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Vidkun Quisling

Surname Quisling Given Name Vidkun Born 18 Jul 1887 Died 24 Oct 1945 Country Norway Category Government Gender Male

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseVidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was born to priest and genealogist Jon Lauritz Quisling. He graduated from the academy in 1911 and reached the rank of major before entering politics. He was the Norwegian defense minister between 1931 and 1933. On 17 May 1933, he co-founded the Nasjonal Samling, the National Unity Party, and he took on the title Fører. Starting around 1935, Nasjonal Samling took on a pro-German and anti-Semitic characteristic. This action caused party membership to drop, but Quisling was able to establish limited support from Germany by maintaining contact with Nazi philosopher Alfred Rosenberg. Although most of the German leadership did not think too highly of Quisling, Hitler maintained the support for him in case he needed a fascist ally in neutral Norway. As Norway was eyed by both the Western Allies and Germany, German acted first and staged an invasion. On 9 Apr 1940, Quisling announced a coup d'etat over a news broadcast, declaring himself the leader of Norway as the Norwegian King Haakon VII fled from the capital of Oslo, and called for German protection in a similar manner as how Germany took over Austria and Czechoslovakia. His government was disbanded only five days later when Germany decided to install Josef Terboven as the German Commissioner of Norway. Terboven placed Quisling in his government as the Minister President on 1 Feb 1943. On 9 May 1945, he was arrested in Oslo and for charges of treason (particularly the Apr 1940 coup) and crimes against humanity (he had collaborated with Germany for the deportation of Norwegian Jews to concentration camps). He was convicted and executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress. Today the word "quisling" often takes on the meaning of a "traitor" in a significant number of European languages.

ww2dbaseSources: William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

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Last Major Revision: Jul 2006

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