Uilenspiegel Calls You to the Waffen-SS
Flemish recruitment poster for the Waffen-SS. The “Ashes of Claes” is a metaphor used to refer to one’s Flemish ancestors, while the figure illustrated here is a character from Germanic medieval folklore known as Tijl Uilenspiegel. He is featured here to recruit potential Flemish volunteers by appealing to their sense of honor for their ancestors. Forming the backdrop is the Flemish lion, a longstanding symbol for Flanders, again dating back to the Middle Ages.
Having long existed as second-class citizens within the nation of Belgium, many Flemings sided with the Germans during the Second World War in the hopes of gaining the blessings of their occupiers and achieving independence. The Flemish youth rallied behind calls of their families and the church to fight for Flanders against the ‘Red’ invasion of Europe. The horrors these volunteers would experience on the Eastern Front were sublimated by the propaganda machine of Nazi-aligned forces in Flanders into a heroic tale of chivalry and self-sacrifice using these medieval motifs. These volunteers would nonetheless come to embody this narrative of dignity and bravery, with Hitler himself stating of the Flemish they “have indeed shown themselves on the Eastern Front to be more pro-German and more ruthless than the Dutch legionaries”. Upon finally returning home to their native Flanders however, these decorated war heroes were to be greeted with executions or jailed by the Belgian regime.
Poster reads: The Ashes of Claes Beats on My Chest… | Uilenspiegel Calls You to the Waffen-SS | Replacement Command Flanders of the Waffen-SS, Wetstraat 44, Brussels
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Flemish recruitment poster for the Waffen-SS. The “Ashes of Claes” is a metaphor used to refer to one’s Flemish ancestors, while the figure illustrated here is a character from Germanic medieval folklore known as Tijl Uilenspiegel. He is featured here to recruit potential Flemish volunteers by appealing to their sense of honor for their ancestors. Forming the backdrop is the Flemish lion, a longstanding symbol for Flanders, again dating back to the Middle Ages.
Having long existed as second-class citizens within the nation of Belgium, many Flemings sided with the Germans during the Second World War in the hopes of gaining the blessings of their occupiers and achieving independence. The Flemish youth rallied behind calls of their families and the church to fight for Flanders against the ‘Red’ invasion of Europe. The horrors these volunteers would experience on the Eastern Front were sublimated by the propaganda machine of Nazi-aligned forces in Flanders into a heroic tale of chivalry and self-sacrifice using these medieval motifs. These volunteers would nonetheless come to embody this narrative of dignity and bravery, with Hitler himself stating of the Flemish they “have indeed shown themselves on the Eastern Front to be more pro-German and more ruthless than the Dutch legionaries”. Upon finally returning home to their native Flanders however, these decorated war heroes were to be greeted with executions or jailed by the Belgian regime.
Poster reads: The Ashes of Claes Beats on My Chest… | Uilenspiegel Calls You to the Waffen-SS | Replacement Command Flanders of the Waffen-SS, Wetstraat 44, Brussels
