
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