"Downfall," A Really Good Movie

First published July 15, 2009; slightly edited and updated November 30, 2014. There is also a separate "Addendum" to this article, which I've also updated. The Word History updated, 2-4-16.

A few years ago, it must have been in 2003, I read an article or news story about the upcoming release of another historical movie dealing with Hitler’s end in Berlin in 1945. Two things caught my attention; one was that the movie was a German produced film. Now that may not sound too spectacular, but movies about Hitler almost always seem to be American or British produced, and most of the characters are played by American or British actors. This movie would have German-speaking actors portraying the characters who participated in this terrible era of German (and World) history. The second thing had to do with the German language, and, with my love affair with language, this was what REALLY caught my attention. The article made mention that the actor playing Hitler, Bruno Ganz, a man of whom I’d never heard, was credited with having mastered Hitler’s mannerisms so well, that he even got Hitler’s voice and south German accent down pat.* Well, I thought that was interesting, and while I can’t say what I did back in 2003, it is likely that within fifteen seconds of having finished reading the article, my mind had wandered onto something else, and I never went to see the movie when it was released.

Then in the spring of 2009 I came across a reference to this same movie when I was reading something about German dialects. I recalled the article I’d read prior to the film’s release, and I checked out the availability of the movie on DVD, and I found a very reasonably priced edition, complete with English subtitles, interviews with some of the actors, and an additional version with commentary from the director, Oliver Hirschbiegel. I also found that the picture had received several awards, and that it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. I was a bit perplexed, since if you have seen one movie about Hitler’s end, you have seen them all, because the ending is always the same; he kills himself (better late than never). I bought the movie, and I’m sure glad I did! What a movie!!! It spurred me to do some further research, and I also checked out a couple of other movies, actually I guess what you’d call documentaries, both with interviews of actual participants from Hitler’s bunker.

What impressed me about the movie, called “Downfall” in English, or “Der Untergang” in the original German (see the “word histories” at the end), was that it wasn’t just a war movie, or another movie about Hitler blowing his brains out. This movie had military action, including some gruesome scenes (so beware), but it delved into something that Germans have been reluctant to do since the war ended, and that is, why they followed Hitler. This same question has been asked by many, many historians, and to be quite honest, there isn’t any one answer. People followed Hitler to varying degrees, and for various reasons. The picture tries to deal with some of this, and I’d actually say, it gives an answer in part, that there wasn’t always clear logic involved in why so many individuals followed Hitler, especially in the last days of the war. If you’re interested in the movie, I won’t spoil everything for you, but I’ll give you an idea of what it covers, some general, some more specific, along with some further explanations that I derived from the other interviews I saw, and from the director’s commentary, which was REALLY great.

First, some criticism was leveled at the producers and director of the film for showing Hitler to be “human” in a couple of scenes: in one scene he hugs his dog and gives her a kiss on the head; then in one of the opening scenes, he treats the female secretarial applicants with respect and courtesy. I find this criticism to be faulty, because Hitler’s personality was part of what attracted people to him. Yes, he was a son-of-a-bitch (all due respect to his mother), and hopefully we all understand that, but like it or not, he was one of US, a human being, and try though we might, we can’t always completely disown evil people like Hitler, Stalin, or Saddam, no matter how uncomfortable their being humans makes us feel. Further, some criticism was given to the positive portrayal of other another participant, namely one doctor, who, after the war, was accused of having conducted experiments on concentration camp inmates, but the director, in his commentary, says that he could not find credible evidence to support the charge. In fact, at the very end of the “commentary version,” the director gives his opinions on each of the main historical participants, with a blunt, negative assessment of many.

