About collaborationism in the years of the Great Patriotic War

Abstract

The article presents the main events regarding the little-studied collaborationist movement during the Great Patriotic War. Based on new sources, the author reveals the reasons for the emergence of collaborationism, its main directions and political motives. The reasons, such as the mistakes of the Soviet leadership in domestic life and national policy, the major defeats of the Red Army at the beginning of the war, as well as the enemy’s political and ideological work, indicate the fact that a significant part of the Soviet citizens went to cooperate with the enemy. During the war years, from the captured Soviet soldiers stationed in camps, representatives of the peoples of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Crimea, the Germans formed significant armed forces that served the invaders. In the ranks of these armed formations from the very beginning there were people who were deliberately traitors, as well as many people who set the goal of getting rid of the Soviet totalitarian regime with the help of the Germans, there were also representatives of different peoples who wanted to achieve national independence. Therefore, the collaborationist movement that arose during the Great Patriotic War should be considered as a special phenomenon. Consequently, this article aims to provide an objective coverage of the events associated with this movement.