Editing Pursuit of Nazi collaborators

{{Short description|Pursuit of non-German Nazi collaborators after WWII}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2013}}
{{Cleanup rewrite|many of the "sentences" are only phrases|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}

The '''pursuit of Nazi collaborators''' refers to the post-World War II pursuit and apprehension of individuals who were not citizens of the [[Third Reich]] at the outbreak of [[World War II]] but [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborated]] with the [[Nazism|Nazi]] regime during the war. Hence, this article does not cover former members of the [[Nazi Party|NSDAP]] and their fates after the war.

== Background ==
There were a number of motives for the apprehension of suspected collaborators. The main motives were: revenge for those murdered, especially those murdered on ethnic grounds in the Holocaust (principally among [[Jew]]s, [[Polish people|Poles]], and [[Russians]]); a desire after the war to see those responsible face justice, and be categorised as criminals by a court of law (See [[Nuremberg Trials]]); a means of ensuring that criminal acts done were brought to light and placed on the official record, with evidence, so that they could never be disproven (some of the acts being so unthinkable that [[Holocaust denial|denial]] was plausible); widespread sense that genocide of whole communities and cultures on such a scale was intolerable and must not be left unprosecuted even despite the inadequacy of existing laws; and fear that a "Nazi underground" of some kind existed, such as the mythical [[ODESSA]], which could allow the enemy to somehow regroup for their proclaimed [[Fourth Reich]]. <ref>{{Citation |title=Anti-fascism |date=2023-05-27 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anti-fascism&oldid=1157226885 |work=Wikipedia |access-date=2023-06-09 |language=en}}</ref>

== Means of pursuit ==
The pursuit took many forms, both individual and organised. Several organisations and individuals (famous [[Nazi hunter]]s) pursued ex-Nazis or Nazi [[Collaborationism|collaborators]] who allegedly engaged in [[war crime]]s or [[crimes against humanity]]. Individuals reported seeing someone they recognised, now living under a false identity. Specific individuals were named and sought by groups or governments for their crimes during the war.

Others were subject to after-war spontaneous retaliation in occupied countries, which in some areas led to "[[witch hunts]]" for those suspected of having been collaborators, in which vigilantism and summary justice were common. After a first period of spontaneous pursuit, provisional governments took the matter into their own hands and brought suspected criminals to court. The Nuremberg Trial in Germany judged only the highest German Nazi authorities, and each country prosecuted and sentenced their own collaborationists. [[Pierre Laval]] in France was judged and sentenced to death, while [[Philippe Pétain]] was also sentenced to death, but [[Charles de Gaulle]] later commuted that to a life sentence. Governments investigated and interrogated people suspected of collaboration, for example the [[Office of Special Investigations (United States Department of Justice)|U.S. DOJ Office of Special Investigations]].

Nazi support and escape organisations were infiltrated; the most famous was the [[ODESSA]] network, its various "[[Ratlines (history)|ratlines]]" and those believed to have aided and abetted them. However, many suspected war criminals were also given amnesty, and some reached high positions in post-war administrations (e.g. [[Maurice Papon]], who became [[Préfecture de police|Police Prefect of Paris]] in charge during the [[Algerian War]] (1954–62); he was blamed for the [[1961 Paris massacre]]). Others were never even tried, such as [[Robert de Foy]] who resumed his position as head of the [[Belgian State Security Service]] 1945–1958.

== Pursuit in specific countries ==
=== Argentina ===
In March 1998, [[Ustaše|Ustasha]] [[Dinko Šakić]], the former commandant of [[Jasenovac concentration camp]] (nicknamed the "Auschwitz of the Balkans"), was interviewed on national television in Argentina, where he had lived for over 50 years. During the interview, he admitted to his leadership position, but denied killing anyone. The interview caused a public uproar. In May 1998, Šakić was arrested by Argentine police. The following month, he was extradited to [[Croatia]]. In 1999, a Zagreb court sentenced him to 20 years in prison for his crimes. Šakić died in prison in 2008.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22509603-5006789,00.html |title=Testimony 'clears' Zentai's name |date=1 October 2007 |author=Paige Taylor |access-date=22 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013163848/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22509603-5006789,00.html |archive-date=13 October 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Australia ===
Latvia applied to Australia to extradite [[Konrāds Kalējs]], allegedly a senior officer in the pro-Nazi [[Arajs Commando]], but he died on 8 November 2001 before he could be extradited. Kalējs migrated to Australia in 1950 and took citizenship. [[Hungary]] applied for the extradition of [[Charles Zentai]] from Australia. He was accused of the murder of Peter Balazs, an 18-year-old [[Judaism|Jewish]] man, in [[Budapest]] in November 1944, while serving in the [[Military of Hungary#Mid-twentieth century|Hungarian Army]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jan/08/secondworldwar.argentina |title=The hunt for Doctor Death |first1=Rory |last1=Carroll |first2=Uki |last2=Goñi |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=8 January 2008 |access-date=22 June 2013}}</ref>

