Europe on Trial: The Story of Collaboration, Resistance, and Retribution during World War II

Foreword by Norman M. Naimark

In Europe on Trial, acclaimed historian István Deák presents the comparative history of collaboration, retribution, and resistance during World War II. Deák explores these three themes through the Western and Eastern European countries that suffered at the hands of German military occupation. The occupied countries had to face the question of whether to cooperate with their German occupiers, try to survive the war without any political involvement, or risk their lives by opposing the Nazis. Deák delves deep into the decisions that various countries and individuals made during this critical time. Following the brutal war, Deák discusses the purging of the ancient régime through lynching, acts of private vengeance, denunciation, firings, forced retirements, deprivation of citizens’ rights, expulsions, mass deportations, arbitrary internment, and judicial proceedings including the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal from 1945-1946, which judged the principal German war criminals. Europe on Trial helps us to understand the many moral consequences both during and immediately following World War II.