Pursuit of Nazi collaborators
Encyclopedia
The pursuit of Nazi collaborators refers to the post-World War II pursuit and apprehension of individuals who were not citizens of the Third Reich at the outbreak of World War II
and collaborated with the Nazi
regime during the war. Hence, this article does not cover former members of the NSDAP
and their fate after the war.
ns). And a desire after the bitter war, to see those responsible face justice, and be categorized as criminals by a court of law (See Nuremberg Trials
).
Ensuring that criminal acts done were brought to light and placed on the official record, with evidence, so that they could never be disproven (some of the acts being so unthinkable that denial
was plausible). A widespread sense that genocide of whole communities and cultures on such a scale was intolerable and must not be left unprosecuted even despite the inadequacy of existing laws.
Other motives included were the fear that a "Nazi underground" of some kind existed, such as the ODESSA
which could allow the enemy to somehow regroup for their proclaimed Fourth Reich
.
s) pursue ex-Nazis or Nazi Collaborators
who allegedly engaged in war crimes or crimes against humanity. The pursuits took varied forms such as Individuals who reported they saw someone who they recognised, who had now assumed a false identity intent on slipping back into civilian life undetected. Specific individuals were named and sought by groups or governments for their crimes during the war.
Others were subject to after-war spontaneous retaliation committed by populations within occupied countries, which in some areas led to "Witch hunts" for those suspected of having been collaborators, where Vigilantism and "summary justice", were common. After a first period of spontaneous pursuit, provisional governments took the matter into their own hands and brought suspected criminals to court.
The Nuremberg Trial in Germany judged only the highest German Nazi authorities and each country prosecuted and sentenced their own Collaborationists (e.g., Pierre Laval
in France was judged and sentenced to death, while Philippe Pétain
was also sentenced to death, but Charles de Gaulle
later commuted his sentence into a life condemnation). Government action to the form of investigation and interrogation for people suspected to be such. For example: U.S. DOJ Office of Special Investigations
.
Infiltration of Nazi support and escape organisations (the most famous one being the ODESSA
network and its various "ratlines
") and those believed to be aiding and abetting them. However, many suspected war criminals were also amnestied
, some of whom succeeding in reaching high positions in post-war administrations (e.g. Maurice Papon
, who became Police Prefect of Paris in charge during the Algerian War (1954–62) and was blamed for the 1961 Paris massacre). Others were never even tried such as Robert de Foy
who resumed being head of the Belgian State Security Service
1945-1958.
was a popular destination for Nazis. Declassified files show how Buenos Aires helped establish a network to rescue collaborators and Nazis from post war Europe. The network issued false paperwork to help Nazis escape the Allies, via the port of Genoa and finally by ship to Argentina. Once in Argentina Juan Perón's
government protected them and they settled in the southern regions of the country. In early October 1999 Nazi hunter
Efraim Zuroff
tracked Ustasha
Dinko Šakić
, the former commandant of Jasenovac concentration camp
(nicknamed the “Auschwitz of the Balkans”). Sakic had lived in Argentina for more than fifty years. He was extradited to Croatia
and sentenced by a Zagreb court to twenty year's imprisonment for his crimes.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22509603-5006789,00.html
applied to Australia
to extradite Konrads Kalejs
, allegedly a senior officer in the pro-Nazi Arajs Commando
, but he died on November 8, 2001 before he could be extradited. Kalejs migrated to Australia in 1950 and took citizenship. Hungary
applied for the extradition of Charles Zentai
from Australia. He was accused of the murder of Peter Balazs, an 18-year old Jewish
man, in Budapest
in November 1944, while serving in the Hungarian Army. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/08/secondworldwar.argentina
imprisoned Belgian nationals who had collaborated with the Nazis and executed some. One Belgian to be sentenced to execution was Pierre Daye
, however he was one of the first Nazi collaborators to escape Europe, and unusually by plane.
He fled to Argentina with the help of Charles Lescat
, also collaborator of Je suis partout. Once in Argentina he attended a meeting organized by Juan Perón
in the Casa Rosada
during which a network (colloquially called ratlines
) was created, to organize the escape of collaborators and former Nazis
. On June 17, 1947, Belgium requested his extradition
from Argentina, however the Argentine Government ignored this request. Now secure in his freedom, Pierre Daye resumed his writing activities, becoming the editor of an official Perónist
review. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22509603-5006789,00.html
Henri de Man
was one of the leading Belgian socialist
theoreticians of his period, who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. After the liberation of Belgium, he crossed the border to Switzerland
. He was convicted in absentia
of treason
after the war. He died in 1953, together with his wife, in a collision with a train.
Albert Luykx
fled to the Republic of Ireland
in 1948 and became an Irish citizen in 1954.
, real or alleged, had two significant forms, by judiciary or by mob action. Immediately after liberation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet
and American armies, in an atmosphere of chaos, wild chases began. Individual acts of revenge, mob violence, and simply criminal acts motivated by the possibility to rob or loot targets, occurred. In some places were conducted, by organized groups of self-styled partisan
s, violence which resembled what is today known as ethnic cleansing
. In most places this stopped when the provisional Czech government and local authorities took power. Other forms included legal action, undertaken by the state administration, after the war, until the regular Czech parliament was established. President Beneš
ruled by issuing decrees, which were later ratified by parliament.
By decree 5/1945 property of untrustworthy persons was put under national administration. Untrustworthy were considered German and Hungarian nationals, and people who were active in destruction of the Czechoslovak state and its democratic government, supported Nazi occupation by any means, or were members of organizations considered fascist or collaborator.
