Operation 25. A warm-hearted old lady, a Banat Swabian, nourishes members of the "Der Führer" Regiment, SS Division "Reich", who have made a brief stop in her village, on their way to Belgrade. The "Der Führer" Regiment was formed in 1938 in Vienna, shortly after the Anschluss, as the first Austrian unit of the (future) Waffen-SS. It is remembered primarily for the horrific massacre in the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane (10 June 1944), in which its members killed 642 civilians, mostly women and children, in retaliation for a partisan attack on their comrades. For the old lady, however, these men with gloomy eyes are just boys and passers-by who speak her dear mother tongue, and she is happy to serve them, as is customary in her Serbian homeland. The only question is whether the old Swabian lady was this happy a year later as well, when the German authorities dressed her relatives and neighbours in the same camouflage jackets, and in uniforms with the name of Prince Eugene (Eugen) of Savoy on their sleeves – in which most of them later ended their lives.
Text: Ivan Ž.
Photographer: Wolfgang Wiesebach, SS War Correspondent Company.
Date: April 1941.
Location: unknown, Yugoslavia.
Original caption: unknown.
File source: Nationaal Archief, 27021A 057.
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Operacija 25. Jedna srdačna bakica, banatska Švabica, poji i hrani pripadnike puka "Firer" SS-divizije "Rajh", koji su nakratko zastali u njenom selu, na putu ka Beogradu. Puk "Firer" je formiran 1938. godine u Beču, ubrzo nakon anšlusa, kao prva austrijska jedinica (budućih) SS-trupa. Upamćen je prvenstveno po stravičnom masakru u francuskom selu Oradur-sur-Glan (10. juna 1944), u kojem su njegovi pripadnici pobili 642 civila, većinom žena i dece, u cilju odmazde za jedan partizanski napad na njihove drugove. Za baku, međutim, ovi ljudi smrknutih pogleda samo su dečaci i namernici koji govore njenim dragim maternjim jezikom, i ona je srećna što može da ih počasti, kao što je i običaj u njenoj srpskoj domovini. Pitanje je samo da li je stara Švabica bila ovako srećna i godinu dana kasnije, kada su nemačke vlasti obukle njene rođake i komšije u iste ovakve maskirne jakne, i u uniforme na čijim je rukavima stajalo ime princa Evgenija (Ojgena) Savojskog – u kojima je većina njih kasnije i skončala svoje živote.
Tekst: Ivan Ž.
Fotograf: Volfgang Vizebah, Ratnodopisnička četa SS-a.
Datum: april 1941.
Mesto: nepoznato, Jugoslavija.
Originalni natpis: nepoznat.
Izvor fajla: Nationaal Archief, 27021A 057.
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