For those of you who are interested with the SS Id like to know which division was your favorite mine of course is the 8th SS cavarly division:mrgreen:
Not sure whether I’m going to answer this one…
Having a “favourite” Waffen/SS div is like having a “favourite” cancer…
They ranged from superb to truly awful, with the 36th Waffengrenadiers taking the cake for monstrous behaviour…
If I had a favourite it would be the twin Hungarian divs formed in the post-Horthey period, neither of which got into action of any great magnitude…
The two Cossack divs had a fate worse than death…and most of the Russian recruits for the others were dubious…
the BH Division confined it’s activities to massacreing Christian Serb villages, whilst “Prinz Eugen” gets the nod for number of atrocities committed, spending most of it’s life in the Balkans, and contributing to the terrible fighting there…
Apart from the “German” recruit based divs (HJ, LAH, Frundsberg, Hohenstaufen, DR, TTKF), “Wiking” was the only div to garner a fantastic reputation. Leon Degrelle’s “Walloons” were quite good too…
The record of the Waffen-SS is patchy, but no better than the Wehrmacht for human rights…apologists would rather blame the atrocities ENTIRLELY on the Waffen-SS, but a quick bit of research reveals that the “Heer” was just as guilty. Many “Heer” veterans would sincerely like to blame it ALL on the Waffen-SS…I just don’t agree.
The record shows clearly that the Waffen soldiers were not ALL super-bad.
Panzrbrigade 150 with Otto Skorzeny in “Operation Grief”.
Favorite SS division ???Hmmm, this topic smell fishy.
BTW…the men in the jeep picture above are not Skorzeny people…it’s Joachim PEIPER!
Also BTW…for the guy who’s “fav” div is the 8th (Florian Geyr from memory), they actually had a bad reputation as Jew killers. Commanded by Hermann Fegelien and composed of Hungarians, von dem Bach Zelewski used them for atrocities whilst Fegelien was on leave. The 8th had some powerful force multipliers for support elements, and was basically destroyed at Budapest.
What do you mean by that?
Maybe is me but all the things surrounding the SS are a bit scary.And before you ask me I dont have any favorite SS division.
Yes, the divisions name was “Florian Geyer” who was a german knight and diplomat in the early 16th century.
The division itself consisted of 60% imperial germans (=“Reichsdeutsche”) and 40% ethnical germans from Hungary (=“Volksdeutsche”).
Known war crimes were commited by one unit of the SS-Kavallerie-Brigade in August 1941 when 14000 jews were killed in the Pripjat swamps and 7819 killed jews were reported by the brigade in the Minsk area.
You offered indeed highly balanced and utterly accurate answer to this awkward question, my dear Mr. B5N2 Kate. My sincerest congratulations! However, if we are supposed to give here a direct answer, in that case mine is – 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, the first truly international division of the Waffen SS which numbered Germans, Dutch, Danes, Norwegians and Flemmings among its personnel, together with a smattering of Volksdeusche from the Balkans.
It quickly earned itself a reputation for efficiency and dependability under fire and achieved an excellent reputation, even earning the grudging respect of the Soviets in several battle reports for its contentious fighting spirit. In October of 1943 the divsion emerged as a fully equipped panzer division. Considering the disdain shown for the foreign volunteer units by Germans, the fact that a predominantly foreign division accorded regular panzer division status, being equipped with the latest types of tanks was a tribute to the regard in which it was held.
To the bitter end the men of the division fought bravely and honestly, even retaining their pride in defeat in providing service that was above and beyond the call of duty, as well as the phenomenal esprit de corps. The qualities of the Wiking division as a combat unit are testified by the number of Knights Crosses of the Iron Cross awarded to its soldiers. A total of 54 awards of this type were made, a figure surpassed only by the 73 of the Das Reich division, and exceeding the latter by complete absence of allegations of atrocities carried out by its soldiers (In Oradour–sur-Glane, for example, members of the Das Reich division brutally executed 642 people of all ages and sexes, including 207 children).