=== Belgium ===
[[Belgium]] imprisoned Belgian nationals who had collaborated with the Nazis and executed some. One Belgian to be sentenced to execution was [[Pierre Daye]]; however, he was one of the first Nazi collaborators to escape Europe, and unusually by plane. He fled to Argentina with the help of [[Charles Lescat]], also collaborator of ''[[Je suis partout]]''.<ref name=extradiciones>{{cite web|url=http://www.argentina-rree.com/portal/archivos/justicia01.htm|title=Introducción|work=argentina-rree.com|access-date=27 December 2007|archive-date=2 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002172357/http://www.argentina-rree.com/portal/archivos/justicia01.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Once in Argentina he attended a meeting organised by [[Juan Perón]] in the ''[[Casa Rosada]]'' during which a network (colloquially called [[ratlines (history)|ratlines]]) was created, to organise the escape of collaborators and former Nazis.<ref name=PaginaUki>{{cite web|url=http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-14198-2002-12-15.html|title=La Odessa que creó Perón|publisher= [[Pagina/12]]|date= 15 December 2002|language= es}}</ref> On 17 June 1947, Belgium requested his [[extradition]] from Argentina; however, the Argentine Government ignored this request. Now secure in his freedom, Pierre Daye resumed his writing activities, becoming the editor of an official [[Peronism|Perónist]] review.<ref name="autogenerated1"/><ref name=Time>[[Mark Falcoff]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20000816183001/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/981109/latin_america.perons_na30a.html Perón's Nazi Ties], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', 9 November 1998, vol 152, n°19 {{in lang|en}}</ref>

[[Henri de Man]] was one of the leading Belgian [[Socialism|socialist]] theoreticians of his period, who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. After the liberation of Belgium, he crossed the border to [[Switzerland]].<ref name=classiques>{{cite web|first=Jean-Marie|last=Tremblay|url=http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/de_man_henri/de_man_henri_photo/de_man_henri_photo.html|title=Henri de Man, 1885–1953, Professeur à l'Université libre de Bruxelles, Député et ministre dans le parlement belge|language=fr|work= [[University of Quebec]]|date= 9 October 2006 }} ([https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fclassiques.uqac.ca%2Fclassiques%2Fde_man_henri%2Fde_man_henri_photo%2Fde_man_henri_photo.html&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Google translation])</ref> He was convicted ''[[trial in absentia|in absentia]]'' of [[treason]] after the war. He died on 20 June 1953, together with his wife, in a collision with a train in [[Murten]], Switzerland.<ref name=classiques/>

[[Albert Luykx]] fled to the [[Republic of Ireland]] in 1948 and became an Irish citizen in 1954.

=== Czechoslovakia ===
Actions against Nazi collaborators in Czechoslovakia, real or alleged, had two significant forms, by judiciary or by mob action. Immediately after the liberation of Czechoslovakia by [[Red Army|Soviet]] and American armies, in an atmosphere of chaos, wild chases began. Individual acts of revenge, mob violence, and simply criminal acts motivated by the possibility to rob or loot targets, occurred. In some places were conducted, by organised groups of self-styled [[Partisan (military)|partisan]]s, violence which resembled what is today known as [[ethnic cleansing]]. In most places this stopped when the provisional Czech government and local authorities took power. Other forms included legal action, undertaken by the state administration, after the war, until the regular Czech parliament was established. [[Edvard Beneš|President Beneš]] ruled by issuing [[Talk:Beneš decrees|decrees]], which were later ratified by parliament.

