Collaborationism Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy force s against one ' s country . Stanley Hoffmann subdivided collaboration onto According to him , collaborationism can be subdivied onto the former is a deliberate service to an enemy , whereas the latter is a deliberate advocacy of co - operation with the foreign force which is seen as a champion of some desirable domestic transformations . < br > In contrast , Bertram Gordon used the terms " collaborator " and " collaborationist " for non - ideological and ideological collaborations , respectively . 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 complicit y with the occupying power in murder , persecution s , pillage , and economic exploitation or participation in a puppet government . Etymology . The term collaborate dates from 1871 , and is a back - formation from collaborator ( 1802 ) , from the French " collaborateur " as used during the Napoleonic Wars against smuggler s trading with England and assisting in the escape of monarchists , and is itself derived from the Latin " collaboratus " , past participle of " collaborare " " work with " , from " com " - " with " + " labore " " to work . " The meaning of " traitorous cooperation with the enemy " dates from 1940 , originally in reference to the Vichy Government of France and those who cooperated with or helped the Nazis , following the French defeat in the Battle of France . World War II . France . In France , a distinction emerged between the " collaborateur " and the " collaborationniste " . The latter expression is mainly used to describe individuals enrolled in pseudo - Nazi parties , often based in Paris , who had an overwhelming belief in fascist ideology or were simply anti - communists . " Collaborateurs " on the other hand , could engage in collaboration for a number of more pragmatic reasons , such as preventing infrastructure damage for use by the occupation forces or personal ambition , and were not necessarily believers in fascism per se . Arch - collaborators like Pierre Laval or René Bousquet are thus distinct from collaborationists . Recent research by the British historian , Simon Kitson , has shown that French authorities did not wait until the Liberation to begin pursuing collaborationists . The Vichy government , itself heavily engaged in collaboration , arrested around 2000 individuals on charges of passing information to the Germans . Their reasons for doing so was to centralise collaboration to ensure that the state maintained a monopoly in Franco - German relations and to defend sovereignty so that they could negotiate from a position of strength . It was among the many compromises that the government engaged along the way . Low countries . The collaborators in Belgium were chiefly Walloons organized into the Rexist movement . There was an active collaboration movement in the Netherlands . Norway . Vidkun Quisling ( 1887 – 1945 ) , a senior officer in the Norwegian Army and former minister of defence , served the Nazis as prime minister . He gave his name to the high profile government collaborator . Greece . After the German invasion of Greece , a Nazi - held government was put in place . All three quisling prime ministers , ( Georgios Tsolakoglou , Konstantinos Logothetopoulos and Ioannis Rallis ) , cooperated with the Axis authorities . Small but active Greek National - Socialist parties , like the Greek National Socialist Party , or openly anti - semitic organisations , like the National Union of Greece , helped German authorities fight the Resistance , and identify and deport Greek Jews . Yugoslavia . Main collaborationist regime in Yugoslavia was the Independent State of Croatia , a puppet - state semi - independent of Nazi Germany . Leon Rupnik ( 1880 – 1946 ) was a Slovene general who collaborated as he took control of the semi - independent region of the Italian - occupied southern Slovenia known as the Province of Ljubljana , which came under German control in 1943 . Celebrities . High - profile collaborators included Dutch actor Johannes Heesters or English - language radio - personality William Joyce ( the most widely known Lord Haw - Haw ) . Postwar Europe . Post - World War II Soviet - occupied Eastern Europe saw institutions and individuals collaborating with occupying Soviet forces until the Soviet - backed regimes in their countries collapsed in 1989 and 1990 . More recent examples of collaboration , according to some , have included institutions and individuals in Afghanistan who collaborated with the Soviet occupation until 1989 and individuals in Iraq and Afghanistan today who continue to work with American forces . Among Palestinians . In Palestinian society , collaboration with Israel is viewed as a serious offence and social stain . Suspects have even on occasion been killed . In addition , during the period of 2007 – 2009 , around 30 Palestinians have been sentenced to death in court on collaboration - related charges , although the sentences have not been carried out . In June 2009 , Raed Sualha , a 15 - year - old Palestinian boy , was brutally tortured and hanged by his family because they suspected him of collaborating with Israel . Palestinian authorities launched an investigation into the case and arrested the perpetrators . Police said it was unlikely that such a young boy would have been recruited as an informer .