Nazi Collaboration

Nazi collaborators in France

When thinking about Nazi collaborators one man and one country come to mind in particular, Philippe Petain and Vichy France.

Unlike during the First World War, Germany was able to successfully invade the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France, and take Paris in a matter of just six weeks thanks to the Blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactic. An armistice was reached on 22 June 1940 and France was split into two, between the French State and a German-occupied zone. The French State was also known as Vichy France since it moved its administrative capital from Paris to the city of Vichy.

Fig. 1: Philippe Petain

Philippe Petain, a French general and hero of the Great War, was one of the negotiators of the armistice with Germany. He gained popular support after identifying French weaknesses that aided German victory. To mould France into a country that saw fit to govern, Petain abolished the presidency and named himself the Chief of the French State. Meanwhile, general Charles De Gaulle became the head of Free France and continued supporting the Allies from French North Africa.

Fig. 2: Map of divided France: Vichy France in Blue.

From a modern perspective, discussing Petain's collaborative role is not so straightforward. He was an old-fashioned war veteran of the Great War. He had lived through French defeat at the hands of the Prussians in 1870 and witnessed first-hand the devastation of the First World War. Petain believed that despite the German occupation, it was the best time to reform France as he saw fit.

Vichy France was abolished in 1944 following the liberation of France by the Allies and Petain was tried for treason but was not executed. Despite his collaboration, he was a hero of the Great War and De Gaulle himself respected the general. Petain spent the rest of his years in prison.

Nazi collaborators in Denmark and Norway

In this section, we will talk about Nazi collaborators in the two Nordic countries: Denmark and Norway. It is important to remember that the majority of Denmark and Norway citizens actively resisted the occupation and worked to undermine the Nazi regime.

Denmark

The Kingdom of Denmark was a neutral country at the outbreak of the Second World War. Yet, in April 1940, Germany invaded and took over not just Denmark, but Norway too.

Though Denmark is not seen as a prime example of Nazi collaborationism, it did house several thousand Nazi sympathisers within its borders. Nothing exemplifies Danish collaborationism more than the Freikorps Danmark, a unit established by the Waffen SS, who were commanded by Christian Peder Kryssing.

Fig. 3: Freikorps Denmark

Initially, the Freikorps Danmark was established by the National Socialist Worker' Party of Denmark and the unit was mainly made up of southern Danish, mostly ethnic German, soldiers. Eventually, officers from the Royal Danish Army were also authorised to join the Freikorps Denmark but no more than 77 officers did.

Fig. 4: Christian Peder Kryssing

The number of the Freikorps Denmark at its height was 6,000 men, who participated in fighting on the Eastern Front. The Freikorps Denmark was a short-lived venture, as it was disbanded in 1943.

Following the war, over 103 Danes were tried for treason for collaborating with the Nazis. Of the 103, several dozen were given life sentences while the others were executed. An official apology for their role in collaborationism was issued by the Danish government in 2005.

Norway

One of the most noteworthy collaborators of the Nazi regime was Norway's, Vidkun Quisling. In 1939, Quisling, leader of the Fascist Nasjonal Samling party in Norway, wrote a letter to Adolf Hitler in which he discussed his plan to overthrow the current government in Norway and establish his own. Hitler, indifferent towards Quisling, instead gave the order to begin planning for an invasion of Norway.

Nazi Germany invaded Norway on 9 April 1940. Quisling took the opportunity and staged a coup to overthrow the government, but failed. During his attempted coup, he broadcasted his speech where he declared himself the new prime minister of Norway and called for Norwegian citizens to stop resisting the incoming German forces.

It was the German thinking that Norway would undoubtedly surrender, which was why Germany preferred to keep the legitimate government in place. However, the Norwegian government continued to resist the incoming German forces. After about a month of resistance, Norway was occupied by Germany on 10 June 1940. In 1942 the King of Norway, Haakon VII, was forced to appoint Quisling as the new Prime Minister.

Quisling collaborated very heavily with Nazi Germany. The collaboration chiefly took shape of participating in the German war effort as well as participating in the Holocaust. Despite there being no more than about 2,500 Jews in Norway, Quisling went out of his way to deport them to Germany where their fates were sealed. Quisling also discriminated heavily against the indigenous Sami people of Scandinavia, whom he viewed as inferior to the Norwegians.

Ultimately, upon the conclusion of the Second World War and Nazi defeat, Quisling was tried for high treason and executed. To this day his surname "Quisling" is used as a synonym for the word traitor.

Fig.5: Vidkun Quisling

Famous Nazi collaborators

France and Denmark aren't the only countries with histories of collaborationism with Nazi Germany. Ethnic Germans outside Germany were some of the most ardent supporters of Hitler's policies. It was precisely thanks to Ethnic Germans that upon the occupation of the Baltic states and parts of Ukraine that Germany was able to continue its acts of atrocities.

Nevertheless, Ethnic Germans were not the only people who sought to aid Germany. One thing that must be remembered while reading on the topic of collaborationism is that many countries housed nationalist parties that opposed Communism and saw Nazi Germany not as an invading force but as a future ally. The Ustaše of Croatia and the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists are two prime examples of this, Ante Pavelic and Stepan Bandera being the founders of these organisations respectively.

Fig. 6: The Ustaše Insignia

Fig. 7: Stepan Bandera

Though never a collaborator as the UK was not invaded, Oswald Mosley, who had created the British Union of Fascists was sympathetic to Nazism and fascism. Mosley thought that he could gain Hitler's support but never did because he was not seen as powerful enough to successfully promote facism in the United Kingdom. Mosley was imprisoned by the British government in 1940 and his British Union of Fascists was banned. He was released from prison after three years and, after years of public disgrace, he left the United Kingdom in 1951.

Fig. 8: Oswald Mosley

Not a collaborator but an ally, Francisco Franco, the Caudillo of Spain was a close supporter of Hitler and Mussolini. Even though he was asked more than once to join the war he declined as Spain was too weak to fight a war in Europe after the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39. Nevertheless, Franco created the Blue Division, a unit of Spanish military volunteers who joined the Wehrmacht. At its peak, the Blue Division numbered over 45,000 personnel.

Fig. 8: Francisco Franco