What was HIAG, and how did it influence public views of the Waffen-SS after the war?

HIAG, or the Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der Angehörigen der ehemaligen Waffen-SS ("Mutual Help Association for Former Members of the Waffen-SS"), was a social organization established by former Waffen-SS veterans after World War II.1

The organization played a significant role in shaping public perception by actively working to integrate the Waffen-SS into the "clean Wehrmacht" legend—a narrative that sought to distance regular German soldiers from the crimes of the Nazi regime. By framing Waffen-SS members as honorable soldiers rather than participants in a criminal organization, HIAG successfully lobbied for military pensions for its members and maintained considerable political influence in West Germany until the 1980s.1

Prominent figures like Kurt "Panzer" Meyer, a convicted war criminal, were instrumental in these efforts, which were often supported by politicians across the political spectrum. This revisionist campaign aimed to sanitize the history of the Waffen-SS, though this myth was later effectively challenged by historical scholarship and public exhibitions that exposed the organization's complicity in the regime's atrocities.1