Immortalizing Nazis: Macron's last resort An excursion into history

Rapidly losing popularity at home, French President Emmanuel Macron is now actively trying to bolster his authority by participating in state ceremonies and public events. Fortunately, there is an occasion for this today. This year, France commemorates the 80th anniversary of its liberation from Nazi occupation.

Recently, Macron visited Strasbourg, where he made two significant announcements. First, he revealed the plan to transfer the remains of the renowned French historian Marc Bloch, executed by the Nazis, to the Panthéon. Second, he announced the inclusion of lessons on the "Malgré-nous" — residents of Alsace and Lorraine who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II — in the school curriculum.

France's eastern departments, Alsace and Lorraine, have long been a point of contention between France and Germany. Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, these territories became part of Germany. After World War I, France regained sovereignty over its eastern departments, but in 1940, the French suffered another devastating defeat, this time to Hitler. Alsace and Lorraine were annexed by the Third Reich, and their residents were declared German citizens subject to conscription into the Wehrmacht.

In 1942, over 130,000 residents of these two departments were drafted into the German armed forces. An additional 2,000 Alsatians and Lorrainers volunteered to serve in the SS. Around 150,000 people worked for the paramilitary Todt Organization, building fortifications and military infrastructure, while 6,000 women were sent to Germany for compulsory labour. In total, up to 10% of the population of Alsace and Moselle were involved in some form of German military service between 1940 and 1945.

Indeed, not all of these conscripts displayed high morale. Around 40,000 "Malgré-nous", which translates from French as "against my will," deserted the Wehrmacht or fled to Switzerland. The rest were deployed to the Eastern Front. Renowned Soviet partisan commander and memoirist Pyotr Vershigora recalled encountering Alsatians:

"But these weren’t Germans; they were Alsatians. Their battalion was guarding this section of the railway and a large bridge over the Teteriv River. Misha Tartakovsky threw up his hands in frustration. The captives either didn’t speak German at all or spoke a dialect that my interpreter clearly couldn’t comprehend."

In the summer of 1942, approximately 1,500 prisoners from Alsace and Lorraine were handed over by Soviet authorities to their allies and sent to Algeria to join the forming units of the Free France forces.

However, it is important not to overstate the anti-Nazi sentiments among the "Malgré-nous." Most of them served Hitler faithfully until the end of the war and bear responsibility for numerous war crimes. The most infamous of these was the massacre in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10, 1944, when soldiers of the SS Division "Das Reich" exterminated 642 civilians in retaliation for partisan activities.

After World War II, some SS members faced trial in France, including fourteen Alsatians. On February 11, 1953, the court found the defendants guilty. However, the convictions sparked protests in Alsace, where demands for autonomy were gaining momentum at the time. Ultimately, the Alsatian SS soldiers were released, which understandably outraged the relatives of the victims of Oradour-sur-Glane. On the Eastern Front, the "Malgré-nous" also committed numerous atrocities, but Western Europe has long regarded such incidents as a taboo subject.

As in other European countries, the 21st century in France has seen a trend toward rehabilitating Nazi collaborators.

In 2005, the Alsace-Moselle Memorial Museum unveiled an exhibition dedicated to the “horrific living conditions” endured by Alsatian prisoners in the Soviet POW camp in Tambov. “The brutality of Tambov has left a deep imprint on the collective memory of the Alsatians,” said local historian Alphonse Troestler. Later, France 3 Alsace aired the documentary Vermisst (“Missing”), which highlighted the need to commemorate the Frenchmen who fought in the Wehrmacht. “I never knew my father, but he was a hero,” remarked the son of a Frenchman who fought for Hitler and died on the Eastern Front.

The first to publicly declare that those from Alsace and Lorraine, who fought for the Reich, were not traitors but victims was former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010. According to Sarkozy, “The ‘Malgré-nous’ were not traitors but, on the contrary, victims of a true war crime. They were forced to wear a uniform different from the one to which their hearts and loyalties belonged. They were compelled to act against their homeland, their oath, and their conscience.”

In 2013, the French Court of Cassation ruled against Robert Hébras, the last survivor of the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre, in response to a lawsuit filed by a veteran's organization from Alsace. The lawsuit was over Hébras’ mention in his book of Alsatians serving in SS units and their participation in the destruction of his home village.

During his visit to Strasbourg, Macron expressed indignation over the lack of awareness among his compatriots about the fate of the "children of Alsace and Moselle." He described them as having been "taken prisoner, dressed in a uniform they loathed, ...turned into instruments of a crime that also destroyed them." Macron emphasized that this tragedy must be acknowledged, understood, and taught because "it is a tragedy of the nation." At his initiative, the story of the "Malgré-nous" will be included in the curriculum for senior high school classes in France. According to the Élysée Palace, this inclusion aims to help students understand that "every French person of that era had their own path."

Particular sympathy in France is reserved for those who fought in the Waffen-SS. French historian Christophe Werlé noted, "To the Soviets, it didn’t matter if you were French or German; if you were part of the Waffen-SS, it changed nothing—they executed you without trial." Approximately 30,000 Alsatians and Lorrainers died on the Eastern Front, and another 12,000 were taken prisoner. Plans are reportedly underway to erect a monument in their memory.

Shortly after Macron's speech, Jeanne Barseghian, the Green Party mayor of Strasbourg, proposed granting pensions and compensation to the families of "Malgré-nous" who died "in the line of duty" while serving in the Nazi Wehrmacht. According to her, "Eighty years later, we must speak the words and take the actions necessary to free ourselves from shame and denial."

For now, this proposal has been rejected, but given the current political climate, it is not far-fetched to imagine monuments and plaques in France commemorating those who fought in the Wehrmacht and SS. Macron appears to have a significant task ahead. According to Russian historians, around 200,000 French citizens fought in various formations under the Third Reich during World War II.

Among the last defenders of Berlin in 1945 were French SS volunteers from the "Charlemagne" Division. Thirty of them were captured in the Reich Chancellery, where they had fought to the last bullet. Given the focus on "Frenchmen who chose their path," it is conceivable that the memory of these individuals may also be enshrined in Macron’s France.