Germans and others escaping to Sweden

[Lacplesis]

In my reading I came across the story of soldiers caught behind Russian lines taking boats to Sweden in hopes of avoiding the Russians. I posted on my website the names of known Latvians , Estonians, and Lithuanians, but all I could find about the Germans was that around 1700 were handed over to the Russians. Has anyone in Germaany done any research of who and what happened to them?
The webpage is http://www.lacplesis.net/SWEDEN01.htm

[Lacplesis]

I forgot to mention that in reaserching this I found that the King of Sweden invited the remaining Latvians to Stokholm recently and apoligized to them for the offense. Did the King also do the same to the Germans?

[charlie don't surf]

165 balts and about 2700 Germans were handed out. The Swedish volounteers were not handed out. Most German soldiers were from Heerensgruppe Kurland. There were camps in Bökeberg, Backamo och Ränneslätt. Its indeed a dark part of the Swedish history.

http://susning.nu/Baltutl%e4mningen

http://www.ra.se/kra/maj01.html

Enar Runsteen, Schutzlos ins Schweden. Interniert - Deportiert. Schicksale Deutscher
Soldaten 1945/46.
Ruth Gerig Verlag 1995, Forellenweg 25, D-614 62 Königstein, Taunus.
(I Sverige: Box 34, 231 21 Trelleborg)
ISBN 3-928275-58-5

[Kimmo]

Also some Finnish officers did take the boat to Sweden, after the Russians sent their comission to supervise the peace agreement.

Many of these officers were wanted by the Finnish security police, that then was fully controlled by communists.

Lauri Törhi probably was the most famous Finnish officer to escape. Later on he fought in Vietnam, with the US troops.

[Mikko]

Törni didn't escape to Sweden. He took a U-boat to Germany in January 1945 and joined the Waffen-SS.

[Kimmo]

Törni didn't escape to Sweden. He took a U-boat to Germany in January 1945 and joined the Waffen-SS.

In what unit did he serve?

[Mikko]

The one source I've seen that gives Törni's unit states he served in the SS Jagdverbände. But I don't know how reliable this source is.

BTW, it's quite interesting how almost all the modern renderings of Törni/Thorne's career (esp. those appearing in the USA) fail to mention that he served in the Waffen SS -- twice.

[Kimmo]

BTW, it's quite interesting how almost all the modern renderings of Törni/Thorne's career (esp. those appearing in the USA) fail to mention that he served in the Waffen SS -- twice.

Yes I was quite amazed by this comment. I remember hearing about this once, a long time ago, but I never gave it much of a thought.

[Hara]

...the second time and after spending some time in jail in Finland. After he was released, he left Finland and travelled to Sweden, en route to US.

[Mikko]

Lauri Törni served for the first time in the Waffen-SS in 1941, when he was a member of the Finnish volunteer battalion. But he was among the supernumerary officers and NCOs who were returned to Finland after the Continuation War broke out in June 1941.

After the Continuation War ended in September 1944, Törni, apparently motivated by anti-communism, took an U-boat to Germany in January 1945 and rejoined Waffen SS. The three-part bio which was published a couple of years ago states that he fought in the Jagdverbände in the eastern front, but I'm not sure how trustworthy the bio is. At the end of the war in Europe, Törni was taken POW by Americans. (The aforementioned bio claims, that after Törni and his men had fought their way to the Americans, the US Army officer to whom they surrendered, gave them more supplies and told Törni to keep fighting against the Soviets in order to get the rest of his men safe. This Törni promptly did. How credible this story is?)

Americans sent Törni soon back to Finland, where he was tried and condemned for treason -- Finland had been in war against Germany when Törni served there. Törni got a stiff prison sentence but was pardoned in 1949. He emigrated to USA and enlisted in the US Army, changing his name to Larry Thorne.

Törni/Thorne had been a semi-legendary fighter in the Finnish Army, and he also became one in the US Special Forces. There is considerable interest in him in both USA and Finland. But it is of interest that his membership in the Waffen SS should have rendered him ineligible for service the US Army, and many modern renderings of his life are silent of his service in Germany. I've even seen a couple that have gone to great lengths to distort Törni/Thorne's wartime record -- for example, one claimed that he was taken prisoner by the Soviets, but cleverly escaped to USA. Not a word on Waffen SS. There are many who consider Törni/Thorne a hero of sorts, and apparently service in Waffen SS is not fitting for one.

[Lacplesis]

As I read this later thread , I want to know what being in the Waffen-SS has to do with this. Unless there is proof of criminal activity just being part of this group cant be a war crime. Most of them were busy fighting the opposing armys and had nothing to do with the other items.
When the United States allowed Latvians to Immigrate in 1950, they found it handy to draft some of them and send them to Korea so I think the restriction was to German SS member only.

[Lit.]

165 balts and about 2700 Germans were handed out. The Swedish volounteers were not handed out. Most German soldiers were from Heerensgruppe Kurland. There were camps in Bökeberg, Backamo och Ränneslätt. Its indeed a dark part of the Swedish history.

I hear the story that one Swedish officer - commendant of some Baltic refugees camp in Gotland can't stand such shame and shot himself. Was it true? If yes, who he was? Name, rank, etc...?

[ak74u]

Almost every easter we vissit my aunt and uncles cabin. And their "cabin neigbours" are an old swedish couple. The man worked as a border guard between Norway and Sweden during the war and had the pleasent opertunity to escort tree very unhappy german deserters back to the "oficial" border crossing and turn them over to the germans. That guy is very fit to be in his late 70's early 80's. One time he took me and my dad and showd us the "route" Norwegians that fled to sweden used. We skiid around in the woods whit on our cross country skis for like 5 hours.

[4444]

... I want to know what being in the Waffen-SS has to do with this...

I might not get it perfectly right in legal terms, but I think the Nuremberg Tribunal declared all SS a criminal organisation, which meant every individual serving in SS was considered a criminal. No exception to Waffen-SS was made.

Of course one can debate whether we should bother about the Nuremberg Tribunal at all, given there were top criminals sitting in the Jury and the entire event was one of the most hypocritical shows ever seen. But at that time USA were considering the Nuremberg Tribunal rulings valid and probably should have not allowed criminals into the US, not to mention serving in the US Army.

The fact is the USA have changed their mind shortly afterwards, and some internal documents of the American administration (I do not remember the exact body) specified that Baltic members of the Waffen-SS should be approached differently.

[Lacplesis]

Actually the USA, Canada and Australia changed their minds about the Latvian Legion when Korean War started and they needed replacement workers to replace drafted citizens in 1950. Im not complaining but truth should prevail. There is justification for all decisions. Some of the Latvians were drafted as soon as they arrived and ended up in Korea.