For many years, the history of Byelorussia under Nazi occupation was
written primarily from the perspective of the resistance movement. This
movement, a reaction to the brutal occupation policies, was very strong
indeed. Still, as the author shows, there existed in Byelorussia a whole
web of local institutions and organizations which, some willingly,
others with reservations, participated in the implementation of various
aspects of occupation policies. The very sensitivity of the topic of
collaboration has prevented researchers from approaching it for many
years, not least because in the former Soviet territories ideological
considerations have played an important role in preserving the topic's
"untouchable" status. Focusing on the attitude of German authorities
toward the Byelorussians, marked by their anti-Slavic and particularly
anti-Byelorussian prejudices on the one hand and the motives of
Byelorussian collaborators on the other, the author clearly shows that
notwithstanding the postwar trend to marginalize the phenomenon of
collaboration or to silence it altogether, the local collaboration in
Byelorussia was clearly visible and pervaded all spheres of life under
the occupation.