Roy Courlander

Roy Nicolas Courlander (6 December 1914 – 1 June 1979), nicknamed 'Reg', was a British-born New Zealand soldier who became an Unterscharführer[1] in the German Waffen-SS British Free Corps during the Second World War.

In November 1938, Courlander arrived in New Zealand and found work as a clerk with the Land and Income Tax Department in Wellington.

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.

At his court martial, statements were made that Courlander was seeking to oust John Amery and take control of the Corps.

[8] Courlander and another man, Francis Maton, left the BFC by volunteering for service with the war correspondent unit SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers, which was operating on the Western Front.

[10] Lance Corporal Courlander was arrested and tried by court martial by the New Zealand military authorities in Westgate-on-Sea near Margate in Kent, England.

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.

[13] 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.