Ironically, the German "archenemies" were the backbone of the French Foreign Legion for almost 100 years. Because in the history of the Legion more soldiers came from Germany than from any other nation.
Foundation - an army for refugees
With the founding of the French Foreign Legion in 1831, King Louis Philippe killed two birds with one stone.
On the one hand, in this army, which was reserved for foreigners only, he got rid of the unwelcome political asylum seekers in France, because France had granted refuge to all political refugees from Europe since the 1830 revolution.
Second, he created an instrument of struggle for France's colonial interests without making a French mother weep over the death of her son.
King Louis Philippe founded the Legion
The Germans in the Legion
At the beginning of the French Foreign Legion, the Germans hardly played a role. This was to change fundamentally only after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71.
Historian Eckard Michels estimates that from 1870 to 1962 approximately 100,000 Germans enlisted in the Foreign Legion. If one includes the Alsace-Lorraine, who were German nationals between 1870 and 1918, the number increases to around 125,000.
This means that the Germans made up about a third of all legionnaires in these almost 100 years, in some years even more than half.
Why did the Legion cast a spell over the Germans in particular? On the one hand, it is due to its geographical proximity to France:it is not far to the French border and there is a Legion recruiting office in every major French city.
On the other hand, the French, as the occupying power, were able to recruit directly on German soil twice in history. After the First World War, the French occupation authorities established collection camps for recruitment.
People often marched to German sounds
In addition, the Germans could report to any French authority for the Foreign Legion. After the Second World War, recruitment did not only take place in the French-occupied zones.
In the French prisoner-of-war camps, too, the Legion was promoted intensively among former members of the Wehrmacht. Many German prisoners of war preferred life as a legionnaire to starvation in the camp.
Among them were members of the Waffen-SS. By being able to get a new identity in the Foreign Legion - the so-called anonymity - they escaped punishment for their crimes in the Third Reich.
However, avoiding jurisdiction was never the main motive for Germans to join the legion. It was often soldiers who wanted to continue their warfare under a foreign flag during times of demobilization. Poor education, unemployment and poverty were other reasons.
The Germans have always had a good reputation in the French Foreign Legion. In 1919, the Legion's commander, General Lyautey, wrote to the French Ministry of War:"Since the best foreign element in the Legion is the German soldier, there is no doubt in recruiting Germans as a priority."
German celebrities as legionnaires
From high nobility to simple legionnaires:in 1897 Prince Albert Friedrich von Hohenzollern, the cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II, volunteered for the legion. Wanting to break with his past, he took on a new identity as Albrecht Nordemann. It was only when he died of typhus in Algeria the following year that his true identity was revealed.
Another celebrity made the following headline in the Rehburger local newspaper on November 16, 1913:"Unterprimaner Jiinger, a son of the mine owner Dr. phil. Jiinger here, has been enlisted for the French Foreign Legion and is already on his way to Africa via Marseille . The father of the unfortunate has turned to the Foreign Office in Berlin for help."
The "unfortunate" was the later writer Ernst Jiinger. However, his time in the Foreign Legion was only a brief interlude. His father and the Foreign Office had kicked him out after just six weeks.
Writer Ernst Jiinger in 1997
Reactions from the German public
The fact that German blood flowed for France was hotly debated and criticized in the German public. The Foreign Legion was described as hell:the legionnaires were given nothing to eat, they were treated inhumanely and sent to their deaths as cannon fodder.
Barbaric punishments in the legion were repeatedly reported in public. Hundreds of books supported this image, there were plays against the Legion.
Anti-Legion societies were formed to warn young German men against joining the Legion. The topic "Foreign Legion" has become compulsory in many schools.
That life as a legionnaire was hard, especially in the past, is undisputed. A study by the North Rhine-Westphalian State Criminal Police Office in 1955, in which returnees from the Legion were interviewed, comes to the conclusion:
"The treatment of the legionnaires depended on their own behavior. In any case, the service was hard and tightly disciplined. High and severe penalties were imposed for even the smallest offences, such as poor peeling of potatoes.
That is particularly bad Tombeau (Note:the legionnaire had to dig a grave and remain there for days, exposed to the elements)."
However, the Legion's returnees seldom accused them of having been called up for particularly dangerous missions. Low pay, food and accommodation were hardly ever a reason for complaints.
Thus, the image of legionnaire life in the German public did not agree in some points with the descriptions of the returnees. The historian Eckard Michels explains this fact by saying that the smear campaigns in Germany were always a reflection of the tensions in Franco-German relations.
Film poster from 1939:The legionnaires did not have a good reputation in the (German) public
The returnees often experienced the distorted image of the Foreign Legion up close. A returnee discharged from the Legion in 1959 writes:"The first third of my 15-year return from the Legion was a sheer humiliation and insult. Even a driver's license examiner from the Department of Transport could not refrain from ironic remarks at the time, and that in front of a crowd of examinees. How it hurts badly when you've never been a criminal, hardly anyone can grasp it."
As a result, some ex-legionnaires were no longer able to gain a foothold in Germany and returned to the Foreign Legion.
Reactions from German politicians
The German government has always been very cautious about criticizing the Foreign Legion. They did not want to endanger the already tense relationship with France any further. One of the constant efforts of German politicians was to persuade France not to recruit underage Germans.
In addition, during the two French occupations, there was resistance to the Legion's recruiting offices on German soil. Unofficially, German authorities repeatedly tried to smuggle deserters from the Foreign Legion back home.
The measures taken by the NS government from 1933 occupy a special position:Based on the experience that the anti-Legion movement only led to increased entries into the Foreign Legion, the National Socialists wrapped the Foreign Legion in a cloak of silence.
They were not allowed to be reported on in newspapers, books, films, plays or songs. All Anti-Legion Unions and Veterans Unions were dissolved. From 1934, all returning foreign legionnaires were interned in workhouses for re-education.
They were not even allowed to tell their family about their time in the legionaries, nor were they allowed to write to active legionnaires. If they violated these conditions, they were interned in concentration camps.
In addition, all legionnaires who joined after 1933 lost their German citizenship. The measures were successful:in 1927, around 50 percent of the legionnaires were still of German origin. In 1939, despite the political refugees from Germany, it was only 20 percent.
Since the end of the 1960s, the topic of the Foreign Legion has no longer played a role in political discussions. Due to the economic boom in Germany, fewer and fewer Germans signed up for the legion.
In addition, according to the Criminal Code, it is forbidden to recruit soldiers for the Foreign Legion in Germany. Today the proportion of Germans in the legion is between two and three percent. Most recruits now come from Eastern European countries.
Since the terrorist attacks in France in 2015, the workforce has been expanded again after years of downsizing. It comprised 8,800 men in 2018. Around 10,000 applicants register each year, and only one in twelve is accepted.