Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy

In World War II, many governments, organizations and individuals collaborated with the Axis powers, "out of conviction, desperation, or under coercion." Nationalists sometimes welcomed German or Italian troops, believing they brought liberation from colonization. The Danish, and Belgian and Vichy French governments attempted to appease or bargain with the invaders, in hopes of mitigating harm to their citizens and economies. Some countries cooperated with Italy and Germany because they wanted to regain territory lost during and after the First World War or which their nationalist citizens simply coveted. Others, such as France, already had strong fascist movements and/or anti-semitic sentiment, which the invaders validated and empowered. Individuals such as Hendrik Seyffardt in the Netherlands and Theodoros Pangalos in Greece saw collaboration as a path to power in their country. Others believed that Germany would prevail, and either wanted to be on the winning side, or feared being on the losing one. Axis military forces recruited many volunteers, often with promises they later broke, or from among POWs trying to escape appalling conditions in their camps. Other volunteers freely enlisted because they subscribed to Nazi or fascist ideology. In France the term "collaborationist" was coined for those who collaborated for ideological reasons. Bertram Gordon, a professor of modern history, also used the terms "collaborationist" and "collaborator" for ideological and non-ideological collaboration. Elsewhere, "collaboration" described cooperation, sometimes passive, with a victorious power. Stanley Hoffmann saw collaboration as either involuntary, a reluctant recognition of necessity, or voluntary, opportunistic, or greedy. He also categorized collaborationism as "servile", attempting to be useful, or "ideological", full-throated advocacy of the occupier's ideology. German occupation of Belgium during World War II Belgium was invaded by Nazi Germany in May 1940 and occupied until the end of 1944.