Hello, to introduce myself, I am German and have a History B.A. While I had quite a few modules about WW2 (and wrote a paper about the Volkssturm I was quite satisfied with), one question I can't currently answer about the SS popped (again) in my mind. My grandfather was in the Waffen-SS from 1943, and I was told he was conscripted after trying to evade Recruitment (apparently before 43 he was „UK", so not recruitable because of being an essential worker at the railways). After that, I only know he did some stuff in the Balkans and became POW as a Funker in Kiew or Budapest (I think Budapest seems more probable). Then a story about being almost shot but they needed someone to sweep, after that a few years of Gulag. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do some kind of proper interview as a time witness with him...
Currently I am unable to properly research because of not being enlisted in my university at this time and the strict lockdown rules in my city. So, can someone give me a crash course how probable such a story is? Especially the part about being compulsory conscripted into the Waffen-SS? I know of some cases of recruits forced to the Waffen-SS because of pending political trials ( a son of Ernst Jünger had that supposedly happen to him), but I never stumbled about that outside of anecdotes.
For most of the war, Waffen-SS conscription was exclusive to the Volksdeutsche communities of East-Central Europe and the unlucky citizens of the Baltic States. Starting with late 1943, Waffen-SS units received several thousands of untrained Kriegsmarine/Luftwaffe personnel. Conscription of German citizens was only enforced after Heinrich Himmler took control of the Ersatzheer in July 1944. For further information about your grandfather, you would have to provide more details, such as his citizenship status and the unit in which he served.