By decree ''5/1945'', property of untrustworthy persons was put under national administration. Untrustworthy were considered German and Hungarian nationals, and people who were active in destruction of the Czechoslovak state and its democratic government, supported Nazi occupation by any means, or were members of organisations considered fascist or collaborator. By the same decree, property of people of German and Hungarian nationality, who could prove they were anti-Nazi, could be returned to them.

By decree ''12/1945 Sb.'', farm property of German and Hungarian nationals or citizens was confiscated, unless they could prove active resistance against Nazism. Property of ''traitors, and enemies of the republic'' was confiscated, regardless of nationality or citizenship. By decree ''16/1945 Sb.'', special tribunals were started. These people's courts had right to sentence to long term imprisonment, life sentence or death. Prosecutions varied from verbal support to those who had committed crimes against humanity, no prosecution was based on ethnicity. By ''33/1945 Sb.'' people of German and Hungarian nationality or ethnicity lost their Czechoslovak citizenship. However, they had right to apply for renewal.

Most problematic was the law ''115/1946'', concerning resistance to the Nazi regime, which shifted limit of immunity to the year 1946, effectively amnestying all crimes, acts of individual revenge and atrocities against Germans and Hungarians long after the war.

People who lost Czechoslovak citizenship and failed to apply or did not get it were [[population transfer|transferred]] to Germany, many through the [[transfer camp]] established at [[Terezín]], near the [[Theresienstadt concentration camp]].

=== Estonia ===
In the [[Estonian war crimes trials]] of 1961 and 1962, several collaborators were sentenced for participation in the [[Holocaust in Estonia|Estonian holocaust]]. Many of the accused escaped punishment by escaping into exile or by suicide. The infamous [[Karl Linnas]], who had been sentenced to death in absentia, was finally deported by the United States in 1987, and died in a prison hospital shortly after.

=== France ===
{{Further|Épuration légale}}
[[File:Laval-shot0038.png|thumb|left|[[Pierre Laval]] and [[Philippe Pétain|Pétain]] in the [[Frank Capra]] documentary film ''[[Divide and Conquer (newsreel)|Divide and Conquer]]'' (1943)]]

After the liberation, France was briefly swept by a wave of executions of suspected collaborators. At least some of the women suspected of having [[horizontal collaboration|romantic liaisons with Germans]] were publicly humiliated by having their heads shaved. Those who had engaged in the [[black market]] were also stigmatised as "[[war profiteer]]s" (''profiteurs de guerre''). However, the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]] (GPRF, 1944–46) quickly reestablished order and brought collaborators before the courts. Many of the convicted were later granted [[amnesty]] under the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]] (1946–1954), while some prominent civil servants, such as [[Maurice Papon]], escaped prosecution altogether and succeeded in holding important positions even under [[Charles de Gaulle]] and the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]] (1958 and afterward).

Between 1944 and 1951, official courts in France sentenced 6,763 people to death (3,910 in absentia) for treason and other offences, and 791 executions were actually carried out. More common was [[Dégradation nationale|"national degradation,"]] a loss of face and civil rights, which was meted out to 49,723 people.<ref>Judt, Tony, Postwar: ''A History of Europe Since 1945'', Pimlico (London: 2007), p. 46.</ref>

Philippe Pétain, the former head of [[Vichy France]], was charged with treason in July 1945. He was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad, but Charles de Gaulle commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. [[Pierre Laval]] was however, executed after his trial. Most convicted people were given amnesty a few years later. In the police, collaborators often resumed official responsibilities. For example, Maurice Papon, who would be convicted in the 1990s for his role in the Vichy collaborationist government, was in the position of giving orders for the [[Paris massacre of 1961]] as the head of the Parisian police.

The French members of the Waffen-SS [[SS Division Charlemagne|''Charlemagne'' Division]] who survived the war were regarded as traitors. Some of the more prominent officers were executed, while the rank-and-file were given prison terms; some of them were given the option of serving time in [[Indochina War|Indochina]] (1946–54) with the [[Légion étrangère|Foreign Legion]] instead of prison.