This film, like the movie “Patton,” is based on real events (“Patton” being mainly from General Patton’s own writings and also those by General Omar Bradley), although some events are combined into one scene to keep the length and cost of the film within reason. Many sources by actual participants from those times were used in the script of "Downfall." After the war, many German military and political leaders who were actual witnesses to those last days in Berlin wrote about those events, and interestingly, one of his secretaries did not write a book about her time with Hitler until not long before she died from cancer, when she was in her 80s (see below). Almost all of the scenes are based upon fact, even at times with the same words that were spoken by the real historical figures included, and the director says that he only “created” one main character for the movie, a young boy, about 12, in the Hitler Youth, to represent the kids used by the Nazis to actively engage in the street fighting against the Russians in Berlin. I’ll take the director at his word, but the boy’s parents have brief scenes in the movie, and perhaps they were actually based upon real participants, and he just gave them this boy as their son. Further, just so you know, the entire movie is in German, there is even some Berlin dialect spoken, but the English subtitles are excellent, with very accurate translation.

The movie opens with a short clip of one of Hitler’s real secretaries in an interview given not long before she died, and shortly before the movie began filming. Her name was Traudl Junge. The movie covers a good deal about her experience in Berlin during the last ten days or so of the battle, and it is taken from her memoirs, compiled not long before she died (she died in 2002).** She also has an excellent clip at the end of the picture about her failure to try to find out about Hitler and the regime. She started working as one of Hitler’s personal secretaries when she was only 22 years old. He had four such secretaries, and in one of the other documentaries I saw, Traudl Junge mentions that when they were all with Hitler in his military headquarters, he would have lunch with two of his secretaries every day, and then dinner with the other two later in the evening. The secretaries were advised NOT to talk about military or political matters with Hitler, as he wanted to spend time away from those subjects, and in fact, the secretaries provided female companionship for Hitler at lunch, dinner and tea.

With the exception of the scene about Hitler’s meeting the secretarial applicants in late 1942, and his hiring of Traudl Junge at that time, the entire movie is set in war torn Berlin in April 1945, much of it in Hitler’s underground bunker, which was recreated in great detail for the movie (although above ground). Much of the movie was shot in Munich and, interestingly, St. Petersburg, Russia. I say “interestingly,” because the Germans were fighting the Russians in Berlin in 1945. The director says they chose St. Petersburg because parts of the city had been designed by German architects, and these areas are still quite similar to the Berlin of the Hitler era.

I mentioned the “fictional” boy fighting the Russians in the streets of Berlin, well, in one scene his father comes to the boy and his friends (including a girl of maybe 15) who are awaiting the Russian advance. The father, who has lost an arm in the war, tries desperately to convince the kids to go home, as the war is lost, and he doesn’t want them to be killed in such a hopeless cause, but they all stay.

There are several scenes of Hitler and his military personnel in conferences, and Hitler’s “delusional orders” to have them organize large scale attacks against the Russians in order to save Berlin. The generals know it is a bunch of nonsense, but while they complain, mainly behind Hitler’s back, they can’t bring themselves to do anything to stop the carnage. When one officer tries to convince them to act, they turn on him with angry words. When some try to get Hitler to evacuate civilians, he turns down the requests with statements like, “In a war like this, there are no civilians” ("In einem Krieg wie diesem gibt es keine Zivilisten"), and in another scene, when his orders for the destruction of Germany’s infrastructure are challenged for their likelihood of putting Germany back into the Middle Ages, he says something like, “I can't give consideration to the German people, they deserve to live like in the Middle Ages, as they’ve proven to be the weaker people” ... because they didn’t win the war. Talk about "survival of the fittest!" Further still, Nazi “execution squads” roam the streets of Berlin shooting or hanging people, even elderly men, whom they deem to be “deserters” (this is definitely based upon fact). The director says in his commentary that there was no real opportunity to deal with the concentration camp issue, so he “created” a scene where there is a pile of naked bodies to remind people of that horrendous tragedy. Further, and I’m repeating this, but the director says that most of the scenes are recreations of actual events that were written about by others present in Berlin and around Hitler, but that in a case or two, people met with Hitler in private, one-on-one, and that the only account is that of the “survivor,” who may not have accurately reported what was really said, but that they chose to use these accounts anyway.

