Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈʋɪdkʉn ˈkʋɪsˈlɪŋ]; July 18, 1887, Fyresdal – October 24, 1945) was a Norwegian army officer and politician, who served as President of occupied Norway. He worked with Fridtjof Nansen during the famine in the Soviet Union, and served as Minister of Defence in the Bondepartiet government 1931–1933. In 1933 he founded the nationalist party Nasjonal Samling ("National Gathering"), and duringWorld War II, from 1942 to 1945, he served as Minister-President of the collaborationist Norwegian government, after being appointed by the German authorities. After the war he was tried for high treason and executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress. Today in Norway and other parts of the world, quisling is a synonym for traitor. Quisling was the son of a Church of Norway pastor and genealogist, Jon Lauritz Quisling, who preferred to be called "Qvisling", from Fyresdal. Other ancient names of the family were "Quislinus" or "Quislin"[citation needed]. Both of his parents belonged to old and distinguished families of Telemark. Quisling had a flair for mathematics, and in his early teens had sent in corrections to a national mathematical textbook. Impressed by the age of the boy, the editors made the corrections, and included his name and some adulation as encouragement for other young boys to pay attention to their mathematics. After WWII, editions kept the corrections and adulation, but changed all references to his name to en gutt ("a boy"). His early life was varied and successful; he became the country's best war-academy cadet upon graduation in 1911, and achieved the rank of major in the Norwegian Army. He worked with Fridtjof Nansen in the Soviet Union during the famine of the 1920s.[1] In 1920, he married Alexandra Andreevna Voronina from Russia.[2] In 1923, he married Maria Vasilevna Pasechnikova (Russian: Мари́я Васи́льевна Па́сечникова), a native of Kharkov born in 1900 and known to her intimates as "Mara". It is not clear whether Quisling had obtained a legal divorce from his first wife before marrying his second. At some point between 1930-33, his first wife, Alexandra, received an annulment of her marriage to Quisling.[3] For his services in looking after British interests after having broken diplomatic relations with the Bolshevik government, the United Kingdom in 1929 awarded him the CBE (which was later revoked by King George VI in 1940).[4] He later served as defense minister in the Agrarian governments from 1931 to 1933.[5] As a child, Quisling was already interested in religion and metaphysics, and his ponderings upon this subject never abated. He went as far as expounding his own religion, called Universalism, an elaboration and development of sorts of Christianity. It is presented as an addendum in the book containing the extant diaries and letters of Maria Quisling. On 17 May 1933, Norwegian Constitution Day, Quisling and lawyer Johan Bernhard Hjort formed Nasjonal Samling ("National Unity"), the Norwegian fascist political party. Nasjonal Samling had an anti-democratic, Führerprinzip-based political structure, and Quisling was to be the party's Fører (Norwegian: "leader," equivalent of the German "Führer.") He was sometimes referred to as "the Hitler of Norway." The party went on to have modest successes: in the election of 1933, four months after it was formed, it garnered 27,850 votes (approximately 2 percent), following support from the Norwegian Farmers' Aid Association, with which Quisling had connections from his time as a member of the Agrarian government. However, as the party line changed from a religiously rooted one to a more pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic policy from 1935 on, church support waned, and in the 1936 elections the party received fewer votes than in 1933. The party became increasingly extremist, and party membership dwindled to an estimated 2,000 before the German invasion, but under the German occupation, by 1945, some 45,000 Norwegians had become members of the party. On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Norway by air and sea, intending to capture King Haakon VII and the government of Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold; however, alert to the invasion, Foreign Minister C.J. Hambro arranged their evacuation to Hamar.[6] The cruiser Blücher, which had been carrying most of the personnel intended to take over running Norway, was sunk by cannon fire and torpedoes fromOscarsborg festning (Oscarsborg Fortress) in Oslofjord. The Germans had expected the Government to surrender, and to have its replacement ready, but neither happened. In the morning, two German embassy officials (Hans Wilhelm Scheidt and Richard Schreiber) visited Quisling to encourage him to form a government, and Quisling drew up a list of Ministers. In the afternoon he telephoned some coastal batteries urging them to cease resistance to German forces. At 7:32 PM, without waiting for recognition, Quisling burst into the NRK studios in Oslo and broadcast a proclamation naming himself Prime Minister and ordering all resistance to halt at once. In hindsight, this treasonous act doomed any chance of persuading Norway to surrender (as Denmark had the previous day).