By the same decree, property of people of German and Hungarian nationality, who could prove they were anti-Nazi, could be returned to them.
By decree 12/1945 Sb. farm property of German and Hungarian nationals or citizens was confiscated, unless they could prove active resistance against Nazism. Property of traitors, and enemies of the republic was confiscated no matter what nationality or citizenship. By decree 16/1945 Sb. special tribunals were set up. These people's courts had right to sentence to long term imprisonment, life sentence or death. Prosecutions varied from verbal support to those who had committed crimes against humanity, no prosecution was based on ethnicity. By 33/1945 Sb. people of German and Hungarian nationality or ethnicity lost Czechoslovakian citizenship. However, they had right to apply for renewal.
Most problematic was the law 115/1946 about resistance against Nazi regime, which shifted limit of immunity to the year 1946, effectively amnestying all crimes, acts of individual revenge and atrocities against Germans and Hungarians long after war.
People who lost Czechoslovakian citizenship and failed to apply or did not get it were transferred
to Germany, many through the transfer camp established at Terezín
, also known as the Theresienstadt concentration camp
.
was briefly swept by a wave of executions of suspected collaborators. Women who were suspected of having romantic liaisons with Germans, or, more often, of being German prostitutes, were publicly humiliated by having their heads shaved. Those who had engaged in the black market were also stigmatized as "war profiteers" (profiteurs de guerre). However, the Provisional Government of the French Republic
(GPRF, 1944–46) quickly reestablished order and brought collaborators before the courts. Many of the convicted were granted amnesty
under the Fourth Republic
(1946–1954), while some civil servants, such as Maurice Papon
, succeeding in holding important positions even under Charles de Gaulle
and the Fifth Republic
(1958 and afterward).
Three periods are identified by historians:
the first phase (the épuration sauvage) consisted of popular convictions, summary executions, and the shaving of women's heads. Estimates by police prefects made in 1948 and 1952 were that as many as six thousand executions occurred before the liberation of France, and four thousand thereafter.
The second phase, legal epuration or épuration légale
, began on 26 and 27 June 1944 with Charles de Gaulle's ordinances on the judgment of collaborators by the commissions d'épuration; the commissions sentenced approximately 120,000 persons. Charles Maurras
, the leader of the royalist Action française
, was, for example, sentenced to life imprisonment on 25 January 1945. The third phase was more lenient towards collaborators; the trials of Philippe Pétain
and the writer, Louis-Ferdinand Céline
, are examples of actions taken during this phase.
Between 1944 and 1951, official courts in France sentenced 6,763 people to death (3,910 in absentia) for treason and other offenses, but only 791 executions were actually carried out. More common was “national degradation,” a loss of face and civil rights, which was meted out to 49,723 people.
Philippe Pétain
, the former head of Vichy France
, was charged with treason in July 1945. He was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad, but Charles de Gaulle
commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Most convicts were amnestied a few years later. In the police, collaborators soon resumed official responsibilities. This continuity of the administration was pointed out, in particular concerning the events of the Paris massacre of 1961
, executed under the orders of the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon
, who was judged in the 1990s for his role The Vichy collaborationist government.
The French members of the Waffen-SS Charlemagne Division who survived the war were regarded as traitors. Some of the more prominent officers were executed, while the rank-and-file were given prison terms; some of them were given the option of doing time in Indochina (1946–54) with the Foreign Legion instead of prison.
Many war criminals were judged only in the 1980s: Paul Touvier
, Klaus Barbie
(who after war worked for The CIA and Papon above mentioned ], head of French police during the war, and his deputy Jean Leguay
(the last two were both convicted for their roles in the July 1942 Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv, or Vel' d'Hiv Roundup). Famous Nazi hunter
s Serge and Beate Klarsfeld
spent decades trying to bring them to justice.. A fair number of collaborationists joined l'armée secrète|OAS]] terrorist movement during the Algerian War (1954–62). Jacques de Bernonville
escaped to Quebec, then Brazil. Jacques Ploncard d'Assac became counselor of Salazar
in Portugal.
Extrajudicial summary executions were harshly criticizeded after the war, with circles close to Pétainism advancing the figures of 100,000, and denouncing the "Red Terror", "anarchy
" or "blind vengeance." In 1960, journalist Robert Aron
estimated the number of summary executions of 40,000 surprising deGaulle,real number to be around 10,000, which is the figure today admitted by mainstream historians. Approximately 9,000 of these 10,000 refer to summary executions, in the whole of the country, during battle. In absolute numbers, there were fewer legal executions in France than in neighboring, and much smaller, Belgium, and fewer internments than in Norway or Netherlands.
was under the control of the Third Reich from 1941 to 1944. After the liberation, the country followed a controversial period of "de-Nazification". Many collaborators and especially former leaders of the Nazi-held puppet regime in Athens were sentenced to death. General Georgios Tsolakoglou
, the first collaborationist prime minister, was tried by the Greek Special Collaborators Court in 1945 and sentenced to death, but his penalty, like most death sentences, was commuted to life imprisonment. The second collaborationist leader, Konstantinos Logothetopoulos
, who had fled to Germany after the Wehrmacht's withdrawal, was caught by the U.S. military and was condemned to life imprisonment. In 1951, he was given parole and thus died outside prison. Ioannis Rallis
, the third collaborationist prime minister, was tried on a treason charge; the court sentenced him to life imprisonment. However, several lower and middle figures that had collaborated with the Germans, especially members of the Security Battalions
and the gendarmerie, were soon released and reinstated in their posts; in the developing Greek Civil War
, their anti-Communist credentials were more important than their collaboration. Indeed, in many cases the same people who had collaborated with the Germans and staffed the post-war security establishment persecuted leftist former Resistance members.
enacted the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators Punishment Law on 1 August 1950. Between 1950 and 1961, this law was used to prosecute 29 Jewish Holocaust survivors alleged to have been Nazi collaborators.
