Why Did so Many Europeans Collaborate with the Nazi Occupiers?
Why did so many Europeans collaborate with the Nazi occupiers?
As the dust settled in Europe, collaborators were hung, sent running naked down the streets or imprisoned, while the resistance set out to define post-war Europe. The illusion of a clear distinction between Hitler’s henchmen and enemies shaped the psychology, language and power structures that are still present today. Collaboration and resistance, as categories of human behaviour, gained their historical relevance from the weight they carried after the war, rather than the limited part they played in bringing the conflict to an end. In reality, the decision to collaborate was, as choices always are, the individual’s response to his or hers perceived alternatives. It existed within every stratum, and along the entire scale of what is considered good and evil. It came in endless variations, and due to as many motivations. I will, however, argue that self-interest was the most important motivating factor. To avoid exaggerated emphasis on those in charge, I will return to the so called horizontal collaborators, who were often the first to be punished. Not only are their stories as personal as they can get, but their motivations can, with a tiny bit of imagination, be applied to every chunk of society. Also, in order to remain focused on the driving force behind collaboration, I will base my argument on the most crucial motivating factors: self preservation; the dissatisfaction with previous institutions; the common enemy; internal conflict; ideological similarities; and self-interest.
To many, collaboration was a pragmatic, albeit sometimes misinformed, strategy of self-preservation. On a national level, the French Vichy government has often been referred to, for instance by Robert Aron, as the shield that kept France safe until De Gaulle’s sword was sharp enough to strike back.[1] This notion is ridiculous. As Julian Jackson points out, the Vichy government was based on the premise that Germany had
As the dust settled in Europe, collaborators were hung, sent running naked down the streets or imprisoned, while the resistance set out to define post-war Europe. The illusion of a clear distinction between Hitler’s henchmen and enemies shaped the psychology, language and power structures that are still present today. Collaboration and resistance, as categories of human behaviour, gained their historical relevance from the weight they carried after the war, rather than the limited part they played in bringing the conflict to an end. In reality, the decision to collaborate was, as choices always are, the individual’s response to his or hers perceived alternatives. It existed within every stratum, and along the entire scale of what is considered good and evil. It came in endless variations, and due to as many motivations. I will, however, argue that self-interest was the most important motivating factor. To avoid exaggerated emphasis on those in charge, I will return to the so called horizontal collaborators, who were often the first to be punished. Not only are their stories as personal as they can get, but their motivations can, with a tiny bit of imagination, be applied to every chunk of society. Also, in order to remain focused on the driving force behind collaboration, I will base my argument on the most crucial motivating factors: self preservation; the dissatisfaction with previous institutions; the common enemy; internal conflict; ideological similarities; and self-interest.
To many, collaboration was a pragmatic, albeit sometimes misinformed, strategy of self-preservation. On a national level, the French Vichy government has often been referred to, for instance by Robert Aron, as the shield that kept France safe until De Gaulle’s sword was sharp enough to strike back.[1] This notion is ridiculous. As Julian Jackson points out, the Vichy government was based on the premise that Germany had
Bibliography: Books • Martin Conway, Collaboration in Belgium: Léon Degrelle and the Rexist movement, 1940-1944, (New Haven: Yale university Press 1993). • Misha Glenny, The Balkans 1804-1999: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, (London: Granta Publications 1999). • Julian Jackson, France: The Dark Years 1940-1944,(New York: Oxford University Press, 2001). • H.R. Kedward, Occupied France: Collaboration and Resistance 1940-1944, (Oxford:Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1985). • John Connelly, ‘Why the Poles Collaborated so Little: And Why That Is No Reason for Nationalist Hubris’, Slavic Review, 64/4 (2005), pp. 771-781. • Martin Dean, ‘Where Did All the Collaborators Go?’, Slavic Review, 64/ 4 (2005), pp. 791-798. • Klaus-Peter Friedrich, ‘Collaboration in a "Land without a Quisling": Patterns of Cooperation with the Nazi German Occupation Regime in Poland during World War II’, Slavic Review, 64/4 (2005), pp. 711-746. • Gerhard Hirschfeld, ‘Collaboration and Attentism in the Netherlands 1940-41’, Journal of Contemporary History, 16/ 3 (Jul., 1981), pp. 467-486. • Tony Judt, ‘"We Have Discovered History": Defeat, Resistance, and the Intellectuals in France’, The Journal of Modern History, 64, (1992), pp. S147-S172. • René Marcq, ’Collaboration under Enemy Occupation’, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 247 (1946), pp. 69-72. • John F. Sweets, ‘Hold That Pendulum! Redefining Fascism, Collaborationism and Resistance in France’, French Historical Studies, 15/ 4 (1988), pp. 731-758. [3] Julian Jackson, France: The Dark Years 1940-1944,(New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) p. 168. [4] Robert Gildea, Olivier Wieviorka, Anette Warring, Surviving Hitler and Mussolini: daily life in occupied Europe, (New York: Berg 2006) p. 95. [5] Tony Judt, ‘"We Have Discovered History": Defeat, Resistance, and the Intellectuals in France’, The Journal of Modern History, 64, (1992), p. 147. [7] John A. Armstrong, ‘Collaborationism in World War II: The Integral Nationalist Variant in Eastern Europe’, The Journal of Modern History, 40/3 (1968), p. 408. [8] H.R. Kedward, Occupied France: Collaboration and Resistance 1940-1944, (Oxford:Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1985), p. 34. [13] Gerhard Hirschfeld, ‘Collaboration and Attentism in the Netherlands 1940-41’, Journal of Contemporary History, 16/ 3 (Jul., 1981), pp. 479-480. [15] Klaus-Peter Friedrich, ‘Collaboration in a "Land without a Quisling": Patterns of Cooperation with the Nazi German Occupation Regime in Poland during World War II’, Slavic Review, 64/4 (2005), pp. 718-737.