Little has been written about collaboration with the Nazi occupiers in eastern Europe. Using new material from former Soviet archives, the issue of the security police in Estonia is presented as a case study. The commander of the German security police deliberately set up a structure whereby German and Estonian police officers worked closely together, thereby minimising the need for German personnel. Although the security police dealt with the issues which were politically and ideologically the most important, non-Germans like Estonians were accepted as collaborators.