On February 23, 1965, Latvia
n aviator and Nazi collaborator Herberts Cukurs
was assassinated by the Mossad
, the Israeli foreign intelligence service, after being lured to Uruguay
under the pretense of starting an aviation business.
, the war time Norwegian
"Minister President", and, among others, Nasjonal Samling leaders Albert Viljam Hagelin
and Ragnar Skancke
, were convicted and executed by firing squad
. A total of 45 people were sentenced to death and 37 were executed (25 Norwegians and 12 Germans). Both at the time and later these sentences were the subject of some debate, since the decision to reintroduce capital punishment to the Norwegian legal system for the post war trials was based on clauses in military law. Capital punishment in the Criminal Code had been abolished in 1904. The decision was made by the exiled Norwegian government in London in 1944, later to be debated three times in the Parliament during the trials, and to be confirmed by the Supreme Court.
had many privileges but one big disadvantage: Volksdeutsche were conscripted into the German army
. The Volksliste had 4 categories. No. 1 and No. 2 were considered ethnic Germans, while No. 3 and No. 4 were ethnic Poles that signed the Volksliste. No. 1 and No. 2 in the Polish areas re-annexed by Germany numbered ~1,000,000 and No. 3 and No. 4 ~1,700,000. In the General Government
there were ~120,000 Volksdeutsche.
Volksdeutsche of Polish origins were treated by Poles with special contempt, and also it constituted high treason
according to Polish law. German citizens that remained on territory of Poland became as a group personae non gratae
. They had a choice of applying for Polish citizenship or being expelled to Germany. The property that belonged to Germans, German companies and German state, was confiscated by the Polish state along with many other properties in communist Poland.
German owners, as explicitly stated by the law, were not eligible for any compensation. Those who decided to apply became subject to a verification process. At the beginning many acts of violence against Volksdeutsche took place. However, soon the verification of Volksdeutsche became controlled by the juridical process and was completed in a more controlled manner.
and the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia
were pursued, tried, and either sent to Gulag
prison camps or executed.
Many Soviet Prisoners of War were seen to have collaborated with the Nazis, even if they had done no more than been captured by the Wehrmacht
, and spent the war in a camp. Many such unfortunate Soviet citizens were persecuted on their repatriation to the Soviet Union. In general, after a short trial, if they were not executed, Nazi collaborators were imprisoned in Gulag
forced labor camps.
The Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
was abolished and Volga Germans were banished from their settlements on the Volga River
with many being deported to Siberia
or Kazakhstan
.
and the Lithuanian SSR
, most collaborators had escaped with the retreating German army, or they had taken an overseas route to Sweden
. In the Estonian war crimes trials of 1961 and 1962, several collaborators were sentenced for participation in the Estonian holocaust
. Many of the accused escaped punishment by escaping into exile or by suicide. The infamous Karl Linnas
was finally deported by the United States
and died in Leningrad while awaiting retrial.
British Free Corps
and William Joyce
(Lord Haw-Haw). As agreed at the Yalta Conference
, the British handed back many Soviet citizens to the Soviet regime. Some of these were collaborators who had fought in the Russian Liberation Army. In later years there would be a controversy because some of those handed over were White Russians
who had never been Soviet citizens. Yugoslavs were handed over to Josip Broz Tito
's forces, and many were subsequently killed.
In 1948 Victor Arajs, who was the leader of the eponymous commando unit which helped the Nazis murder the Jews of Latvia and Belarus, had been captured in the British zone of occupied Germany after the war but was allowed to go free. He remained at large until 1979 when West Germany put him on trial. One of Arajs's deputies, Harijs Svikeris, settled in Britain after the war and in the 1990s was thought to be a strong candidate to be prosecuted under the War Crimes Act
, but he died before being prosecuted
In 1961 Ain-Ervin Mere
was put on trial for leadership in the murder of 5000 foreign Jews in Estonia
, but his extradition
was denied by British authorities. On April 1, 1999, Anthony Sawoniuk
was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering two Jews in the UK's first full Nazi war crimes trial. Sawoniuk had led "search-and-kill" police squads to hunt down Jews trying to escape after nearly 3,000 were massacred at Domachevo in Nazi-occupied Belarus
during September, 1942. He died in prison on November 7, 2005 at the age of 84.
, because collaborators were also on the losing side of a de facto civil war fought on the Yugoslav territory during World War II. The Partisans
executed many Ustashe, as well as their collaborators. One of the best documented incidents was the Bleiburg massacre
. After the war, the UDBA
, Yugoslavia's secret police
, was sent overseas to find and eliminate several former Ustashe who fled the country, including the leader of the Ustashe and their pro-Nazi government
, Ante Pavelić
.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and collaborated with the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
regime during the war. Hence, this article does not cover former members of the NSDAP
Ex-Nazis
The list of notable people who were at some point members of the Nazi Party, before it was declared illegal and disbanded upon the victory of the Allies. After 1945 many former party members had to go through a process of denazification and some were indicted and convicted at the Nuremberg Trials,...
and their fate after the war.
Background
There were a number of motives for the apprehension of suspected collaborators, the main motives were revenge for those murdered, especially those murdered on ethnic grounds in the Holocaust (principally amongst Jews and RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns). And a desire after the bitter war, to see those responsible face justice, and be categorized as criminals by a court of law (See Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
).