Many war criminals were judged only in the 1980s, including [[Paul Touvier]], [[Klaus Barbie]], Maurice Papon and his deputy [[Jean Leguay]]. The last two were both convicted for their roles in the July 1942 ''Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv'', or [[Vel' d'Hiv Roundup]]. Famous [[Nazi hunter]]s [[Serge and Beate Klarsfeld]] spent decades trying to bring them to justice. A fair number of collaborationists joined the [[Organisation de l'armée secrète|OAS]] terrorist movement during the [[Algerian War]] (1954–62). [[Jacques de Bernonville]] escaped to Quebec, then Brazil. [[Jacques Ploncard d'Assac]] became a counselor of [[António de Oliveira Salazar|Salazar]] in Portugal.

Reliable statistics of the death toll do not exist. At the low end, one estimate is that approximately 10,500 were executed, before and after liberation. "The courts of Justice pronounced about 6,760 death sentences, 3,910 in absentia and 2,853 in the presence of the accused. Of these 2,853, 73 percent were commuted by de Gaulle, and 767 carried out. In addition, about 770 executions were ordered by the military tribunals. Thus the total number of people executed before and after the Liberation was approximately 10,500, including those killed in the épuration sauvage",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Julian |title=France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944 |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=US |isbn=978-0199254576 |url=https://archive.org/details/france00juli }}{{rp|577}}</ref> notably including members and leaders of the [[milice]]s. US forces put the number of "summary executions" following liberation at 80,000. The French Minister of the Interior at the time, March 1945, reported that the number executed was 105,000.<ref>{{Cite book|title=France: the tragic years, 1939–1947, an eyewitness account of war and occupation|last=Huddleston|first=Sisley|date=1955|publisher=Devin-Adair|location=New York|page=299|oclc=1034908484}}</ref> Modern scholarship estimates a total number of summary executions between 10,000 and 15,000.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pendas |first1=Devin O. |title=Seeking Justice, Finding Law: Nazi Trials in Postwar Europe |journal=The Journal of Modern History |date=June 2009 |volume=81 |issue=2 |page=356 |doi=10.1086/598922}}</ref>

=== Greece ===
{{See also|Axis occupation of Greece during World War II}}

Greece was under the control of the Third Reich from 1941 to 1944. After the liberation, the country followed a controversial period of [[denazification]]. Many collaborators and especially former leaders of the Nazi-held puppet regime in Athens were sentenced to death. General [[Georgios Tsolakoglou]], the first collaborationist prime minister, was tried by the Greek Special Collaborators Court in 1945 and sentenced to death, but his penalty, like most death sentences, was commuted to life imprisonment. The second collaborationist leader, [[Konstantinos Logothetopoulos]], who had fled to Germany after the Wehrmacht's withdrawal, was caught by the US military and was condemned to life imprisonment. In 1951, he was given parole and thus died outside prison. [[Ioannis Rallis]], the third collaborationist prime minister, was tried on a treason charge; the court sentenced him to life imprisonment. However, several lower and middle figures that had collaborated with the Germans, especially members of the [[Security Battalions]] and the gendarmerie, were soon released and reinstated in their posts; in the developing [[Greek Civil War]], their anti-Communist credentials were more important than their collaboration. Indeed, in many cases the same people who had collaborated with the Germans and staffed the post-war security establishment persecuted leftist former Resistance members.

Furthermore, during 1945, a Special Court on Collaborators in [[Ioannina]] condemned, [[trial in absentia|in absentia]],<ref name = Konidaris>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=yoaOAAAAMAAJ&q=absentia Examining policy responses to immigration in the light of interstate relations and foreign policy objectives: Greece and Albania]". In King, Russell, & Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers (eds). ''The new Albanian migration''. Sussex Academic. p. 16.</ref> 1,930 [[Cham Albanians|Cham]] [[Cham Albanian collaboration with the Axis|collaborators of the Axis]] to death (decision no. 344/1945).<ref>[[#King|King 2005]]: 67</ref> The next year the same court condemned an additional 179.<ref>Ktistakis, Yiorgos. "Τσάμηδες – Τσαμουριά. Η ιστορία και τα εγκλήματα τους" [Chams – Chameria. Their History and Crimes]</ref> However, the war crimes remained unpunished since the criminals had already fled abroad.

