LCpl. Roy Nicolas Courlander

"On ANZAC day New Zealanders remember the heroism and sacrifice of those killed in war, but not all soldiers have legacies worth celebrating. Case in point: Roy Courlander, a NZ Army Private who volunteered to join Nazi Germany's infamous Waffen SS... He signed up with the Second NZ Expeditionary Force and was assigned to 18th Infantry Battalion. He was deployed to Egypt where he volunteered to serve with battalion intelligence and began teaching himself German... He was sent to the Genshagen holiday camp which the Nazis had established partly for propaganda purposes and partly as a recruiting ground for an obscure unit of the Waffen SS, the British Free Corps. This is where Roy Courlander turned traitor. He became one of the founding members of the Corps... Roy Courlander was sentenced to 15 years in prison, reduced to 9 on appeal. He lived until 1972 and was rumoured to be involved with organised crime in Auckland and New South Wales. His last known address was a run-down council flat in Sydney." - William Ray. RNZ (2018). NZ Nazi: the story of Roy Courlander https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/black-sheep/story/2018640851/nz-na...

"He visited many prison camps attempting – with little success – to recruit new members for the BFC. These activities earned him the hatred and contempt of other prisoners of war. In April 1944 Courlander was made an Unterscharführer (sergeant)... Roy Nicolas Courlander was a plausible rogue with an exaggerated sense of his own importance. Most returned servicemen despised him, but some were convinced that he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. There can be no real doubt that Courlander was guilty of collaborating with the Germans; however, what motivated him to do this is unclear. He was most probably an opportunist who saw the BFC as a means of improving his quality of life." Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (2000). Courlander, Roy Nicolas by J. A. B. Crawford. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5c41/courlander-roy-nicolas

Sources

1. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (2000). Courlander, Roy Nicolas by J. A. B. Crawford. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5c41/courlander-roy-nicolas
2. RNZ (2018). NZ Nazi: the story of Roy Courlander https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/black-sheep/story/2018640851/nz-na...
3. Roy Courlander - Traitor by G Carr
4. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Courlander