I was asked if the Waffen-SS veterans (HiAG etc) in post-war Germany received a war pension.......
I can not remember off hand which year the Waffen-SS were granted a war pension, it was some time in the 60s.
A former Waffen-SS soldier in the 60s went to court in West Germany and won the arguement that the Waffen-SS
"were soldiers just like others fighting for their Fatherland" and won the case, thus allowing everyone the right to a pension.
I do have the information in my HiAG documentation, but my late father-in-law did get a war pension, my wife thinks
it started about 1962.
Two further points I would like to make here:
1. POW time counts as military service, so those held until 1955 in the Soviet Union recieved their back pay,
for example, someone who joined in 1935 and was released from POW camp in 1955, recieved pension for 20 years
military service and back pay, for 20 years service to the Third Reich, paid for by the post-war German Government.
2. Many Waffen-SS officers were promoted in the last days of the war, when everyone knew that the end was near.
This was done as a "thankyou" for their efforts in the campaigns they fought in and for supporting the Third Reich State.
For example: 29th April 1945 an SS Major gets promoted to General for his loyal service to the party,
he goes to a POW camp and survives the war. In 1962 he gets a generals war pension payed for by the post-war
German Government!
Not Waffen-SS, but nevertheless a very interesting example: Major Remer is remembered for putting down the 20th July 1944
bomb plot in Berlin. Due to his efforts he was promoted to General before the war finished. Remer recieved a Generals
state pension from the post-war German Government for the rest of his life! In effect he was rewarded for his involvement in
putting down the plotters, by a government who view Stauffenberg as a "moral cornerstone" of the constitution,
now THAT is a twist to history!
Mit Kameradengruß
Willi
