The Nazi girl
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Come and See
AcidRainbow — 13 years ago(May 27, 2012 12:57 PM)
Who was the Nazi-uniformed girl who was eating a lobster when the villagers burned? I got the impression that she was a local Belarussian collaborator along for the ride, but maybe I'm wrong. Was she a mistress of the Nazi officer, or some nutcase they just picked up along the way?
The Nazis often relied on local collaborators wherever they went. Belarus wasn't an exception, so maybe this Nazi girl was just a Belarussian woman. Apparently, there were also many White Russian expats (who escaped from the Russian Revolution) that ended up in the Nazi forces.
"It's better to live one day as a lion, than one hundred years as a sheep." -
aarone2884 — 13 years ago(October 14, 2012 12:40 AM)
She could of been part of burlesque troop travelling with the SS for entertainment, the little guy with the white nazi swaztikas on his helmet looked like he could have been too. They did have travelling acts for the soldiers.
But Ultimately i wouldnt know.
But i don think Flora should have touched her "einen Boobie" at the end though..and said: "Das ist not einen boobie" sorry simpsons reference. -
Colour_Blind — 12 years ago(June 22, 2013 10:24 PM)
The little guy with the swastikas on his helmet was a local Nazi collaborator, not a travelling performer. Everybody disliked collaborators, even their masters, so we see the German soldiers scrawling swastikas on him and pulling down his pants.
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Htos_Drol — 12 years ago(January 19, 2014 02:12 PM)
There were Russians who saw the invading Germans as liberators from Communist tyranny, and there were Russians who saw the Germans as those who wanted to destroy their beloved Communism. 'Nazi girl' and the guy with swastikas on his helmet are partisans who sided with the Germans.
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dcmMovielover — 11 years ago(October 25, 2014 03:35 PM)
She is reminiscent of Naziploitation, especially in her uniform (an SA style Brownshirt, black tie, a brown peak-cap with SS badge, an army skirt) which is not specific to any unit, it's just 'Nazi', but there is also a likelihood that she is authentic, inspired by several possibilities.
The SS unit in the film are based on The Dirlewanger Brigade and by all accounts the film seems to portray them realistically. The Dirlewanger Brigade was part of the Waffen SS and was formed for Anti-Partisan operations in occupied Eastern Europe. Oskar Dirlewanger was a Concentration Camp inmate convicted of raping a 14 year old German Girl but he was also a Nazi and a former decorated WW1 soldier. He was released from the Concentration Camp after two years by the hierarchy of Himmler in order to form and lead the unit. Dirlewanger was a reputed sadist and violent alcoholic and his Brigade (later re-named Sonderkommando Dirlewanger) was initially composed entirely of convicted Poachers.
As the unit grew it went onto exclusively enlist only violent convicted criminals instead such as serial and premeditated murderers, arsonists, rapists, burglars, and the criminally insane along with army delinquents. Wherever the unit went there was slaughter of civilians, mass-murder, rape, looting, torture, burning of villages. Though they were not front-line combat troops (until later stages of the war), and their operations were confined to the rear, they had the reputation as the worst, most criminal and barbaric unit of the Third Reich. Various Army and SS commanders attempted to have Dirlewanger discharged and his unit disbanded, but he was protected by Himmler even certain SS Executioners complained to officials about the magnitude of Dirlewangers atrocities, but to no avail.
Though Dirlewangers ranks originally consisted of Germans and Ethnic Germans, in 1942 it began to enlist Russian and Ukrainian volunteers local Nazis, criminals, anti-Communists, Soviet Prisoners of War, various Concentration Camp inmates who had committed heinous crimes and general Collaborators. Approximately 50% of the unit was non-German at this time. By late 1944 it even had many Communist and Socialist political-prisoners within its ranks, opportunists released from camps. Invariably described by historians as a terrifying criminal-rabble and band of cut-throats, who would so-called Nazi Girl be and how would she fit in?
Wife or Girlfriend of an Officer;
In the book Das Reich by J.Lucas (a biography of the 2nd SS Panzer Division) it is mentioned that some SS Officers would have their wives or girlfriends brought to the occupied territories for visits when they were stationed in the rear. This was confined to Officers and Party Members with influential connections. In the film the unit are not on a combat mission as such, but more of an unchallenged destroy mission, so perhaps she was a girlfriend along for the ride during a visit to the rear. Her clothing could also reinforce this idea, as it is not of any specific unit dress there are many well publicised photographs from WW2 of wives, girlfriends etc posing in random military garb, some which look like they could be in rear combat areas.
Frontline SS Nurse;
Their service was mostly in the rear so she could have been an SS Nurse assigned to the Brigade. She may not have been German, as there were SS Nurse divisions in various countries including Ukraine, which could explain why she is the one who addresses the villagers over the loud-speaker. Later in the film when the boy sees her on the side-lines of the ambush, she has taken poison (so not to be captured alive by the Partisans), he looks at her handbag which is on the ground and it is full of medical supplies, so this may reinforce the theory that she was the units nurse.
Aufscherinnen (female SS concentration camp guards);
possibly one of these who had either been assigned to the Brigade for the mission or who went along for the trip while on day-leave. Maybe unlikely but historically difficult to discount. The Brigade came under the leadership of the SS-Totenkopfverbnde (who controlled the administration of the concentration camps), so the Brigade would have presumably come into contact with female SS camp-guards.
Regular SS Auxiliary (as opposed to Aufscherinnen);
These personnel constituted the vast majority of female SS, but it is unlikely that she is one of those as service for these women did not involve the activities of the SS Death Squads or Einsatzgruppen which is generally where the Dirlewanger Brigade falls. They were largely confined to duties involving the defence of the home-front or supporting actual combat units.
Russian Female SS Auxiliary;
possibly more likely given the geographical location. She could have been assigned to the Brigade as an interpreter, or for local knowledge, or was on an outing of sorts with them. Russian Auxiliaries performed the same duties in principal to their German counterparts, but given their ge