Roy Nicolas Courlander (6 December 1914 – 1 June 1979), nicknamed 'Reg', was a British-born New Zealand soldier who became an

Unterscharführer ''Unterscharführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party used by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) between 1934 and 1945. The SS rank was created after the Night of the Long Knives. That event caused an SS reorganisation and the creati ...

in the German

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

British Free Corps The British Free Corps ( abbr. BFC; ) was a unit of the of Nazi Germany during World War II, made up of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by Germany. The unit was originally known as the Legion of St George. Research b ...

during the Second World War.

Early life

Born out of wedlock in December 1914, Courlander was adopted by

Lithuanian Jewish {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Litvaks , image = , caption = , poptime = , region1 = {{flag, Lithuania , pop1 = 2,800 , region2 = {{flag, South Africa , pop2 = 6 ...

businessman Leonard Henry Courlander (1878–1970) and Edith Cater (1898–1970), who sent him to boarding school. When he was 19, his parents divorced and he was sent to live and work on a coconut plantation owned by his father in the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...

in the South Pacific. His mother married Frederick Bohne in 1933 and eventually moved to New Zealand in the 1950s where she died in 1970. His father remarried Gwendoline Elmes and moved to Sydney, Australia. In November 1938, Courlander arrived in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and found work as a clerk with the Land and Income Tax Department in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. On 10 April 1939 he was arrested and convicted and sentenced to 9 months imprisonment for breaking and entering a Napier house of Kathleen Reeston with John Matterson and Geoffrey Keen. Courlander and Keen's sentences were reduced on appeal to 18 months probation from 14 June 1939. Courlander held that his reason for going to the house was for a meal and that this was at Keen's invitation. Courlander moved to Auckland on 30 September 1939 and married Joan Beryl Marchand there.

Military life - Allies

New Zealand Army

On the outbreak of war, Courlander was enlisted into the

New Zealand Military Forces The New Zealand Army (, ) is the principal Army, land warfare force of New Zealand, a component of the New Zealand Defence Force alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Formed in 1845, as the New Zealand Mil ...

. Because of his knowledge of French and German he was placed in the Intelligence Corps. He sailed for

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

on RMS ''Orion'' and served in Greece with the 18th Battalion. In December 1940 he was promoted to

Lance-Corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many English-speaking armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal. Etymology The presumed origin of the rank of lance corp ...

. At

Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...

, Greece on 29 April 1941 he was captured and interned in Stalag XVIII-D at

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Prisoner-of-war

As a prisoner of war, Courlander acted as an interpreter at the camp. He joined work parties in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and eventually in September 1943 was sent to Genshagen camp ( Stalag III-D/517) in Berlin. Courlander posed as a “ White Russian émigré" and claimed to have extreme

anti-Soviet Anti-Sovietism or anti-Soviet sentiment are activities that were actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the Soviet Union. Three common uses of the term include the following: * Anti-Sovietism in inter ...

views. He participated in

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

broadcasts to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Military life - Germans

British Free Corps

Subsequently, the Germans recruited Courlander in January 1944 for the British Free Corps. He was one of the original six members. Although the name 'Leonard Courlander' appears in some records in connection with the British Free Corps, the actual member appears to be Roy Courlander. Along with Thomas Cooper, he is said to have forcibly recruited British and

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

s for the British Free Corps. By April 1944 he was promoted to

(sergeant). At his court martial, statements were made that Courlander was seeking to oust

John Amery John Amery (14 March 1912 – 19 December 1945) was a British fascist and Nazi collaborator during World War II. He was the originator of the British Free Corps, a volunteer Waffen-SS unit composed of former British and Dominion prisoners of w ...

and take control of the Corps. Courlander and another man, Francis Maton, left the BFC by volunteering for service with the war correspondent unit

SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers The SS-Standarte "Kurt Eggers" was an SS propaganda formation (Standarte (Nazi Germany), SS-Standarte) of Nazi Germany during World War II. It publicised the actions of Waffen-SS combat units. The "Berichter" (literally: reporters) of the Standarte ...

, which was operating on the Western Front. Their ultimate goal was to make for the Allied lines at the first chance. Courlander and Maton removed all of the BFC insignia from their uniforms, replacing them with the standard SS patches and rank. The two men boarded a train for

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in the company of a Flemish

unit. On 3 September 1944, the two men arrived in Brussels, where they linked up with the

Belgian Resistance The Belgian Resistance (, ) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Belgium, resistance was fragmented between many ...

. They participated in street fighting against the Germans, with Courlander being wounded during action. The following day, they gave themselves up to a British officer, thus becoming the first two BFC men to be arrested. After his capture, Courlander was interviewed by British military intelligence, likely

MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...

. He told them that

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

had told BFC members that if Britain was defeated, the former King

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...

would replace

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952 ...

on the throne and

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...

would become the Prime Minister. Courlander also provided background information on the formation of the BFC.

Court martial and imprisonment

Lance Corporal Courlander was arrested and tried by court martial by the New Zealand military authorities in

Westgate-on-Sea Westgate-on-Sea is a seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of Kent, England. It is within the Thanet District, Thanet Districts of England, local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate. Its two sandy ...

near

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

in Kent, England. On 3 October 1945, six years to the day after enlisting, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison on a charge of "voluntarily aiding the enemy". Prosecuting officer Lieutenant-Colonel R.A.L Hillard said that Courlander produced a series of propaganda talks designed to show how the British had failed to keep to pledges after the First World War and Trooper J.E. Wilson gave evidence that Courlander had told him he was trying to persuade the Germans to allow a corps of free British to fight the Russians. Courlander pleaded not guilty to the charge and stated that he had joined the BFC to facilitate escaping, but as that did not eventuate had sought to find a way to control and use the unit against the Germans. In 1946, Courlander was transferred to Mount Eden Prison in Auckland. Because the court martial did not dismiss him from the Army, Courlander was still entitled to wear his New Zealand Army uniform when out of prison for medical treatment, which he did in May 1946. His wife died while he was in prison. He appealed against his sentence, and in May 1950 it was reduced to 9 years. He was released on 2 October 1951 and married Margaret Spence the same day.

Later life

Courlander obtained a job working for a business directory company and during the late 1950s was involved in the New Zealand Social Credit Political League. He moved to Australia during the 1960s to start a new life, divorcing his wife in 1968. He ended up in a small industrial town of Lethbridge Park, near

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, which at the time was home to many serving and former soldiers and also another former SS soldier. He died in Australia in 1979 at the age of 64.

Archives New Zealand Archives New Zealand ( Māori: ''Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga'') is New Zealand's national archive and the official guardian of its public archives. As the government's recordkeeping authority, it administers the Public Records Act 2005 an ...

holds a record entitled 'Biography of "Roy Courlander - Traitor" by G Carr under referenc
R20110377