This is a “deep” movie, as it is about many people trapped by their loyalty to a man who had seriously deteriorated, both physically and mentally. Even his irrationality can’t seem to shake them loose from him. In one scene, Hitler tells people gathered around, that he will not leave Berlin, thus bringing the reply from his long time mistress, Eva Braun, and also from Traudl Junge, that they will stay too. One of the other secretaries asks Traudl Junge later why she had said that, and she replies, “I don’t know why…honestly.” A sniffling Joseph Goebbels, the infamous Nazi propaganda minister, tells Junge that Hitler wants him to take his wife and family (six children) and leave Berlin, but that he won’t obey the Führer’s order.

Overall, this is a gloomy kind of movie, and the director says he put in a “created” ending, because “people need some hope” after watching this macabre part of history. You’ll have to watch the movie to learn of that ending. This is a movie well worth seeing. The performance by Swiss German actor Bruno Ganz as Hitler is just absolutely remarkable. No need to worry that you might like Hitler because he hugs his dog and treats his secretaries well, his actions throughout the movie, based on historical fact, will keep you hating him, perhaps even more so, as well you should. Anyone who likes Hitler because of his dog or his secretaries, already liked him in the first place, and there are probably a few more of them than we would like to believe exist. FIGHT FASCISM!

* I read that Ganz studied a recording of Hitler in a meeting with the President of Finland in 1942, where Hitler spoke calmly and in his every day voice. Ganz studied it for many days to perfect his impersonation of Hitler’s normal speaking voice, rather than the sound of his shrieking voice so often heard in many of his public speeches.

** Traudl Junge had made extensive notes about her time as one of Hitler's secretaries a couple of years after the war ended, while her memory of events was still pretty good. It was these notes that were used for the book she agreed to have published. The notes were illegible in a few places, and the book shows that. Her recollections were also off on some details, especially the chronology of events, but that was to be expected. Just imagine writing about a part of your life and trying to get every incident into proper sequence. The book left all of the errors intact, but then noted the correct information. In at least one of her interviews, she also made a couple of errors on names, referring to General Stülpnagel in France by a mangled version of his name, and also mispronouncing Field Marshal Schörner's name, but neither mistake was exactly earth shattering.

Photo is from the 2005 DVD release by Constantin Film and Sony Home Entertainment

Word Histories:
Under-This common word goes back to Indo European "ndhero," which meant "lower; thus also, below, under." The Old Germanic offshoot was "unther" or "under," with the same meaning, but also, "among." This gave the other Germanic languages forms of the word: Dutch “onder,” German “unter,” Low German Saxon "ünner," Frisian, Swedish, Danish & Norwegian “under,” and Icelandic "undir." The spelling has remained unchanged in English, as even in Old English it was "under."

Gang- This word seems to go back to Indo European "ghengh," which meant "to step, walk." The Old Germanic offshoot was "gangaz," which meant "go." Old English had the noun "gang," which meant a "passage, path, course;" that is, "a place where people 'go.' " Later in English, in the 1600s, it also took on the meaning "a group who goes together,” usually in reference to workmen, but then later still, this developed into “a group that goes together for purposes none too good;” thus our modern meaning "gang," as in members of a gang. Of course, "gangway," is a place where people go, walk. And "gang plank," is a place you don't want to go, if you're captured by pirates. German uses the word in many compounds, for example, "Eingang," literally "in passage, path;" that is, "an entrance," and "Ausgang," meaning literally "out passage, path;" that is "exit."