=== Israel ===
{{main|Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law}}
Israel enacted the [[Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law]] on 1 August 1950. Between 1950 and 1961, this law was used to prosecute around 40 Jewish [[Kapo (concentration camp)|Kapos]] proven to have been Nazi collaborators.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ben-Naftali|first1=Orna|last2=Tuval|first2=Yogev|date=2006-03-01|title=Punishing International Crimes Committed by the Persecuted: The Kapo Trials in Israel (1950s–1960s)|location=Rochester, NY|ssrn=915708|journal=Journal of International Criminal Justice|pages=128–178|volume=4|issue=1|doi=10.1093/jicj/mqi022}}</ref> In 1988, [[John Demjanjuk]] was sentenced to death as well, but the guilty verdict was later overturned by the Supreme Court on 29 July 1993.

On 23 February 1965, [[Latvia]]n aviator and Nazi collaborator [[Herberts Cukurs]] was assassinated by the [[Mossad]], the Israeli foreign intelligence service, after being lured to [[Uruguay]] under the pretense of starting an aviation business.

=== Norway ===
{{main|Legal purge in Norway after World War II}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Moebius-029-12, Norwegen, Besuch Himmler, Terboven und Quisling.jpg|thumb|alt=A black and white image of a group of men, most of whom are dressed in the uniforms of military officers. One man, seated towards the front is the only man not in uniform and is dressed in a dark coloured suit.|[[Heinrich Himmler]] visited Norway in 1941. Seated (from left to right) are [[Quisling]], [[Himmler]], [[Terboven]], and General [[Nikolaus von Falkenhorst]], the commander of the German forces in Norway.]]
[[Vidkun Quisling]], the war time Norwegian "[[Minister President]]", and, among others, [[Nasjonal Samling]] leaders [[Albert Viljam Hagelin]] and [[Ragnar Skancke]], were convicted and [[execution by firing squad|executed by firing squad]]. A total of 45 people were sentenced to death and 37 were executed (25 Norwegians and 12 Germans). Both at the time and later these sentences were the subject of some debate, since the decision to reintroduce capital punishment to the Norwegian legal system for the post war trials was based on clauses in military law. Capital punishment in the Criminal Code had been abolished in 1904. The decision was made by the exiled Norwegian government in London in 1944, later to be debated three times in the Parliament during the trials, and to be confirmed by the Supreme Court.

=== Poland ===
In [[German occupation of Poland|occupied Poland]] the status of ''[[Volksdeutsche]]'' had many privileges but one big disadvantage: ''Volksdeutsche'' were conscripted into the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|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.

After the war, Volksdeutsche of Polish origins were treated by Poles with special contempt, and also considered [[traitor]]s according to [[Polish law]]. [[German citizen]]s that remained on territory of Poland became as a group ''[[persona non grata|personae non gratae]]''. They had a choice of applying for [[Polish citizenship]] or being expelled to Germany. The property that belonged to Germans, German companies and [[German states]], was confiscated by the [[Polish state]] along with many other properties in [[Communist Poland]].

German owners, as explicitly stated by the law, were not eligible for any [[Compensation (nationalization)|compensation]]. Those who decided to apply became subject to a verification process. At the beginning of the process, many acts of violence against Volksdeutsche took place. However, soon the verification of Volksdeutsche became controlled by the juridical process and was completed in a more controlled manner.

=== Soviet Union ===
[[File:Vlassof.Himmler.jpg|thumb|right|[[Andrey Vlasov]] and [[Himmler]]]]{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2024}}
Russian and other Soviet members of the [[Russian Liberation Army]] and the [[Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia]], such as [[Andrey Vlasov]], were pursued, tried, and were either sent to [[Gulag]] prison camps or executed.

Many Soviet [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were seen to have collaborated with the Nazis, even if they had done no more than been captured by the [[Wehrmacht]], and spent the war in a camp. Many such unfortunate Soviet citizens were persecuted upon their repatriation to the Soviet Union. In general, after a short trial, if they were not executed, Nazi collaborators were imprisoned in [[Gulag]] [[labor camp|forced labour camp]]s.

