quislings

Traitors aiding occupiers

Quislings are traitors who collaborate with occupying enemy forces, especially by serving in a puppet government.

The term comes from Vidkun Quisling, who headed Norway's Nazi-collaborationist regime during World War II.

The word carries intense contempt—quisling suggests not just betrayal but active cooperation with an enemy against one's own people: The resistance fighters vowed to expose the quislings among them.

traitors

turncoat

One who betrays allegiance

collaboratorOne who works jointly
betrayerOne who breaks allegiance
defectorOne who abandons allegiance

renegade · double-crosser · backstabber · informant · sellout · Judas · rat · fink · snake · double-dealer

betrayal

treason

Betraying one's nation

treacheryDeliberate violation of trust
collaborationJoint intellectual work
perfidyDeliberate breach of trust

disloyalty · sedition · subversion · defection · double-cross · backstabbing · collusion · complicity · connivance · sellout

occupation

Nazi

German fascist party member

WehrmachtNazi Germany's armed forces
collaborationistCooperator with enemy forces
puppetControlled performing figure

regime · resistance · Norway · WWII · Gestapo · appeasement · capitulation · surrender · subjugation · complicity

infamy

disgrace

Loss of honor

shamePainful awareness of failure
dishonorLoss of respect
notorietyFame from misdeeds

ignominy · stigma · odium · disrepute · pariah · outcast · vilification · opprobrium · infamy · anathema

Opposites

loyalty and resistance

quislingsresistance fighters

Armed opponents of occupation

partisans · patriots · freedom fighters · loyalists · resisters

moral character in crisis

quislingsheroes

Admired courageous figures

martyrs · freedom fighters · liberators · saviors · defenders

Family

quisling

Familiarity: Top 1,000,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Negative · Rated PG