Collaborator
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Léon Degrelle remains one of the most controversial figures in twentieth-century Belgian and European history. His life encapsulates the volatile convergence of populist politics, Catholic traditionalism, authoritarian ideology, and the radicalization produced by the crises of the interwar period and the Second World War. At once a gifted orator, an ambitious political entrepreneur, a collaborator
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When the guns of World War II finally fell silent in 1945, Europe faced not only the monumental task of rebuilding cities and economies, but also of seeking justice. Few names were as synonymous with betrayal as Vidkun Quisling, the Norwegian politician whose collaboration with Nazi Germany turned his surname into a byword for “traitor.”
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The one thing I can be sure of after posting this blog is that my contact details will be checked a lot, especially by the likes of the “‘Polish League Against Defamation,” and will probably be followed with threats. Unfortunately, there are groups in Poland who will go to great lengths to get any bit
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War brings out the best and the worst out of people, that is just a fact. It is easy to acknowledge the good but there is often a struggle acknowledging the bad, even to the extent of trying to completely erase it from history. When it comes to the Holocaust there is no question about
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The Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup (the Vélodrome d’Hiver roundup), known in French as “Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv,” was a mass arrest of Jews in Paris by the French police under the orders of the Nazi German authorities during World War II. This event took place on July 16 and 17, 1942, and is one of the
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Moffenmeid is a designation for women who had relationships with German soldiers during the occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, or there was suspicion of their doing so. The word mof is a swear word for German—the English equivalent is Kraut. The women in question were sometimes pro-German or prostitutes, but often, they
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(Update from the November 2016 blog) One aspect of history I find particularly difficult to grasp is the collaboration of some Jews with the Nazis. On the one hand, I understand that self-preservation is a powerful human instinct—survival at any cost can drive people to make unimaginable choices. Yet, conversely, it’s hard to reconcile how
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The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (abbreviation: NSB) was a Dutch political party that existed from 1931 to 1945. The NSB adhered to the ideology of National Socialism, presented itself not as a party but as a movement based on an anti-democratic attitude, and functioned as a collaboration party during the German occupation of
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Below is the transcript of a Dutch court case. The defendant, referred to only as Mrs. C., was accused of treason and collaboration during World War II. The Dutch legal system continues to follow this practice today, where defendants’ names are identified only by the first letter of their surname. The transcript is dated September
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The British Free Corps (BFC) stands as one of the more peculiar episodes of World War II, symbolizing Nazi Germany’s propaganda-driven attempts to exploit discontent and division among Allied prisoners of war (POWs). Though numerically insignificant and operationally negligible, the BFC has drawn historical interest as a study in the intersection of ideology, coercion, and
History of Sorts 