Ensuring that criminal acts done were brought to light and placed on the official record, with evidence, so that they could never be disproven (some of the acts being so unthinkable that denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
was plausible). A widespread sense that genocide of whole communities and cultures on such a scale was intolerable and must not be left unprosecuted even despite the inadequacy of existing laws.
Other motives included were the fear that a "Nazi underground" of some kind existed, such as the ODESSA
ODESSA
The ODESSA, from the German Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, meaning “Organization of Former SS Members,” is believed to have been an international Nazi network set up toward the end of World War II by a group of SS officers...
which could allow the enemy to somehow regroup for their proclaimed Fourth Reich
Fourth Reich
The Fourth Reich is a term used to describe a theoretical future successor of the Third Reich.-Neo-Nazism:In terms of neo-Nazism, the Fourth Reich is envisioned as featuring Aryan supremacy, anti-Semitism, Lebensraum, aggressive militarism and totalitarianism...
.
Means of pursuit
The pursuit took many forms, both individual and organised. Several organizations and individuals (famous Nazi hunterNazi hunter
A Nazi-hunter is a private individual who tracks down and gathers information on alleged former Nazis, SS members and Nazi collaborators involved in the Holocaust, typically for use at trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity...
s) pursue ex-Nazis or Nazi Collaborators
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
who allegedly engaged in war crimes or crimes against humanity. The pursuits took varied forms such as Individuals who reported they saw someone who they recognised, who had now assumed a false identity intent on slipping back into civilian life undetected. Specific individuals were named and sought by groups or governments for their crimes during the war.
Others were subject to after-war spontaneous retaliation committed by populations within occupied countries, which in some areas led to "Witch hunts" for those suspected of having been collaborators, where Vigilantism and "summary justice", were common. After a first period of spontaneous pursuit, provisional governments took the matter into their own hands and brought suspected criminals to court.
The Nuremberg Trial in Germany judged only the highest German Nazi authorities and each country prosecuted and sentenced their own Collaborationists (e.g., Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval was a French politician. He was four times President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively. Following France's Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government, signing orders permitting the deportation of...
in France was judged and sentenced to death, while Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
was also sentenced to death, but Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
later commuted his sentence into a life condemnation). Government action to the form of investigation and interrogation for people suspected to be such. For example: U.S. DOJ Office of Special Investigations
U.S. DOJ Office of Special Investigations
The Office of Special Investigations was a unit within the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. Its purpose was to detect and investigate individuals who took part in state sponsored acts committed in violation of public international law, such as crimes against humanity.In...
.
Infiltration of Nazi support and escape organisations (the most famous one being the ODESSA
ODESSA
The ODESSA, from the German Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, meaning “Organization of Former SS Members,” is believed to have been an international Nazi network set up toward the end of World War II by a group of SS officers...
network and its various "ratlines
Ratlines (history)
Ratlines were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe at the end of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile. Other destinations included the United States and perhaps...
") and those believed to be aiding and abetting them. However, many suspected war criminals were also amnestied
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
, some of whom succeeding in reaching high positions in post-war administrations (e.g. Maurice Papon
Maurice Papon
Maurice Papon was a French civil servant, industrial leader and Gaullist politician, who was convicted for crimes against humanity for his participation in the deportation of over 1600 Jews during World War II when he was secretary general for police of the Prefecture of Bordeaux.Papon also...
, who became Police Prefect of Paris in charge during the Algerian War (1954–62) and was blamed for the 1961 Paris massacre). Others were never even tried such as Robert de Foy
Robert de Foy
Robert Herman Alfred de Foy was a Belgian magistrate, and head of the Belgian State Security Service, before and after the Second World War.-Personal life:...
who resumed being head of the Belgian State Security Service
Belgian State Security Service
The Belgian State Security Service, known in Dutch as Veiligheid van de Staat, or Staatsveiligheid , and in French as Sûreté de l'État , is a Belgian intelligence agency...
1945-1958.
Argentina
ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
was a popular destination for Nazis. Declassified files show how Buenos Aires helped establish a network to rescue collaborators and Nazis from post war Europe. The network issued false paperwork to help Nazis escape the Allies, via the port of Genoa and finally by ship to Argentina. Once in Argentina Juan Perón's
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
government protected them and they settled in the southern regions of the country. In early October 1999 Nazi hunter
Nazi hunter
A Nazi-hunter is a private individual who tracks down and gathers information on alleged former Nazis, SS members and Nazi collaborators involved in the Holocaust, typically for use at trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity...
Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff is an Israeli historian of American origin, who has played a role in bringing Nazis indicted for war crimes to trial...
tracked Ustasha
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
Dinko Šakić
Dinko Šakic
Dinko Šakić was a convicted Croatian war criminal, an army leader of the fascist Independent State of Croatia , established under Third Reich and Italian tutelage, and commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp during World War II.-Biography:He was born in Studenci, in the Kingdom of Serbs,...
, the former commandant of Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II...
(nicknamed the “Auschwitz of the Balkans”). Sakic had lived in Argentina for more than fifty years. He was extradited to Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
and sentenced by a Zagreb court to twenty year's imprisonment for his crimes.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22509603-5006789,00.html
Australia
LatviaLatvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
applied to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to extradite Konrads Kalejs
Konrads Kalejs
Konrāds Kalējs was a Latvian soldier who was Nazi collaborator and an alleged war criminal during World War II. He gained notoriety for evading calls for his prosecution across four countries, more than once under the threat of deportation...
, allegedly a senior officer in the pro-Nazi Arajs Commando
Arajs Commando
The Arajs Kommando , led by SS-Sturmbannführer Viktors Arājs, was a unit of Latvian Auxiliary Police subordinated to the Nazi SD...