[7] It was claimed at the time that Quisling's seizure of power in a puppet government had been part of the German plan.[8] The next day the German minister Curt Bräuer traveled toElverum, Norway where the legitimate government had moved. He demanded that King Haakon appoint Quisling Prime Minister and return to Oslo. In an emotional meeting with the cabinet, King Haakon let it be known he would sooner abdicate than appoint any government headed by Quisling. By this time, the news of Quisling's treason had reached Elverum. The government unanimously voted to advise the king not to recognize Quisling and urged the people to continue to resist. With no popular support, Quisling was no longer of use to Hitler. Later that same month he tried again to organize a government under Josef Terboven, who had been installed as Reichskommissar, reporting directly to Hitler. The relationship between Quisling and Terboven was tense, however, and Quisling was unable to find any prominent Norwegians willing to serve as ministers in his Cabinet. On 25 September 1940 Gauleiter Terboven addressed the Norwegian people in a radio broadcast. Terboven said he had tried in vain to negotiate with the old parties and that the Quisling movement would be the only one tolerated in the future.[9][10] Terboven, seeing an advantage in having a Norwegian in an apparent position of power, declared the monarchy to be "suspended"[11] and named Quisling to the post of Minister-President of the National Government in 1942, a position the self-appointed Fører assumed on 1 February. Quisling stayed in power until he was arrested on 9 May 1945 at Møllergata 19 in Oslo. He lived in a mansion on Bygdøy in Oslo that he called "Gimle," after the place in Norse mythology where survivors of Ragnarok were to live. The house, now called Villa Grande, is aHolocaust museum.[12] In the course of the treason trials, Quisling was convicted of high treason (September 10)[13] and, along with two other Nasjonal Samling leaders, Albert Viljam Hagelin and Ragnar Skancke, was sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress on 24 October 1945.[14] The charges were based on his coup d'état in April 1940, his revocation of the mobilization order, his encouragement of Norwegians to serve in the Nordic SS division, his assistance in the deportation of Jews, his responsibility for the execution of Norwegian patriots and a number of other charges. His widow Maria lived in Oslo until her death in 1980.[15] They had no children.[16] Today in many countries, quisling is synonymous with traitor, particularly one who collaborates with enemies. The term was coined by the British newspaper The Times in its leader of 15 April 1940, entitled "Quislings everywhere." The editorial asserted, 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. Actually it contrives to suggest something at once slippery and tortuous.[17] The noun has survived; for a while during and after the war, the back-formed verb to quisle (pronounced /ˈkwɪzəl/) was used. One who wasquisling was committing treason.[18]Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Quisling In office
February 1, 1942 – May 9, 1945In office
1931–1933Prime Minister Peder Kolstad (1931–1932)
Jens Hundseid (1932–1933)Preceded by Torgeir Anderssen-Rysst Succeeded by Jens Isak de Lange Kobro Born 18 July 1887
Fyresdal, Telemark, NorwayDied 24 October 1945 (aged 58)
Akershus Fortress, Oslo,NorwayPolitical party Agrarian Party (1933)
Nasjonal Samling (1933–45)Spouse(s) Maria Vasilijevna Quisling Contents
[hide][edit]Early life
[edit]Religion and metaphysical yearnings
[edit]The Nasjonal Samling Party
[edit]German invasion and coup d'état
[edit]Arrest and trial
[edit]'Quisling'
Look up quisling in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. [edit]Footnotes
[edit]
Further reading[edit]In Norwegian
[edit]In English
[edit]See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vidkun Quisling
Torgeir Anderssen-RysstMinister of Defence
1931–1933Succeeded by
Jens Isak de Lange KobroPreceded by
Office createdMinister President of Norway
1942–1945Succeeded by
Office abolishedJews in Norway
History
In 1000, all non-Christians were banned from Norway in an effort to establish Christianity as the national religion. Although the ban was presumably targeted at pagans, it also put Norway out of bounds for Jews for over 800 years.
