BACKGROUND: As early as 1938 Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler and the Allgemeine-SS, (General-SS), began recruiting volunteer "Germanische", (Germanic), personnel who were considered to be suitably "Nordic", to serve in the SS-VT, SS-Verfügungstruppe, (SS-Special Purpose Troops). Originally these Germanic personnel were drawn from Dutch, Belgian, Danes and Norwegians but with only minor success. In March 1940 with the formation of the Waffen-SS recruitment of the Germanic personnel began to increase slightly and with the outbreak of WWII additional Germanic volunteers came forward to join the ranks of the Waffen-SS. The invasion of the Balkans in 1941 brought forward another pool of suitable Volksdeutsche, (Ethnic Germans), personnel available for voluntary enlistment in the Waffen-SS. The invasion of Russia on June 22^ND 1941 and the war against Bolshevism resulted in the Waffen-SS experiencing another surge in recruits willing to serve with the Germans. As the war continued and man-power shortages became severe the standard criteria for acceptance into the Waffen-SS was decreased dramatically and numerous personnel who would have been unacceptable in 1939 were readily conscripted into service with the Waffen-SS. By the end of the war more then half of all the personnel serving in the Waffen-SS were non-Germans. One of the cheapest and most effective forms of luring new recruits was the production of recruitment posters. The posters were generally designed to extol the virtues of fighting the Russians and usually offered the recruits a national identity. On May 25^TH 1940 the first Dutch volunteers were assigned to the newly formed "Westland" regiment and through-out the war other Dutch volunteers served with assorted SS units including the 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Nordland", the 23.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division "Nederland" (niederlandische Nr.1) and the 34.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division "Landstorm Nederland". Overall roughly 50,000 Dutch personnel served in assorted German military formations. This poster was produced in late 1941 or early 1942 and was issued on the approval of Reichskommissar Dr. Artur Seyss-Inquart. Of Note: Dr. Artur Seyss-Inquart was the Reichskommissar for occupied Holland from 1940-1945.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 23 3/4" x 17 1/8", light weight paper, full color artwork, Waffen-SS, Dutch recruitment poster featuring columns of helmeted and uniformed SS personnel, with shouldered K98 rifles, on the march in the foreground with dark blue silhouettes of bomber aircraft in flight and a shadowy, blue, portrait like image of the President of the South Africa Republic and the anti-British, Dutch Boer war hero, Paul Krüeger, (1825-1904), in the background. The poster features yellow Dutch script to the top, "Alles Sal Reg Kom", (Everything Will Fall Into Place), and additional yellow and white script to the bottom, "Strijdt Meetegen Het Bolsjewisme in de Waffen-SS", (Join the struggle against Bolshevism in the Armed-SS). Of Note: Interestingly the script is in the Dutch Afrikaans dialect also known as "Cape Dutch", that was developed by the Dutch Boers in the late 17^TH century in South Africa. It is also interesting to note that although the poster is designed to encourage the Dutch to join in the battle against the Bolshevist that the Afrikaans dialect and image of Paul Krüeger are decidedly anti-British and the subtle propaganda sub-text was probably not lost on the Dutch people at that time. The bottom edge of the poster has additional smaller, black German script, "Plakat Nr. 72. Öffentlicher Aushang genehigt durch die Dienststelle des Reichskommissars (Poster number 72. Public notice approved through the headquarters of the National Commissioner.) The poster is in overall very good condition with minor age yellowing and no fold creases or tears. Nice image.

GRADE ****                                     PRICE $1,170.00