Traudl Junge, Working For Evil, Part Three/Final

In both her book and her interviews, Traudl Junge relates a number of anecdotes about life so close to Hitler, including his obsession with his female German Shepherd, Blondie. In her interviews she said that Hitler was detached from the ruin he was bringing to Germany, let alone to other nations, and that, when she once  mentioned to him about the destruction in Munich (she was from Munich) from air attacks, he just started spouting his usual slogans about how he would retaliate against his enemies once he regained the upper hand. She noted that, as far as she could recall, Hitler never saw a bombed out German city or area of a city, as he kept the curtains drawn in his private train and when he went to Berlin, the train would arrive in the darkness of night and the chauffeur would travel on streets with little or no damage. This is the sign of a man hiding from himself.

Traudl Junge spent much time telling of the final days of Hitler in his Berlin bunker, located well beneath the Reich Chancellery complex. His long time mistress, Eva Braun (pronounced like  "brown," not "brawn") joined him there. About a week before his death, Hitler told the women to get ready to leave Berlin, as a plane was going to take them to southern Germany. He admitted the war was lost. Two secretaries left, along with a number of other personnel, but Traudl Junge and one other secretary, Gerda Christian, as well as Eva Braun, chose to remain in Berlin. Traudl told of how during lulls in the fighting for Berlin, she, Eva and Gerda Christian would venture above ground and out into the garden part of the complex. They once came upon a fountain statue of a woman much to Eva's liking. Upon returning to the bunker, Eva told Hitler of the statue, and, with Soviet troops only a few blocks away, she asked if he would buy the statue for her if he won the war. Now, you've got to admit, that's pretty bizarre, BUT he answered her! He told her the statue was government property and that he couldn't just buy it and give it to her for her own private garden, but she asked if he would make this one exception just for her. These people were NUTS! 

Also along those same lines, as the war approached its end, some of the Nazi leaders still played cutthroat politics in an effort to grab more power. As the Soviets closed in, Hermann Göring, Hitler's designated successor, sent a telegram from southern Germany to Hitler stating that with Hitler surrounded in Berlin, and with the likelihood of his losing the ability to communicate orders to the military and to the nation, that if a reply to his telegram was not received from Hitler by that evening, he would assume Hitler no longer had the ability to communicate orders, and that he, Göring, would assume power as Hitler had specified several years before. The telegram was not anything unreasonable, and at first, according to Junge, Hitler too seemed to have accepted it as such. Then Martin Bormann convinced the fanatical, furious Führer that Göring's act was high treason. Hitler became violently upset and ordered Göring's arrest and possible execution.* Then came word from a British radio broadcast that Heinrich Himmler, the powerful head of the dreaded SS, and a murderous nutcase if there ever was one, had entered into negotiations with the Allies through a neutral party. Hitler had another serious temper tantrum, as the man he called "mein treuer Heinrich" (my true or loyal Heinrich) abandoned the fanatical, furious Führer too. He ordered Himmler's arrest and execution.** For good measure, Hitler ordered the arrest of Himmler's adjutant, Hermann Fegelein, who was Eva Braun's brother in law (he was married to her sister, Gretl, who was like 8 months pregnant at that time). Eva's brother in law notwithstanding, Fegelein was then executed. Even in the final days of his life, with the Russians just a block or two away, Hitler spread death over essentially meaningless things.

Junge noted, Hitler had told her he would never be captured alive, and in preparation for that situation, he had received cyanide capsules from Himmler. With Himmler's peace negotiations Hitler became suspicious that the poison Himmler had provided would not be sufficient to take his life; the fear being that Himmler might try to trade "a live Hitler" for his own safety, so Hitler had it tried out on his dog Blondie, and it was found to be potent, as the poor dog died immediately. Hitler married Eva Braun and he told Traudl Junge he wanted her to take some dictation from him. It was his last will and testament. Traudl said at first she thought something like, "Now we'll hear the real reasons for everything, the truth," but instead, Hitler spouted his usual nonsense, including blaming Jews for the war. Not long after she typed the dictated notes, Hitler and Eva committed suicide. Traudl Junge was part of a group that tried to get through the Soviet lines to the Western Allies. Some of the group were killed, others were captured, but Traudl got through, only to turn around and return to Berlin before getting to the Allies. I believe she said she hoped to be able to get a train to her parents in southern Germany. Instead, she ended up in Soviet captivity for about a year and a half.

