Ebook: Epic: The Story of the Waffen SS

Introduction
You are about to hear Leon Degrelle, who before the Second World
War was Europe's youngest political leader and the founder of the
Rexist Party of Belgium. During that cataclysmic confrontation he was
one of the greatest heroes on the Eastern Front. Of Leon Degrelle Hitler
said: "If I should have a son I would like him to be like Leon."
As a statesman and a soldier he has known very closely Hitler,
Mussolini, Churchill, Franco, Laval, Marshal Petain and all the
European leaders during the enormous ideological and military clash
that was World War Two. Alone among them, he has survived,
remaining the number one witness of that historical period.
The life of Leon Degrelle began in 1906 in Bouillon, a small town in the
Belgian Ardennes. His family was of French origin.
He studied at the University of Louvain, where he acquired a doctorate
in law. He was -and is -also interested in other academic disciplines,
such as political science, art, archeology and Tomistic philosophy.
As a student his natural gift of leadership became apparent. By the time
he reached twenty he had already published five books and operated his
own weekly newspaper. Out of his deep Christian conviction he joined
Belgium's Catholic Action Movement and became one of its leaders.
But his passion has always been people.
He wanted to win the crowds, particularly the Marxist ones. He wanted
them to 5hare his ideals of social and spiritual change for society. He
wanted to lift people up; to forge for them a stable, efficient and
responsible state, a state backed by the good sense of people and for the
sole benefit of the people.
He addressed more than 2,000 meetings, always controversial. His,
books and newspaper were read everywhere because they always dealt
with the real issues. Although not yet twenty-five, people listened to
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him avidly.In a few short years he had won over a large part of the population. On
the twenty-fourth of May 1936 his Rexist Party won against the
established parties a smashing electoral victory: Thirty-four house and
senate seats.
The Europe of 1936 was still split into little countries, jealous of their
pasts and closed to any contact with their neighbors.
Leon Degrelle saw further. In his student days he had traveled across
Latin America, the United States and Canada. He had visited North
Africa, the Middle East and of course all of the European countries. He
felt that Europe had a unique destiny and must unite.
Mussolini invited him to Rome. Churchill saw him in London and Hitler
received him in Berlin.
Putting his political life on the line, he made desperate efforts to stop the
railroading of Europe into another war. But old rivalries, petty hatreds
and suspicion between the French and the German, were cleverly
exploited. The established parties and the Communist Party worked on
the same side: for war. For the Kremlin it was a unique opportunity to
communize Europe after it had been bled white.
Thus, war started. First in Poland, then in Western Europe in 1940. This
was to become the Second World War in 1941.
Soon the flag of the Swastika flew from the North Pole to the shores of
Greece to the border of Spain.
But the European civil war between England and Germany continued.
And the rulers of Communism got ready to move in and pick up the
pieces.
But Hitler beat them to it and invaded the Soviet Union on June 22,
1941. For Europe it was to be heads or tails; Hitlers wins or Stalin wins.
It was then that from every country in Europe thousands of young men
made up their minds that the destiny of their native country was at stake.
They would volunteer their lives to fight communism and create a
united Europe.
In all, they would grow to be more than 600,000 non-German
Europeans fighting on the Eastern Front. They would bring scores of
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divisions to the Waffen SS.The Waffen SS were ideological and military shock troops of Europe.
The Germans, numbering 400,000, were actually in the minority.
The one million-strong Waffen SS represented the first truly European
army to ever exist.
After the war each unit of this army was to provide their people with a
political structure free of the petty nationalism of the past. All the SS
fought the same struggle. All shared the same world view. All became
comrades in arms.
The most important political and military phenomenon of World War
Two is also the least known: the phenomenon of the Waffen SS.
Leon Degrelle is one of the most famous Waffen SS soldiers. After
joining as a private he earned all stripes from corporal to general for
exceptional bravery in combat. He engaged in seventy-five hand-tohand combat actions. He was wounded on numerous occasions. He was
the recipient of the highest honors: The Ritterkreuz, the Oak-Leaves, the
Gold German Cross and numerous other decorations for outstanding
valor under enemy fire. One of the last to fight on the Eastern Front,
Leon Degrelle escaped unconditional surrender by flying some 1500
miles across Europe toward Spain. He managed to survive constant fire
all along the way and crash landed on the beach of San Sebastian in
Spain, critically wounded.
Against all odds he survived. Slowly he managed to re-build a new life
in exile for himself and his family.
For Degrelle philosophy and politics cannot exist without historical
knowledge. For him beauty enhances people and people cannot improve
their lives without it.
This philosophy is reflected in everything he does. In his Spanish home
art blends gracefully with history.
The work of Leon Degrelle has always been epic and poetic. As he
walks in the environment of his home one feels the greatness of Rome
with its marbles, its bronzes, its translucent glass; one feels the elegant
Arabian architecture, the gravity of the Gothic form and the
sumptuousness of Renaissance and Baroque art. One feels the glory of
his flags.
3In this atmosphere of beauty and greatness, the last and most important
living witness of World War Two awaits you, Ladies and Gentlemen:
General Leon Degrelle.