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The Conversation
The Conversation
Jan Lanicek, Associate Professor in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW Sydney

What leads people to collaborate with the enemy? Ian Buruma's latest history considers three troubling examples

Yoshiko Kawashima, Felix Kersten and Friedrich Weinreb. Sven Appel/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Who is a collaborator? What leads people to collaborate with the enemy in times of war? How do they justify their actions? These questions are at the core of an insightful comparative biography by the prolific, award-winning Dutch writer Ian Buruma.

Buruma has published numerous popular works of modern history, bridging the geographic divide between Asia and Europe. Such accounts have the potential to offer nuanced insights into global developments.

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