, but he died on November 8, 2001 before he could be extradited. Kalejs migrated to Australia in 1950 and took citizenship. Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
applied for the extradition of Charles Zentai
Charles Zentai
Charles Zentai, is a Hungarian-born resident of Australia accused of a Holocaust-related war crime. He has resided in Perth, Australia for many years after living in the American- and French-occupied zones of post-World War II Germany.- Background :Zentai, who denies the charges against him, was...
from Australia. He was accused of the murder of Peter Balazs, an 18-year old Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
man, in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
in November 1944, while serving in the Hungarian Army. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/08/secondworldwar.argentina
Belgium
BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
imprisoned Belgian nationals who had collaborated with the Nazis and executed some. One Belgian to be sentenced to execution was Pierre Daye
Pierre Daye
Pierre Daye was a Belgian Nazi collaborator and follower of Rexism, who exiled himself to Juan Peron's Argentina after World War II....
, however he was one of the first Nazi collaborators to escape Europe, and unusually by plane.
He fled to Argentina with the help of Charles Lescat
Charles Lescat
Charles Lescat was an Argentine citizen, who studied in France and wrote in Je suis partout, the ultra-Collaborationist review headed by Robert Brasillach....
, also collaborator of Je suis partout. Once in Argentina he attended a meeting organized by Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
in the Casa Rosada
Casa Rosada
La Casa Rosada is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina, and of the offices of the President. The President normally lives at the Quinta de Olivos, a compound in Olivos, Buenos Aires Province. Its characteristic color is pink, and is considered one of the most...
during which a network (colloquially called ratlines
Ratlines (history)
Ratlines were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe at the end of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile. Other destinations included the United States and perhaps...
) was created, to organize the escape of collaborators and former Nazis
Ex-Nazis
The list of notable people who were at some point members of the Nazi Party, before it was declared illegal and disbanded upon the victory of the Allies. After 1945 many former party members had to go through a process of denazification and some were indicted and convicted at the Nuremberg Trials,...
. On June 17, 1947, Belgium requested his extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
from Argentina, however the Argentine Government ignored this request. Now secure in his freedom, Pierre Daye resumed his writing activities, becoming the editor of an official Perónist
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
review. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22509603-5006789,00.html
Henri de Man
Henri de Man
Henri De Man was one of the leading Belgian socialist theoreticians of his period, who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II...
was one of the leading Belgian socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
theoreticians of his period, who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. After the liberation of Belgium, he crossed the border to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. He was convicted in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
after the war. He died in 1953, together with his wife, in a collision with a train.
Albert Luykx
Albert Luykx
Albert Luykx was a Flemish businessman and former Nazi. He was born in the Flemish Region region in Belgium to a family of furniture makers. Following the invasion of Belgium, the Luykx family, like most furniture makers during the Nazi occupation, made barracks for the occupying forces. Soon...
fled to the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
in 1948 and became an Irish citizen in 1954.
Czechoslovakia
Actions against Nazi collaborators in CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, real or alleged, had two significant forms, by judiciary or by mob action. Immediately after liberation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and American armies, in an atmosphere of chaos, wild chases began. Individual acts of revenge, mob violence, and simply criminal acts motivated by the possibility to rob or loot targets, occurred. In some places were conducted, by organized groups of self-styled partisan
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
s, violence which resembled what is today known as ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
. In most places this stopped when the provisional Czech government and local authorities took power. Other forms included legal action, undertaken by the state administration, after the war, until the regular Czech parliament was established. President Beneš
Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second President of Czechoslovakia. He was known to be a skilled diplomat.- Youth :...
ruled by issuing decrees, which were later ratified by parliament.
By decree 5/1945 property of untrustworthy persons was put under national administration. Untrustworthy were considered German and Hungarian nationals, and people who were active in destruction of the Czechoslovak state and its democratic government, supported Nazi occupation by any means, or were members of organizations considered fascist or collaborator.
By the same decree, property of people of German and Hungarian nationality, who could prove they were anti-Nazi, could be returned to them.
By decree 12/1945 Sb. farm property of German and Hungarian nationals or citizens was confiscated, unless they could prove active resistance against Nazism. Property of traitors, and enemies of the republic was confiscated no matter what nationality or citizenship. By decree 16/1945 Sb. special tribunals were set up. These people's courts had right to sentence to long term imprisonment, life sentence or death. Prosecutions varied from verbal support to those who had committed crimes against humanity, no prosecution was based on ethnicity. By 33/1945 Sb. people of German and Hungarian nationality or ethnicity lost Czechoslovakian citizenship. However, they had right to apply for renewal.
Most problematic was the law 115/1946 about resistance against Nazi regime, which shifted limit of immunity to the year 1946, effectively amnestying all crimes, acts of individual revenge and atrocities against Germans and Hungarians long after war.
People who lost Czechoslovakian citizenship and failed to apply or did not get it were transferred
Population transfer
Population transfer is the movement of a large group of people from one region to another by state policy or international authority, most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion...
to Germany, many through the transfer camp established at Terezín
Terezín
Terezín is the name of a former military fortress and adjacent walled garrison town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.-Early history:...
, also known as the Theresienstadt concentration camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German ghetto during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín , located in what is now the Czech Republic.-History:The fortress of Terezín was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 by the orders...
.
France
After the liberation, FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
was briefly swept by a wave of executions of suspected collaborators. Women who were suspected of having romantic liaisons with Germans, or, more often, of being German prostitutes, were publicly humiliated by having their heads shaved. Those who had engaged in the black market were also stigmatized as "war profiteers" (profiteurs de guerre). However, the Provisional Government of the French Republic
Provisional Government of the French Republic
The Provisional Government of the French Republic was an interim government which governed France from 1944 to 1946, following the fall of Vichy France and prior to the Fourth French Republic....
