In the 2001 HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, Tech. Sgt. Donald Malarkey, played by Scott Grimes, conducts an interrogation of a German prisoner of war (POW) to learn about his hometown. To Malarkey’s astonishment, the captive says Eugene, Oregon. He goes on to explain that his family responded to the call of their homeland, sparking an intriguing inquiry: How prevalent was the phenomenon of German Americans departing the United States to enlist in the German forces during World War II?
The exact numbers are unknown
The challenge with this lies in the absence of hard numbers from which to draw a conclusion. There were initiatives and plans before and during the Second World War that encouraged ethnic Germans to repatriate to Germany, but their effectiveness, particularly in terms of recruiting soldiers, remains uncertain.
As per George Nafziger’s The German Order of Battle: Waffen SS and Other Units In World War II, the Waffen-SS included five German Americans in its ranks during WWII, categorized as “US Volksdeutsche,” signifying their German descent. In the book, these individuals are noted in a footnote, providing additional data on the nationality of SS personnel.
One of the programs aimed at enticing ethnic Germans was the Rüeckwanderer, which urged people to visit their German consulate, pledge allegiance to Germany and express their intention to return. In return, participants were granted special currency for expenditures in Germany.
The number of individuals who returned through this program before its conclusion is unknown and, likewise, the quantity of those who fought for Germany remains elusive.
German American Bund
The German American Bund, an American ally of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, had a message that may have influenced some German Americans to join the fight during the Second World War. However, overall, the organization proved unsuccessful in achieving its goals.
Structured like the German government, the German American Bund operated numerous training camps across the United States. To promote Germany’s ideology, the organization organized rallies where, akin to the Führer, its leaders condemned Communism and expressed prejudiced views toward the Jewish population.
Initially led by World War I veteran and German-American Fritz Julius Kuhn, who was later imprisoned on embezzlement charges, the organization faced internal turmoil when other leaders proved less effective than Kuhn. Its members also faced scrutiny from the US government, particularly due to their campaign against the draft. This resulted in the prosecution of additional leaders, with one even fleeing to Mexico to evade the authorities.
Despite many investigations, the organization’s records don’t indicate any propaganda materials explicitly encouraging German Americans to return to Germany. If there were any calls for them to fight for the fatherland, they didn’t originate from within the US.
Many important documents didn’t survive the war
The scarcity of available data could be attributed to the predominant location of German losses, mainly on the Eastern Front. It seems unlikely that the Soviets were concerned with the immigration status of the German soldiers they either killed or took as prisoners of war; their primary interest would have been the troops’ nationality, specifically that they were German.
Another plausible explanation is the nature of the conflict itself. Many cities housing documents related to immigration and the repatriation of soldiers were hit during bombing raids. As a result, these crucial papers likely did not survive the conflict, as they might not have been considered of paramount importance at the time.
These documents would have served as the only tangible evidence of German Americans returning to Germany to participate in WWII. The creation of such documentation was only conceivable in cases where these individuals returned to the US or were sought by the Allies. In such instances, they would have had to provide an account of their activities and explain their wartime involvement.
Martin James Monti deserted the USAAF and the Waffen-SS
There were a few cases where non-German Americans joined the German military. The most famous was Martin James Monti, a second lieutenant within the US Army Air Forces (USAAF).
Monti grew up listening to radio broadcasts by Roman Catholic priest Charles Coughlin, who spoke highly of Germany and Italy’s fascist governments. He was commissioned as a flight officer into the USAAF in early 1944, and while stationed in Italy he stole a Lockheed P-5E Lightning. He flew to Milan, where he surrendered to the Germans.
The aircraft was tested by the Luftwaffe‘s Zirkus Rosarius unit and Monti was given a spot in the SS‘ propaganda unit, in Berlin. While on the radio, he spoke under an alias. Outside of these duties, he also helped create a propaganda leaflet that was handed out to Allied POWs.
In 1945, aware of Germany’s imminent defeat, Monti fled Berlin. At first, the Allies believed him to be a German POW, but under interrogation he revealed he’d deserted the USAAF. He claimed to have stolen the P-5E because he was “bored,” adding he did so to “personally fight the Germans himself.” He said he’d been shot down during his flight and wound up joining a partisan group.
Surprisingly, the Americans believed Monti’s story and only court-martialed him on charges of desertion and theft. While he was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison, this was later suspended by US President Harry S. Truman, on the condition he re-enlist with the USAAF, later the US Air Force. He did just that, receiving an honorable discharge in January 1948.
Immediately following his discharge, the FBI arrested Monti for his propaganda work in Germany. He was subsequently indicted on 21 acts of treason, to which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He served his sentence in Kansas, and at one point tried to withdraw his plea, claiming he’d been pressured to admit to the charges against him by his attorney.
Monti’s appeal was ultimately rejected, and he remained in prison until he was paroled in 1960.
Donald Malarkey said the encounter in Band of Brothers did occur
The WWII-era German-American POW depicted in Band of Brothers is believed to have been based on a real person. The real-life Donald Malarkey later recalled the incident did occur, although there are no after-action reports to corroborate his story.
Malarkey served as a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He participated in several engagements during WWII, including Mission Albany, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Bastogne.
More from us: Before He Was Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alec Guinness Was Part of the Allied Invasion of Sicily
The truth is we’ll likely never actually know how many German Americans went to fight for Germany during WWII. We’ll also never know how common such a decision was among the 1.2 million individuals of German descent who lived in the US at the start of the conflict.