NZ Nazi: the story of Roy Courlander

Roy Courlander was a New Zealand soldier who joined Nazi Germany's infamous SS during WWII. He participated in propaganda efforts trying to turn more allied soldiers to the Nazi cause. So why did he decide to turn traitor?

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.

Roy Courlander's early years are hard to trace. He was born in London in 1914 and was raised by his mother, Edith Carter and his stepfather, Leonard Courlander. He never knew his biological father.

In his late teens Courlander went to work on his stepfather's plantations in Vanuatu. He then came to New Zealand in 1938 and got a job with the Inland Revenue Department.

"Then in mid-1939 he's in trouble because in Napier he's arrested after a burglary," says New Zealand Defence Force Historian John Crawford.

This burglary was quite a serious incident. A young woman came home to find three men, including Courlander, inside her house. They assaulted her but she screamed and neighbours came to her rescue. The men were all caught and prosecuted.

"Courlander and two other men were eventually caught and prosecuted for their parts in this crime," John says.

Roy Courlander was still on probation for the robbery on September 3rd, 1939 when war was declared by Britain and by extension New Zealand, on Nazi Germany.

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.

In 1941 Roy Courlander was one of thousands of British and Commonwealth troops swept up in the disastrous Greek campaign.

He was separated from his unit and eventually captured in Kalamata. When on a train bound for a prisoner of war camp in Yugoslavia, he and a fellow soldier saw a chance for escape. After the war ended he wrote this account of what happened:

"On the night of June 1941, I and Private Kedsell succeeded in escaping through the window of the cattle truck that was taking us to Germany. The train stopped and the Germans started firing at us as we ran amongst the bushes along the railway track. Private Kedsell was hit and I was recaptured early the next morning. I received a beating up, was trussed up with barbed wire and taken to Germany." - Roy Courlander

This account is backed up by witnesses and is generally considered reliable. But John Crawford doubts Courlander really was "trussed up with barbed wire"…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details