War, occupation, and colonialism are common book themes. But these stories are often told from the perspective of innocent victims/courageous resisters or glorious victors/nefarious perpetrators. I’m interested in suggestions of historical fiction or non-fiction told from the perspective of collaborators, who have elements of both perpetrator and victim.
I’m thinking here about wartime collaborators in an occupied country; a privileged merchant ethnic class during a colonial regime; kapos in the ghettos, etc. People who were not primarily responsible for their situation, but nevertheless have some amount of agency to make moral or immoral decisions.
Collaborators are not generally seen as particularly honorable, especially in hindsight, so I understand why there aren’t many stories written from their perspective (or maybe there are and I just can’t think of many). But perhaps because it’s so shameful and hidden, I’d like to get more insight into what they thought and felt.
An example I read recently was narrated from the point of view of a Chinese child during the end of the Dutch colonial occupation of what would soon become Indonesia (Only a Girl by Liam Gouw).
Are there more books like this? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
by kondsaga