Traudl eventually made it home and she worked at a number of jobs over the years, but she also learned what Hitler and the Nazis had done during their time in power. She said initially she felt no particular connection between her life and the terrible events that had transpired, that she had just been a secretary and had not known about the atrocities, but then one day in Munich, she saw the plaque commemorating Sophie Scholl for her resistance to the Nazis,*** and she realized that some Germans DID try to learn about what had been going on. For the rest of her life she had emotional troubles, as she struggled to deal with her role in the tragedies wrought by Hitler. Her guilt feelings got to the point they were not rational, as she even blamed herself for the initial Nazi persecution of German Jews in 1933, when she was only 12 or 13 years old. She said she took some consolation in the knowledge that millions of other Germans had been swayed by Hitler, but that it was just not enough to soothe her conscience. She died of cancer in 2002, age 81. As I've "preached" here at times, Traudl Junge came to realize, too late, that once you let fascists in, you don't get them back out easily, and that people from all walks of life can become susceptible to their hate and destructiveness. Stopping the advance of fascism starts with our own self evaluation and then the determination not to fall under the spell of simplistic solutions or hate filled slogans and rants by radio or television personalities trying to worm their way into our lives and minds. They lay the groundwork for fascist politicians to gain control. Traudl Junge's message was, "Pay attention to what's going on around you! Don't think it has nothing to do with you."   

* Martin Bormann was one of Hitler's closest and most powerful associates during the war, when his power grew tremendously. He controlled who got in to see Hitler and he saw all correspondence before it got to Hitler's desk. The German public knew little about Bormann, although he was almost always by Hitler's side from 1941 until the very end. With loads of captured Nazi documents available after the war, historians came to realize that the little known Bormann was one of the most powerful Nazi leaders, besides Hitler himself. For more on Bormann, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/09/german-leaders-of-nazi-erabormann.html

** Himmler did not fall victim to his fanatical, furious Führer, but rather he was captured by the British awhile later. He committed suicide while in their custody. For more on Himmler, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/10/german-leaders-of-nazi-erahimmler.html 

*** In early 1943, Sophie Scholl, her brother, Hans, and a friend, Christoph Probst, were arrested for distributing leaflets at the University of Munich urging Germans to resist the Nazis and the war. They were "tried" before a Nazi court and then beheaded. There are several memorials and honors to this young courageous German woman and to the other Germans who tried to fight evil, and who gave their lives doing so. A 2003 poll of Germans showed Sophie and Hans Scholl are viewed as some of the most important Germans in history, and another poll of Germans placed Sophie as one of the greatest women of the 20th Century. Germans have learned the lessons the hard way, others should pay heed to the German experience.

Photo is from the paperback edition of "Bis zur letzten Stunde" (Until the Last Hour) by Traudl Junge, with cooperation from Melissa Müller, published in paperback in 2003 in German (there have been English language editions also), although there have been various printings since the original paperback. This is the 8th German paperback printing from 2011 from List Taschenbuch.

WORD HISTORY: 

Turf-This word for "grass covered area" goes back to Indo European "darbh/dorbh," which meant "clump or tuft of grass." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "turb," which meant "grass covered surface/area." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "turf," with the same meaning. Some dialects had "torf" and "tyrf," but eventually English kept "turf" as the standard spelling. In post World War Two American English the word was used for "a neighborhood dominated by a gang;" that is, "their turf." Common in the other Germanic languages: Low German Saxon has "Torf/Törf," which means "peat" (soil with dead and decomposing plants, as the area of northern Germany and northern Europe had bogs/marshes, where such was common), standard German has "Torf," also meaning "peat," as the word came into standard German from Low German; Dutch and West Frisian have "turf" (peat), Danish "tørv"  (peat), Icelandic has "torf" (sod), Norwegian has the compound "gresstorv" (sod, turf) and Swedish has "torv" (turf, peat).

