WAFFEN SS: Under Himmler’s impetus, the Waffen SS became a powerful, 38-division army recruited throughout Europe among volunteers driven by ideological and racial fanaticism. By 1944 it had 2,480 Frenchmen, 1,812 Walloons, 3,876 Norwegians, 5,006 Danes, 5,033 Flemings, 18,473 Dutchmen, 101 Swedes and 584 Swiss. It fought on the eastern front.

WALLONIA SS LEGION: Created in 1941 by the Belgian Léon Degrelle, who advocated collaboration with Germany in French-speaking Belgium. He personally commanded the legion, fought on the eastern front and returned decorated with the Iron Cross. After the war he fled to Spain, where he espoused Nazi ideology until his death.

WEHRMACHT: The German army was called the Reichswehr until 16 March 1935, when it was renamed the Wehrmacht and put under Hitler’s supreme command.
Land army: Heer; Air Force: Luftwaffe; Navy : Kriegsmarine. An intelligence service (the Abwehr) and two police forces depended on the Wehrmacht.

W.V.H.A.: Wirtschafts Verwaltungshauptamt der S.S. (Main Office of S.S. Administration and Economy). This organisation took on considerable importance after the ordinance of 30 April 1942, which changed the orientation of the camps, whose economic function was emphasized. From then on they no longer depended on Heydrich or his successor Kaltenbrunner but on the head of the W.V.H.A., the S.S. Obergruppenfûhrer Oswald Pohl.

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