Nazi Collaborators

Just eight months before the outbreak of WWII, bombs exploded in power stations and substations from Northumberland to Manchester, from Liverpool to London, it was The IRA and, the Nazis took a keen interest in their activities. An invasion of 80,000 soldiers was launched but was soon foiled by British and Irish intelligence.

After the Nazis occupied France in 1940, French Foreign Minister Laval developed a close relationship with Hitler and proposed that the two countries collaborate. Laval sent skilled workers to Germany in exchange for French prisoners of war. In 1943 Laval created The Milice, their role: to capture Jews and left-wing activist.

Many German Christians with distant Jewish relatives were labelled by the Nazis as 'Mischlinge', or half-breeds. Amazingly, seeing themselves as patriotic Germans, many of these people would still fight for Hitler, some even joining the murderous SS. Told through amazing tragic and personal testimonies, this is the strange story of the Jews who fought for Hitler despite encountering direct suffering at the hands of his regime, and what it was like to fight for a country that wanted to kill them and their relatives.

Leon Degrelle was a Belgian Fascist who ended up a resolute collaborator and decorated Nazi war hero. After limited success with his Rexist political party, he turned to Nazi ideology and became the figurehead of a Belgian volunteer unit called the Legion Wallonie, which, in 1943, became part of the SS. Degrelle was decorated by Hitler himself after his men fought a desperate rear-guard action in the epic Battle of Cherkassy. His legacy still divides Belgium and leaves those who knew him to reflect on the choices they made and the 'Belgian Collaborator' they followed.

The Arajs Kommandos were merciless Latvians who rampaged through their country on behalf of the Nazis. Responsible for some 26,000 murders, the Kommando was formed of students, builders and accountants attracted by excellent wages and healthy rations. In the summer of 1942 they were the chief co-ordinators of the second largest single mass murder of Jews during the war. After the war many escaped justice. It took until 1975 for Viktors Arajs to surface and be tried for his crimes. His right hand man, Herbert Cukurs, was assassinated by Mossad in the only such state-sponsored action ever admitted to by the Israelis.

Quisling was leader of the Norwegian Fascist Party Nasjional Samling. In September 1939 he realised that Hitler's war plans needed Norway. So he travelled to Berlin, met the Fuhrer and did a deal that would allow the Nazis to keep a military presence in Norway. In return, he believed Hitler would make him the 'Norwegian Fuhrer'. He even oversaw the execution of dissenters and collaborated in the deportation to Auschwitz of Norwegian Jews. But, Quisling could never justify his treachery or what he did under the Nazis. For this, he would pay with his life.