The Allies & Berlin, 1945

This is in answer to a very good question posed by a regular reader in one of the comments.
His question: "Why didn't the Americans and Brits take Berlin?"

General Dwight Eisenhower, the overall commander of the Allied forces, made the determination NOT to take Berlin. His decision came in February 1945, not long after the Allies had not only defeated the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge, but had pushed the Germans back toward the Rhine River in western Germany. His decision was based upon the following:

-Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin had already agreed to divide Germany into occupation zones. Berlin, which would lie within the Soviet zone, was also to be divided into occupation zones. This meant that Allied forces, more likely American forces, would have to go through what was to become the Soviet zone to even get to Berlin.

-When Eisenhower made his decision, the Soviets had penetrated deeply into eastern Germany, and, at their closest point, were only about 40 miles from Berlin. On the other hand, the western Allies were perhaps 300-400 miles from Berlin.

-Eisenhower's staff told him it would cost at least 100,000 casualties for the Allies to take Berlin.

When put together, Eisenhower saw: heavy casualties to take a city hundreds of miles away, when the Soviets were already at Berlin's doorstep. Fighting through and taking casualties in territory that would then have to be given over to the Soviets anyway. It should be noted, Churchill wanted Eisenhower to go for Berlin, but the general chose not to do so.

For the Allies to take Berlin "could" have also brought about the "split" between the Allies and the Soviets so dreamed of by Hitler and the other Nazi leaders. The Soviets and Stalin were far more filled with revenge against Hitler and Germans than the Allies,* and they really wanted to take Berlin, regardless of casualties. You can draw your own conclusions, but I think Eisenhower made the right call, given the situation at that time. I know, many argued "later" that Berlin became the center of the "Cold War," but in February/March 1945, the Cold War was in the future.

* The Soviet Union suffered many millions of casualties, including millions of civilians, at the hands of Hitler and the Nazis.

WORD HISTORY:
Prosit/Prost-These words, "prost" is derived from "prosit," are drinking toasts, and were borrowed from German, apparently in the mid 1800s, and are equivalent to English "Cheers!" or "To your health." German borrowed "Prosit" from Latin "prodesse," which meant "be useful, be beneficial," and it is the third person singular present subjunctive of the verb. Subjunctive, also called "subjunctive mood," is used to help express a wish; thus, "may it benefit you." Of course, a few too many "Prosits" will not be beneficial to you...hicc! "Scuse me!" The "pros" part is related to English "for," and the "it" part is related to English "is."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Four

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Five/C
"The End of Hitler's Reich" Part Three

In 1945 in western Germany, the Allies gradually pushed back the German defenders, crossing the Rhine River at Remagen in March. By April, a large German force was encircled in the Ruhr industrial region. With Berlin temptingly lying east of their advancing forces, the Allies chose not to risk a drive on the German capital, leaving the job to the Red Army. In Italy, the Allies finally dislodged the stubborn German defenders in northern Italy, and the Germans surrendered there in early May 1945. German forces in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands also surrendered in May.

In mid April, the long awaited Soviet offensive against Berlin commenced. With tremendous superiority in men and equipment, some Soviet units broke through the beleaguered German line in quick fashion, although not without losses, but the German line directly in front of Berlin along the Oder River held out temporarily, with substantial casualties inflicted upon the Red Army. The German forces held some high ground, and they tenaciously defended it against the Soviet attack, but the inevitable breakthrough came, and the Red Army forces headed for Hitler's capital. The decimated German forces, a mixture of regular army units and Waffen SS forces,* fell back toward Berlin, where Nazi diehards organized Hitler Youth and old men to try to hold the city. While the fighting was very bloody, from street to street, and building to building, the outcome was never in doubt, although Hitler held out hope that a German force south of the city would break through the Russian lines to relieve the capital. This was just another of his fantasies, and the German attack made little headway. The last known pictures of Hitler were taken as he ventured above ground to the Chancellery garden to decorate some Hitler Youth boys for their fighting against the Soviets in the streets of Berlin. There was just no shame by this man or his regime; sending children into combat.

