0 someone who treats a particular group of people cruelly:
That is, he traces the historical development of the persecution, and of the bizarre fantasies which the minds of the persecutors entertained about their victims.
This work is more about the persecutors than their victims.
There was a trend for higher levels of depression to be associated with higher ratings of the power of the persecutor.
Christians might be persecuted but, while the persecuted were blessed, the persecutors certainly were not.
It is obvious that the values of enlightened history were at odds with those of even competent persecutors.
He was, in a sickness unto death of logic, or reciprocity, the provocation to, the occasion of, his persecutors' descent into animality.
Indeed, because of the incessant and often brutal raids for liquor and passes, the police were commonly regarded as persecutors, not protectors.
A corollary of this argument is that the orgiastic rites did not in fact occur but were false beliefs, in most cases genuinely held by the persecutors.