(GPRF, 1944–46) quickly reestablished order and brought collaborators before the courts. Many of the convicted were granted amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
under the Fourth Republic
Fourth Republic
Fourth Republic may refer to:* French Fourth Republic * Fourth Republic of the Philippines * Fourth Republic of South Korea * The Fourth Republic of Niger...
(1946–1954), while some civil servants, such as Maurice Papon
Maurice Papon
Maurice Papon was a French civil servant, industrial leader and Gaullist politician, who was convicted for crimes against humanity for his participation in the deportation of over 1600 Jews during World War II when he was secretary general for police of the Prefecture of Bordeaux.Papon also...
, succeeding in holding important positions even under Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
and the Fifth Republic
French Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
(1958 and afterward).
Three periods are identified by historians:
the first phase (the épuration sauvage) consisted of popular convictions, summary executions, and the shaving of women's heads. Estimates by police prefects made in 1948 and 1952 were that as many as six thousand executions occurred before the liberation of France, and four thousand thereafter.
The second phase, legal epuration or épuration légale
Épuration légale
The Épuration légale was the wave of official trials that followed the Liberation of France and the fall of the Vichy Regime...
, began on 26 and 27 June 1944 with Charles de Gaulle's ordinances on the judgment of collaborators by the commissions d'épuration; the commissions sentenced approximately 120,000 persons. Charles Maurras
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
, the leader of the royalist Action française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
, was, for example, sentenced to life imprisonment on 25 January 1945. The third phase was more lenient towards collaborators; the trials of Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
and the writer, Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Louis-Ferdinand Céline was the pen name of French writer and physician Louis-Ferdinand Destouches . Céline was chosen after his grandmother's first name. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, developing a new style of writing that modernized both French and...
, are examples of actions taken during this phase.
Between 1944 and 1951, official courts in France sentenced 6,763 people to death (3,910 in absentia) for treason and other offenses, but only 791 executions were actually carried out. More common was “national degradation,” a loss of face and civil rights, which was meted out to 49,723 people.
Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
, the former head of Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, was charged with treason in July 1945. He was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad, but Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Most convicts were amnestied a few years later. In the police, collaborators soon resumed official responsibilities. This continuity of the administration was pointed out, in particular concerning the events of the Paris massacre of 1961
Paris massacre of 1961
The Paris massacre of 1961 was a massacre in Paris on 17 October 1961, during the Algerian War . Under orders from the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon, the French police attacked a demonstration of some 30,000 pro-FLN Algerians...
, executed under the orders of the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon
Maurice Papon
Maurice Papon was a French civil servant, industrial leader and Gaullist politician, who was convicted for crimes against humanity for his participation in the deportation of over 1600 Jews during World War II when he was secretary general for police of the Prefecture of Bordeaux.Papon also...
, who was judged in the 1990s for his role The Vichy collaborationist government.
The French members of the Waffen-SS Charlemagne Division who survived the war were regarded as traitors. Some of the more prominent officers were executed, while the rank-and-file were given prison terms; some of them were given the option of doing time in Indochina (1946–54) with the Foreign Legion instead of prison.
Many war criminals were judged only in the 1980s: Paul Touvier
Paul Touvier
Paul Touvier was a French Nazi collaborator. In 1994, he was the first Frenchman convicted of crimes against humanity for his actions in Vichy France.- Early life :...
, Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
(who after war worked for The CIA and Papon above mentioned ], head of French police during the war, and his deputy Jean Leguay
Jean Leguay
Jean Leguay was a high-ranking French civil servant complicit in the deportation of Jews from France.During the Vichy regime, Leguay was second-in-command to René Bousquet, general secretary of the National police in Paris. After the war he became president of Warner Lambert, Inc...
(the last two were both convicted for their roles in the July 1942 Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv, or Vel' d'Hiv Roundup). Famous Nazi hunter
Nazi hunter
A Nazi-hunter is a private individual who tracks down and gathers information on alleged former Nazis, SS members and Nazi collaborators involved in the Holocaust, typically for use at trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity...
s Serge and Beate Klarsfeld
Serge and Beate Klarsfeld
Serge and Beate Klarsfeld are activists known for engaging in Holocaust documentation and anti-Nazi activism...
spent decades trying to bring them to justice.. A fair number of collaborationists joined l'armée secrète|OAS]] terrorist movement during the Algerian War (1954–62). Jacques de Bernonville
Jacques de Bernonville
Jacques Charles Noel Duge de Bernonville was a French collaborationist and senior police officer in the Vichy regime in France infamously known as the man who hunted down resistance fighters during World War II....
escaped to Quebec, then Brazil. Jacques Ploncard d'Assac became counselor of Salazar
Salazar
- Angola :* Vila Salazar, Portuguese colonial name for the city of N'dalatando in the province of Cuanza Norte- Spain :* Salazar , a village in the municipality of Villarcayo de Merindad de Castilla la Vieja, province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León* Salazar Valley, in...
in Portugal.
Extrajudicial summary executions were harshly criticizeded after the war, with circles close to Pétainism advancing the figures of 100,000, and denouncing the "Red Terror", "anarchy
Anarchy
Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
" or "blind vengeance." In 1960, journalist Robert Aron
Robert Aron
Robert Aron was a French writer who authored a number of works on politics and history.-Early life:...
estimated the number of summary executions of 40,000 surprising deGaulle,real number to be around 10,000, which is the figure today admitted by mainstream historians. Approximately 9,000 of these 10,000 refer to summary executions, in the whole of the country, during battle. In absolute numbers, there were fewer legal executions in France than in neighboring, and much smaller, Belgium, and fewer internments than in Norway or Netherlands.
