Article Published: A Brotherhood of Unequals: The Experience of Benelux Volunteers in the Waffen-SS’s Transnational Project

I am pleased to share that my article “A Brotherhood of Unequals: The Experience of Benelux Volunteers in the Waffen-SS’s Transnational Project” has been published in the Journal of Military History. The article presents research conducted as part of my Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

Taking a comparative and transnational perspective, the article examines the experiences of foreign volunteers from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg within the Waffen-SS. It explores the tensions between the organisation’s vision of a transnational, ideologically unified force and the realities experienced by Benelux volunteers. Although recruited as supposed “Germanic brothers,” these men encountered linguistic divisions, unequal opportunities, and marginalisation within military structures.

The article argues that the Waffen-SS’s pan-European project ultimately failed to overcome national identities or create genuine ideological unity. Instead, it produced a fractured and hierarchical military community in which belonging and equality remained conditional.

Nina Janz, “A Brotherhood of Unequals: The Experience of Benelux Volunteers in the Waffen-SS’s Transnational Project,” Journal of Military History 90, no. 2 (2026): 339–369.