Published: 21 January 2012
Last Updated: 31 August 2013
The Schalburg-Korps was formed on 2 February 1943 as Germansk Korps though it was not organized until July. Unlike the Germanic SS organizations in Norway and the Netherlands, this was not a part of the local Nazi party (Danmarks National Socialistiske Arbejder Parti, DNSAP) but was a separate organization. It absorbed Landstormen, the militia of the Nazi party Nya Danmark in December 1943.
It was renamed Schalburg-Korps soon after its formation (to avoid confusion with III SS Panzerkorps (Germanisches)) in honor of Christian Frederick von Schalburg (former commander of the Freikorps Danmark) who was seen as a hero by the Danish Nazis.
Most of the members were transferred into the newly formed SS-Uddannelsesbatallion Sjælland (aka SS-Ausbildungs-Bataillon Schalburg) commanded by SS-Sturmbannführer Poul Neergaard-Jacobsen and later by SS-Obersturmführer Egill Poulsen. It was renamed SS-Vagtbatallion Sjælland (SS-Wach-Bataillon Sjælland) early 1945.
In 1944 the HIPO-korpset was from men of the Efterretningstjeneste (ET) of the Schalburg-Korps.
Schalburg-Korps was formally disbanded in February 1945.
Commanders
Knud Børge Martinsen (? Feb 1943 – ? Feb 1945)
Madsen (? Feb 1945 – ? 1945)
Militaria
The Schalburg Cross (Schalburgkors) was awarded to members of the Schalburg-Korps in two classes, on for officers and one for NCOs and enlisted men but the exact requirements are not known. The text around the swastika reads “Troskab vor ære” (Loyalty our honor). It is known to have been awarded once, to a member who had been killed in fighting the Danish resistance.
When the headquarters of the Schalburg-Korps was bombed these awards were either destroyed or ended up in the streets of Copenhagen (and in the pockets of passers-by).
In fiction
The Danish 2008 movie “Flammen & Citronen” (“Flame & Lemon”) directed by Ole Christian Madsen about the two resistance fighter Bent Faurschou-Hviid (known as Flammen) og Jørgen Haagen Schmith (known as Citronen) feature the Schalburg Korps.
Sources used
Christopher Ailsby – Hitler’s Renegades: Foreign nationals in the service of the Third Reich
John Foreman – The Schalburg Cross (in The Military Advisor, Vol 4, No 2)
Carlos Caballero Jurado – Resistance Warfare 1940-45
David Littlejohn – Foreign legions of the Third Reich, vol 1
Andrew Mollo – Uniforms of the SS: Collected Edition
Reference material on this unit
Andreas Monrad Pedersen – Schalburgkorpset
