Vidkun Quisling

So, Vidkun Quisling - who was he?

To get the ball rolling I shall refer you to this brilliant quote from The Time’s editorial, April 19^th 1940 it reads:

"To writers, the word quisling is a gift from the gods. If they had been ordered to invent a new word for traitor they could hardly have hit upon a more brilliant combination of letters."

Not a flattering start. So the basics: He was Norwegian, he was born in 1887 and he met a rather unglamorous end in 1945. To understand why a firing squad but him out of his misery it helps if you are also aware that he was the Fascist ruler of Norway between 42 and 45, working in collaboration with the occupying Nazi forces.

Yet before this unwholesome affair he was believed to be such a nice chap that he was awarded a CBE from our dutiful monarch. He also worked in Russia during the 1920’s assisting the relief effort during a period of famine. Combine this with his passion for writing and his lifelong work on a book designed to “ignite a new light for humankind” and we have all the makings of a very curious character indeed.

If we take a brief foray into his personal life we unearth some more fascinating facts on this Commander of the British Empire. When he was thirty-five he got married to a seventeen year old, perhaps a bit bizarre, but it’s not unknown right? However, later in their marriage he had the fortune to fall in love for a second time, this time with someone more his own age. Dilemma you might think? Oh no, not for our Vidkun. Always an ingenious feller Quisling promptly divorced his young wife, married his new heartthrob and then adopted his old bride as their daughter. Incestuous problem solving at its finest.

Quisling was renowned for being a first rate military tactician and graduated top of his class before going on to attain the rank of Major in the Norwegian army. From here he was made Defence Minister between 1931 and 1933. In May of 33 he left the government and founded his own political party, the National Unity party which embraced fascist doctrine. His party was sidelined on the extreme edges of Norwegian politics; the most they ever polled in an election was 2% of the national vote. Quisling was in danger of becoming something of a Kilroy.

Yet fortunately for him on April 9^th the Nazi’s launched Operation Weserübung, a two pronged invasion of Norway and Denmark. This came as the almost inevitable result of more than a year of discussion amongst both German and Anglo-French circles over what to do about Scandinavia. Both had been keeping a greedy eye on its ports and ore deposits whilst keeping another, more nervous eye, on the actions of the other. Germany blinked first and sent in her troops.

At the sight of German ships sailing up the Oslo Fjord the Norwegian Royal Family and Parliament took the sensible option and bolted - taking the Treasury with them. Oslo’s government never officially surrendered and so when Quisling bravely decided to step into the boots left by the retreating royals it was an act of treason against the nation. And the Norwegian people, even during the occupation, would never let him forget that.

Quisling couldn’t even rely on the invading Nazi’s to give him much legitimacy and his hastily formed government lasted only five days before the Germans themselves removed him from any real power and made Josef Terboven the Nazi commissioner and thereby ruler of Norway. Later on Terboven gave Quisling the token title of ‘Minister President’ to keep him and his few followers on board.

Quisling served in this post for the reminder of the war and was continually frustrated by Terboven who had little time for him, so much so that Quisling visited Hitler so often to complain that he attained himself the unenviable record of being the most visited foreigner to Hitler’s office. Quisling supported many aspects of Nazi doctrine and oversaw the transportation of Norwegian Jews to Germany.

Come the end of the war Quisling handed himself in, hoping the new regime would allow him to retire and finish up writing that book of his. They didn’t and he was executed October 24^th 1945.

And that, more or less, is who Vidkun Quisling was.

Sources: Various (meh)