Pursuit of Nazi collaborators
Several organizations have hunted for and pursued people they suspected to be Nazi collaborators, alleging complicity in Nazi war crimes. Controversy surrounds this matter, with some advocates labeling these hunts as "persecutions". Other advocates call the hunts just vengeance for the Holocaust.
The hunt for Nazi collaborators, according to some advocates took the form of organised persecution of ethnic Germans under the guise of a "World War II traitors hunt" in the countries of Europe, formerly occupied by Germany, was the most harsh in the Soviet Union and countries of Eastern Europe, were Nazi occupation was the most merciless, and refers to the organised persecution of people that either were listed as Volksdeutsche or listed by Soviet Union and its satellites as collaborators and therefore were allegedly helping Nazi Germany ín achieving its WW2 goals. The alleged traitors (and the bulk of the German nation) were treated with moral contempt, because of German crimes against humanity.
The general policies were outlined by the decisions of Potsdam Conference and its decision to force German expulsions outside German borders, regardless of history of the guilt or innocence of the population. Each country implemented the individual policies:
Soviet Union
In general, alleged German collaborators (and other ethnic Germans) were imprisoned in Gulag forced labor camps.
Poland
In occupied Poland the status of Volksdeutsche 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 persona non grata. Their had a choice of applying for Polish citizenship or being expulsed to Germany. The property, that belonged to Germans, German companies and German state, was confiscated by Polish state, along with many other properties in communist Poland. German owners, as explicit were stated by the law, were not eligible for any compensation. Those, who decided to apply, become subject of verification process. At the beginning many acts of violence against Volksdeutsche happened. However, soon the verification of Volksdeutsche became controlled by the juridical process and were completed in rather fair manner.
Actions against Nazi collaborators, real or alleged, had two significant forms.
Immediately after liberation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet and American armies, in atmosphere of chaos, wild chase started. Individual revenge, mob violence, and simply criminal acts motivated by possibility to rob or loot, took place. In some places, where conducted by organized groups of self-styled partisans, violence resembled what is today known as ethnic cleansing. In most places this stopped when provisional Czechoslovak government and local authorities took power.
Other form were legal action, undertaken by state administration. After war, until regular Czechoslovak parliament was set up, president Benes ruled by issuing decrees. These were later ratified by parliament.
By decree 5/1945 property of untrustworthy persons was put under national administration. Untrustworthy were considered German and Hungarin nationals, people who were active in destruction of 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 Hungarin nationality, who could prove they were anti-nazi, should have been returned to them.
By decree 12/1945 Sb. farm property of German and Hungarin nationals or citizens was confiscated, unless they could prove active resistance against nacism. Property of treators, and enemies of republic was confiscated no matter what nationality or citizenship.
By decree 16/1945 Sb. special tribunals were set up. These people courts had right to sentence to long term imprisonment, life sentence or death. Prosecuted were
- traitors, members of SS, FS and similar organizations, NSDAP or SdP, those who supported Nazi movement by any means, including verbal support or advocacy of occupation
- who committed crimes against humanity, contributed to false imprisonment, ordered forced labour
- informants, or anyone who caused imprisonment of any citizen
No prosecution was based on ethnicity. However, many Sudeten Germans were members of SdP or voiced support for annextion of Sudetenland by Third Reich.
By 33/1945 Sb. people od German and Hungarian nationality or ethnicity lost Czechoslovakian citizenship. However, they had right to apply for renewal.
Most problematic is the law 115/1946 about resistance against Nazi regime, which shifted limit of immunity to year 1946, effectively amnesting all crimes, acts of individual revenge and atrocities against Germans and Hungarians long after war.
People, who lost Czechoslovakian citizenship and did not apply for new or had not get it, were transferred to Germany. (Population transfers are discussed in article Expulsion of Germans after World War II).
The children of Norwegian mothers and German soldiers were persecuted after the war, see Children of the Nazi era
After the liberation, France was swept with the wave of assassinations of the people connected with Vichy regime. Women who were suspected of having romantic liaisons with Nazi officers or soldiers were publicly humiliated by having their heads shaved.