Greece
GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
was under the control of the Third Reich from 1941 to 1944. After the liberation, the country followed a controversial period of "de-Nazification". Many collaborators and especially former leaders of the Nazi-held puppet regime in Athens were sentenced to death. General Georgios Tsolakoglou
Georgios Tsolakoglou
Georgios Tsolakoglou was a Greek military officer who became the first Prime Minister of the Greek collaborationist government during the Axis Occupation in 1941-1942.-Military career:...
, the first collaborationist prime minister, was tried by the Greek Special Collaborators Court in 1945 and sentenced to death, but his penalty, like most death sentences, was commuted to life imprisonment. The second collaborationist leader, Konstantinos Logothetopoulos
Konstantinos Logothetopoulos
Konstantinos Logothetopoulos was a distinguished Greek medical doctor who became Prime Minister of Greece, directing the Greek collaborationist government during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II.Logothetopoulos was born in Nafplion in 1878...
, who had fled to Germany after the Wehrmacht's withdrawal, was caught by the U.S. military and was condemned to life imprisonment. In 1951, he was given parole and thus died outside prison. Ioannis Rallis
Ioannis Rallis
Ioannis Rallis was the third and last collaborationist prime minister of Greece during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, holding office from 7 April 1943 to 12 October 1944, succeeding Konstantinos Logothetopoulos in the Nazi-controlled Greek puppet government in Athens.- Early...
, the third collaborationist prime minister, was tried on a treason charge; the court sentenced him to life imprisonment. However, several lower and middle figures that had collaborated with the Germans, especially members of the Security Battalions
Security Battalions
The Security Battalions were Greek collaborationist military groups, formed during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II in order to support the German occupation troops.- History :...
and the gendarmerie, were soon released and reinstated in their posts; in the developing Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
, their anti-Communist credentials were more important than their collaboration. Indeed, in many cases the same people who had collaborated with the Germans and staffed the post-war security establishment persecuted leftist former Resistance members.
Israel
IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
enacted the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators Punishment Law on 1 August 1950. Between 1950 and 1961, this law was used to prosecute 29 Jewish Holocaust survivors alleged to have been Nazi collaborators.
On February 23, 1965, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n aviator and Nazi collaborator Herberts Cukurs
Herberts Cukurs
Herberts Cukurs was a Latvian aviator. He was a member of the notorious Arajs Kommando and was involved in murders of Latvian Jews as part of the Holocaust but he never stood trial. There are eyewitness accounts linking Cukurs to war crimes...
was assassinated by the Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
, the Israeli foreign intelligence service, after being lured to Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
under the pretense of starting an aviation business.
Norway
Vidkun QuislingVidkun Quisling
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian politician. On 9 April 1940, with the German invasion of Norway in progress, he seized power in a Nazi-backed coup d'etat that garnered him international infamy. From 1942 to 1945 he served as Minister-President, working with the occupying...
, the war time Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
"Minister President", and, among others, Nasjonal Samling leaders Albert Viljam Hagelin
Albert Viljam Hagelin
Albert Viljam Hagelin was a Norwegian businessman and opera singer who became the Minister of Domestic Affairs in the Quisling regime, the puppet government headed by Vidkun Quisling during Germany's World War II occupation of Norway....
and Ragnar Skancke
Ragnar Skancke
Ragnar Sigvald Skancke was the Norwegian Minister of Labour and Minister for Church and Educational Affairs in Vidkun Quisling's government of the Nasjonal Samling party during World War II.Before the war, Skancke was a highly respected professor of electrical engineering at the Norwegian...
, were convicted and executed by firing squad
Execution by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...
. A total of 45 people were sentenced to death and 37 were executed (25 Norwegians and 12 Germans). Both at the time and later these sentences were the subject of some debate, since the decision to reintroduce capital punishment to the Norwegian legal system for the post war trials was based on clauses in military law. Capital punishment in the Criminal Code had been abolished in 1904. The decision was made by the exiled Norwegian government in London in 1944, later to be debated three times in the Parliament during the trials, and to be confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Poland
In occupied Poland the status of VolksdeutscheVolksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
had many privileges but one big disadvantage: Volksdeutsche were conscripted into the German army
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
. The Volksliste had 4 categories. No. 1 and No. 2 were considered ethnic Germans, while No. 3 and No. 4 were ethnic Poles that signed the Volksliste. No. 1 and No. 2 in the Polish areas re-annexed by Germany numbered ~1,000,000 and No. 3 and No. 4 ~1,700,000. In the General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
there were ~120,000 Volksdeutsche.
Volksdeutsche of Polish origins were treated by Poles with special contempt, and also it constituted high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
according to Polish law. German citizens that remained on territory of Poland became as a group personae non gratae
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
. They had a choice of applying for Polish citizenship or being expelled to Germany. The property that belonged to Germans, German companies and German state, was confiscated by the Polish state along with many other properties in communist Poland.
German owners, as explicitly stated by the law, were not eligible for any compensation. Those who decided to apply became subject to a verification process. At the beginning many acts of violence against Volksdeutsche took place. However, soon the verification of Volksdeutsche became controlled by the juridical process and was completed in a more controlled manner.
Soviet Union
Russian and other Soviet members of the Russian Liberation ArmyRussian Liberation Army
Russian Liberation Army was a group of predominantly Russian forces subordinated to the Nazi German high command during World War II....
and the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia
Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia
The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia was a committee composed of military and civilian anticommunists from territories of the Soviet Union...
were pursued, tried, and either sent to Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
prison camps or executed.