News came that Mussolini had been caught and executed by Italian resistance fighters in northern Italy. The "Duce" and his entourage were then hung upside down from girders for Italians to revile, which they did, often spitting on the dead fascists. For Hitler, already determined not to fall into Soviet hands, Mussolini's death and exhibition convinced him beyond any doubt that suicide was the only way out. He married his long time mistress, Eva Braun (not pronounced "brawn," but rather pretty much like English "brown," its close relative, and with the same meaning), who had arrived from Bavaria. Interestingly, the German public really did not know about her, as that information he been strictly controlled by the Nazi propaganda machine. Hitler dictated his will to his secretary, in which he named a new government to take over after his death. Still the hate spewing psycho, he ranted about how Jews had instigated the war and about how the German people had proven themselves to be too weak by not winning the war. Not long after their marriage, Hitler and Eva retired to his room, and killed themselves. The Russian forces were only a couple of blocks away. The German commanders surrendered Berlin a couple of days later, and German military leaders surrendered for Germany a few days after that. The nightmare, while not over, was beginning to subside.

* The Waffen SS was the "militarized" or "armed" force ("Waffen"="weapon," and is closely related to the English word) part of the vast Nazi SS organization, with a number of its units being considered elite. The early units had all been volunteers and composed completely of Germans, more specifically Reich Germans; that is, Germans born and raised in Germany or Austria. During the early war years, the Waffen SS expanded, and it took volunteers from other countries, most often initially from "Germanic" countries, like the Netherlands, Flanders (see note), Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Later still, it recruited Germans who had not been born in Germany or Austria, called "Volksdeutsche," typically from places like Slovenia, Croatia, Rumania, and later Hungary. Eventually casualties were so high, the SS began drafting men instead of relying strictly upon volunteers. By mid war, the expansion of the Waffen SS included men who were neither German, nor Germanic, but rather Latvian, Estonian, Russian, Italian, French, Walloon (see note), and even Albanian and Bosnian Muslims! (see note 2) The Waffen SS was noted for its toughness and combat prowess, with some exceptions, but it was also known for atrocities, as many of its members were steeped in fanatical Nazi ideology.

(Note 1) Belgium essentially consisted of two main groups of people; the people of Flanders, called Flemings, who spoke a Germanic language, now usually referred to by linguists as a dialect of Dutch, and who comprised roughly 60% of the population, and of the French dialect speaking Walloons, who comprised slightly less than 40% of the population (Germans comprised the remaining small percentage).

(Note 2) Much of Albania and Bosnia had been occupied for quite some time by the Turks, who were Muslim. The Turks forcibly converted some of their subjects to Islam, thus the Muslim population of these areas.

WORD HISTORY:
Want-This common verb traces back to an Indo European base "wen(o)" or "weun," with the general notion of "to leave, to abandon," and by extension, "be lacking, be empty." This gave Old Germanic "wanaton(an)" meaning "to be lacking." This then gave Old Norse "vantr," with the meaning "to lack, to be lacking." English borrowed the word in the late 1100s as "wanten," with the same "lack" meaning. Gradually the notion of "lacking something" took on more of the meaning "desire for something 'lacking,' " and that "desire, wish," meaning has carried through to modern English. From what I could find, Icelandic and Faroese, both North Germanic languages descended from Old Norse, still have "vanta(r)," meaning "lacking." The other Germanic languages, including Old English already had similar words with the same general meaning of "lack(ing)." See "Word History" in next article, "wane," a relative of "want," and "wan" is "likely" a relative from the notion of "lacking color," but its history is more than a little sketchy; thus, I put the quotation marks around "likely."