Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (DRK - German Red Cross)

From all the stories of World War II, none is more compelling or more obscure and saddening than the story of the thousands of young and bright women that served the Axis forces. Intelligent and at times innocent these young nurses volunteered without any political motivation except that of helping the wounded and comforting the sick. Many have forgotten that these nurses were part of the International Red Cross, not as in the case of our deployed nurses that were mostly members of the US military.

They served soldiers of all countries; some were at the Eastern Front, some served in Africa, from helping wounded soldiers from the Soviet Union to assisting farmers with wounded animals. Documentation has not been found that any abandoned their duties during the war; they endured hardship because they knew they were needed.

Another unknown fact is that at the time, international humanitarian law comprised rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war (Geneva Convention of 27 July 1929), but not that of the civilian population. An interesting fact and seldom mentioned was that the German Red Cross was assisting the general population even when they had no reason to do so.

For their bravery many were decorated, some even earned the Iron Cross in many degrees as in the case of the following nurses;

- DRK-Schwester Elfriede Wnuk, EK II 19.9.1942 (2nd)

- DRK-Schwester Marga Droste, EK II (3rd)

- Dipl.-Ing. Flugkapitänin Melitta Gräfin Schenk von Stauffenberg, EK II (4th)

- DRK-Schwester Magda Darchinger, EK II (5th)

- DRK-Schwester Ilse Schulz, EK II (6th)

- DRK-Schwester Grete Fock, EK II (7th)

- DRK-Schwester Liselotte Hensel, EK II

- DRK-Hauptführerin Holzmann, EK II

- DRK-Schwester Elfriede Gunia, EK II

- DRK-Schwester Hanny Weber, EK II (El Alamein)

- DRK-Schwester Geolinde Münche, EK II (El Alamein)

- DRK-Schwesternhelferin Ilse Daub, EK II (27th)


However after the war, the Axis as well as the Allied decided to abandoned and forget these Angels. Many condemned their actions, killing them, raped, imprisoned and stripped of their nursing documents. However they were the bravest young girls of any generation or nation and some bounced right back.

A very good example would be that of Hanna Kvanmo, during WWII some 1,000 Norwegian, young intelligent Red Cross nurses, traveled to Germany to join the German Red Cross to help the wounded of all countries. These nurses that volunteered to serve their own and the German forces for the duration of the war not only understood their situation, they decided to do something good during these trivial times.

In June 10th of 1940, Norway had capitulated to the forces of Germany and on May 8th of 1945 to the Allied Forces and the Homefront started a hunt for those Red Cross nurses who were in Norway. Once found they were immediately imprisoned. These nurses were sentenced to long and horrible imprisonment and loss of rights every Norwegian had before the war.

Hanna Kvanmo was one of those nurses; she was born in Harstad a small town some 1,460 km north of Oslo. Hanna always wanted to join the Red Cross, but due to the cost of becoming a ward she could not, neither could she afford to go to school. As the Germans occupied Norway, Hanna started to work at the early age of 16. She waited until the age of 18 and joined the German Red Cross to serve on the Eastern Front. She stayed at the front until the end of the war serving the wounded and sick.

Arrested by the Allies, she was returned to Norway as a prisoner and thrown in jail with other young Red Cross Nurses. At the time she was sentenced to 5 years.

In the early 1960's Hanna joined one of the Norwegian political parties and was elected to the local council. In fact she did such a wonderful job that by 1973 she was elected to represent her home county, Norland in the Norwegian parliament. I was not to long that the press got a hold of the fact of her past with the Germans; however she won over her enemies and for 16 years held a seat in parliament. In 1991 Hanna was elected member of the Nobel Peace Price Committee. Kvanmo spoke Norwegian, German and English fluently. She died June 23rd 2005.

As we can see the International Red Cross, whose only action was a protest and the Norwegian government failed in protecting their nurses. They felt compelled to serve political correctness instead of justice, a primordial case in these days.

In Denmark however they protected their young nurses. The King and the Government did not join the general idea that they were criminals. To Denmark these nurses were very valuable, they had far more experience than any other nurse, and could pass on that experience to other nurses.

If you like, call or fax you local Red Cross and tell them this story. Ask them what they think of the Norwegian Red Cross or the DRK in general. If they claim they don't know what Norway did, tell them to call the International Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland.

Let me know if you get an answer!