On the basis of the literature, the author presents the process of epuration, i.e. the punishment of collaborationists, in Western European countries after the Second World War. An introductory presentation of the phenomenon of collaborationism and related legal, civilizational and moral problems which both resistance movements and new democratic authorities had to face after the war, is followed by a detailed description of the ways the authorities in Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg and France dealt with collaborationists. The data regarding the number of the collaborationists who were sentenced and executed, both with or without a trial, are also quoted.