Additionally, it has to be mentioned that the Wiking division was first commanded by SS Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner, one of the finest soldiers of the Waffen SS and the German armed forces in the WW2.
Who was your favorite concentration camp guard?
You will excuse me for my transitory unawareness, as well as for the consequential stillness my dear Mr. Nickdfresh, but I really don’t know are you asking me personally or some other distinguished members of the Forum. If you are asking me directly, and if your question refers only to German personnel, here are my answers to your direct question:
Amongst commanding officers, without any doubt Major Karl Plagge, kommander of the HKP562 camp that was located on the outskirts of Vilnius. Although officially registered member of the NSDAP he was never an anti-Semite. He decided it was his duty to try and work against the genocidal regime he helped to put into power. He decided to do what he could - to help as many Vilnius Jews as possible. He did this by giving working certificates to Jewish men certifying them as essential and skilled workers regardless of their backgrounds. As a result of Plagge’s orders, the Jews of that camp were treated relatively fairly.
And amongst certified, card-equipped members of the SS, my choice is SS Unterscharführer Alfons Zündler. He was involved by way of the deportations and detention of the Dutch Jews. He guarded them in the Hollandse Schouburg - a former Amsterdam theatre, which served in those times as a transient detention camp for some 60.000 persons arrested mainly as Jews. He secured safe escape for certain number of detainees.
All previously mentioned examples are presented in this highly recommended book, fulfilled with numerous other examples:
http://www.amazon.de/Zivilcourage-Empörte-Helfer-Wehrmacht-Polizei/dp/3596158524
If you have strong inclination toward this theme I think that I will be able to find some more intriguing materials – with some highly unknown snapshots too. Of course, that will be a separate theme for a completely new thread. 
I wasn’t speaking to you Mr. Liberian, I was being cheeky by posting to the thread title…
Sorry, no disrespect intended…
Tough question but these are my favourite:
Wiking,Hunyadi,Nordland
would you be happy to name your “favourite” soviet division?
keepng in mind he soviets(stalin) killed more citizens and other ethnic minorities than than nazis killed jews? through equally oppressive measures of starvation, genocide and exile
my vote would have to be 2nd SS Division Das Reich
but, don’t get me wrong… today i visited the churchll museum and the cabinet war rooms in London. If the nazi’s had won, my family would have evaully been exerminted directly or indirectly as part of the war machine that as it happened help defeat the germman war machine!
BD99
last of 5 generatons fighting Britians Enemies!!
Sure the 150th rifle division the men who broke into the Reichstag and after fierce fighting raised the hammer and sickle
Sorry, no disrespect intended…
You may rest assured, my dear Mr. Nickdfresh, that your question was interpreted by me as a pure indication of historical enthusiasm. By remaining firm to the principles which have, during the last twenty five years been my guide, I hope that I shall succeed in giving satisfaction to all who honour me with their confidence. 
Please accept my best regards for the historiographic confidence with which you have hitherto honored us, and believe me that i will remain your respective collaborator on this truly matchless Forum. 
Cheers Librarian. You’re one of my favorite posters…
That’s not exactly a true nor valid comparison IMO. The Red Army, much like the Wehrmacht’s Heer, were (rightly or wrongly - we can debate this all week) considered to be largely apolitical defenders of the people from external threat and were not generally associated with Stalinist repression by most. Nor were they generally thought of as part of the enormous and fearsome internal security apparatus of the Soviet state. In fact it was the Red Army that also suffered under Stalin’s purges --as allegedly his hurt little ego that was stung during the Russian Civil War by the very officers that advocated the “Deep Battle” doctrine, and made them all nonpeople.
A better one would be comparing the NKVD divisions with the Waffen SS. They WERE political yet generally fought more tenaciously than their Red Army counterparts initially. But like the SS, they often lacked senior leadership that truly understood the intricacies and nuances of warfare. And it was only after successive defeats that they were brought under what was largely Army control and coordination…
My point was that everybody needs to be careful before praising or admiring an organization such as the SS wich have a long historial of war crimes and well planned atrocities.
Very good information as usual Librarian.