Many Soviet Prisoners of War were seen to have collaborated with the Nazis, even if they had done no more than been captured by the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
, and spent the war in a camp. Many such unfortunate Soviet citizens were persecuted on their repatriation to the Soviet Union. In general, after a short trial, if they were not executed, Nazi collaborators were imprisoned in Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
forced labor camps.
The Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic established in Soviet Russia, with its capital at the Volga port of Engels .-History:...
was abolished and Volga Germans were banished from their settlements on the Volga River
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
with many being deported to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
or Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
.
Baltic republics
In the Baltic Republics, the Estonian SSR, the Latvian SSRLatvian SSR
The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Latvian SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the Soviet Union. Established on 21 July 1940 as a puppet state during World War II in the territory of the previously independent Republic of Latvia after it had been occupied by...
and the Lithuanian SSR
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
, most collaborators had escaped with the retreating German army, or they had taken an overseas route to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. In the Estonian war crimes trials of 1961 and 1962, several collaborators were sentenced for participation in the Estonian holocaust
Holocaust in Estonia
The Holocaust in Estonia refers to the Nazi crimes during the occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany. There were, prior to the war, approximately 4,300 Estonian Jews. After the Soviet 1940 occupation about 10% of Jewish population were deported to Siberia along with other Estonians...
. Many of the accused escaped punishment by escaping into exile or by suicide. The infamous Karl Linnas
Karl Linnas
Karl Linnas was an Estonian who was sentenced to capital punishment during the Holocaust trials in Soviet Estonia in 1961. He was later deported from the United States to the Soviet Union...
was finally deported by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and died in Leningrad while awaiting retrial.
United Kingdom
At the end of the war a number of people were tried for high treason. These included members of the Waffen-SSWaffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
British Free Corps
British Free Corps
During World War II, the British Free Corps was a unit of the consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. The unit was originally known as The Legion of St...
and William Joyce
William Joyce
William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
(Lord Haw-Haw). As agreed at the Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...
, the British handed back many Soviet citizens to the Soviet regime. Some of these were collaborators who had fought in the Russian Liberation Army. In later years there would be a controversy because some of those handed over were White Russians
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
who had never been Soviet citizens. Yugoslavs were handed over to Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's forces, and many were subsequently killed.
In 1948 Victor Arajs, who was the leader of the eponymous commando unit which helped the Nazis murder the Jews of Latvia and Belarus, had been captured in the British zone of occupied Germany after the war but was allowed to go free. He remained at large until 1979 when West Germany put him on trial. One of Arajs's deputies, Harijs Svikeris, settled in Britain after the war and in the 1990s was thought to be a strong candidate to be prosecuted under the War Crimes Act
War Crimes Act 1991
The War Crimes Act 1991 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It confers jurisdiction on courts in the United Kingdom to try people for war crimes committed in Nazi Germany or German-occupied territory during the Second World War by people who were not British citizens at the time, but...
, but he died before being prosecuted
In 1961 Ain-Ervin Mere
Ain-Ervin Mere
Ain Mere was an Estonian military officer. During the World War II, he was an Obersturmbannführer in the Waffen SS and also the head of the Sicherheitspolizei in Estonia following its creation in 1942.He was born in Vändra and fought voluntarily in the Estonian War...
was put on trial for leadership in the murder of 5000 foreign Jews in Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, but his extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
was denied by British authorities. On April 1, 1999, Anthony Sawoniuk
Anthony Sawoniuk
Anthony Sawoniuk, formerly Andrei Andreeovich Sawoniuk was a Belorussian Nazi collaborator from the town of Domaczewo in pre-war Poland . After taking part in the murder of Jews in his home town, he served in the SS and later with the Polish II Corps...
was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering two Jews in the UK's first full Nazi war crimes trial. Sawoniuk had led "search-and-kill" police squads to hunt down Jews trying to escape after nearly 3,000 were massacred at Domachevo in Nazi-occupied Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
during September, 1942. He died in prison on November 7, 2005 at the age of 84.
Yugoslavia
The reprisals for collaboration with the Nazis were particularly harsh in YugoslaviaYugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, because collaborators were also on the losing side of a de facto civil war fought on the Yugoslav territory during World War II. The Partisans
Partisans (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...
executed many Ustashe, as well as their collaborators. One of the best documented incidents was the Bleiburg massacre
Bleiburg massacre
The Bleiburg massacre, which also encompasses Operation Keelhaul is a term encompassing events that took place during mid-May 1945 near the Carinthian town of Bleiburg, itself some four kilometres from the Austrian-Slovenian border....
. After the war, the UDBA
UDBA
The Department of State Security was the secret police organization of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.Although it operated with more restraint than other secret...
, Yugoslavia's secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
, was sent overseas to find and eliminate several former Ustashe who fled the country, including the leader of the Ustashe and their pro-Nazi government
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelic
Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...
.
See also
- DenazificationDenazificationDenazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...
- CollaborationismCollaborationismCollaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
- Jacob LuitjensJacob LuitjensJacob Luitjens was a Dutch collaborator during World War II. He was nicknamed The terror of Roden, as he was active in and around Roden in the Drenthe Province....
- Deschênes CommissionDeschênes CommissionThe Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, often referred to as the Deschênes Commission, was established by the government of Canada in February 1985 to investigate claims that Canada had become a haven for Nazi war criminals...
- Ex-Nazis
- List of SS personnel
- Expulsion of Germans after World War IIExpulsion of Germans after World War IIThe later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...