The [[Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] was abolished and [[Volga Germans]] were banished from their settlements on the [[Volga River]] with many being deported to [[Kazakhstan]] or [[Siberia]].

=== United Kingdom ===
[[Image:The Capture of William Joyce, Germany, 1945 BU6910.jpg|thumb|[[William Joyce]], who was "[[Lord Haw-Haw]]" to British wartime listeners, now silenced and under arrest, lies in an ambulance under armed guard before being taken from [[British Second Army#Germany, 1945|British Second Army]] headquarters to a hospital.]]

At the end of the war a number of individuals were tried by the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] for [[high treason]]. These included members of the [[Waffen-SS]] [[British Free Corps]] and [[William Joyce]], better known as [[Lord Haw-Haw]]. As agreed at the [[Yalta Conference]], the British handed back many Soviet citizens to the Soviet authorities for trial. Some of these were collaborators who had served in the pro-Nazi [[Russian Liberation Army]]. A controversy would emerge years later, as some of those handed over were [[White movement|White Russians]] and [[Cossacks]] who had never been Soviet citizens, and who were subsequently murdered by the Soviet authorities. Yugoslav collaborators were handed over to [[Josip Broz Tito]]'s forces in the [[Bleiburg repatriations]], with many being imprisoned while some killed as a result.

[[Viktors Arājs]], who was the leader of the eponymous commando unit which helped the Nazis murder the Jews of Latvia and Belarus, had been captured in the British zone of occupied Germany after the war, and was released in 1949 after spending several years in a [[prisoner-of-war camp]], the British being ignorant to his true identity. He remained at large until 1979 when the [[West Germany|West German government]] put him on trial. One of Arajs's deputies, Harijs Svikeris, settled in Britain after the war and in the 1990s was thought to be a strong candidate to be prosecuted under the [[War Crimes Act 1991|War Crimes Act]], but he died before being prosecuted.

In 1961 [[Ain-Ervin Mere]] was [[Estonian war crimes trials|put on trial]] in the Soviet Union for his role in the murder of 5,000 foreign Jews in [[Estonia]], but the request for extradition was refused by the British government, claiming that the Soviet government had insufficient evidence. On 1 April 1999, [[Anthony Sawoniuk]] was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murdering 18 Jews in Britain's first Nazi war crimes trial. Sawoniuk had led "search-and-kill" police squads to hunt down Jews trying to escape after nearly 3,000 were massacred at Domachevo in Nazi-occupied [[Belarus]] during September 1942. He died in prison on 7 November 2005 at the age of 84.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4413786.stm|title=Nazi war criminal dies in Britain|publisher=BBC News|access-date=5 November 2010|date=7 November 2005}}</ref>

=== Yugoslavia ===
The reprisals for collaboration with the Nazis were particularly harsh in Yugoslavia, because collaborators were also on the losing side of a ''de facto'' civil war fought on the Yugoslav territory during the war. The Communists executed many [[Ustashe]], as well as their collaborators, particularly in the [[Bleiburg death marches]].

After the war, the [[UDBA]], Yugoslavia's [[secret police]], was sent overseas to find and eliminate several former Ustashe who fled the country, including the leader of the Ustashe and their [[Independent State of Croatia|pro-Nazi government]], [[Ante Pavelić]]. They conducted a successful assassination of [[Vjekoslav Luburić]] and others, and the extradition of [[Zdenko Blažeković]], [[Andrija Artuković]], and others.

== See also ==
* [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II]]
* [[Denazification]]
* [[Deschênes Commission]]
* [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II]]
* [[Jacob Luitjens]]
* [[List of SS personnel]]

== References and notes ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* Martin Mauthner. ''Otto Abetz and His Paris Acolytes: French Writers Who Flirted with Fascism, 1930–1945.'' (Sussex Academic Press, 2016). {{ISBN|978-1-84519-784-1}}

== External links ==
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/307921.stm BBC: UK Life for war criminal Anthony Sawoniuk]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pursuit of Nazi Collaborators}}
[[Category:Aftermath of World War II]]
[[Category:Anti-fascism]]
[[Category:Collaborators with Nazi Germany|*]]
[[Category:Political and cultural purges]]
[[Category:Politics of World War II]]