Although there likely were Jewish merchants, sailors and others who entered Norway during the next several hundred years, no efforts were made to establish a Jewish community. Ruled by a series of Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish kings in combination with either Denmark or Sweden, public policy against non-Christians was in large part dictated by royal edict.
The first known mention of Jews in public documents relates to the admissibility of so-called “Portuguese Jews” (Sephardim) that had been expelled from Spain and Portugal in 1492 and 1497. Some of these were given special dispensation to enter Norway. Christian IV of Denmark-Norway gave Jews limited rights to travel within the kingdom, and in 1641, Ashkenazi Jews were given equivalent rights.
Christian V rescinded these privileges in 1687, specifically banning Jews from Norway, unless they were given a special dispensation. Jews found in the kingdom were jailed and expelled, and this ban persisted until 1851.
In 1814, Norway formulated its first constitution that included in the second paragraph a general ban against Jews and Jesuits entering the country. Portuguese Jews were exempt from this ban, but it appears that few applied for a letter of free passage. When Norway entered into the personal union of Sweden-Norway, the ban against Jews was upheld, though Sweden at that point had several Jewish communities.
In 1844 (4 November), the Norwegian Ministry of Justice declared: "... it is assumed that the so-called Portuguese Jews are, regardless of the Constitution’s §2, entitled to dwell in this country, which is also, to [our] knowledge, what has hitherto been assumed."
After tireless efforts by the poet Henrik Wergeland, politician Peder Jensen Fauchald, school principal Hans Holmboe and others, the Norwegian parliament lifted the ban against Jews in 1851 and they were awarded religious rights on par with Christian "dissenters."
In 1852, the first Jew landed in Norway to settle, but it wasn't until 1892 that there were enough Jews to form a synagogue in Oslo.
The Jewish community grew slowly until World War II and bolstered by refugees in the late 1930s, peaked at about 2,100. During the Nazi rule under the Nazi occupation of Norway, nearly all Jews were either deported to death camps or fled to Sweden and beyond. The Jews fleeing to Sweden were most often given help by non-Jewish Norwegians, although a number of the border guards only agreed to assist after receiving large payments from the refugees.The Holocaust
During the war, civilian Norwegian police (politiet) in many cases helped the German occupiers in the apprehension of those Jews who failed to escape in time. Records show that during the Holocaust, 758 Norwegian Jews were murdered by the Nazis—mostly in Auschwitz. Many of the Jews who fled during the war did not return, and in 1946, there were only 559 Jews in Norway.The 1990s World War II restitution
In March 1996, the Norwegian government appointed a Committee whose mandate was "to establish what happened to Jewish property during World War II ... and to determine to what extent seized assets/property was restored after the war."
In June 1997 the Committee delivered a divided report, split into a majority (see: Summary in English of the majority report) and a minority (see: Summary in English of the minority report) view.
On 11 March 1999 the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) voted to accept the proposition for 450 mill. NOK.
The award was divided into two parts; one collective and one individual. The collective part, totalling NOK 250 million, was subdivided in three:
The individual part was estimated to total not more than NOK 200 million:
31 November 1999 was the last date to apply for compensation from individuals, and the result was that 980 persons got 200,000 NOK each.Today
There are about 1,500 Jews in Norway today, of whom the largest portion live in Oslo. There is a small community and synagogue in Trondheim, and others living around the country.
In June 2004 Chabad-Lubavitch established a permanent presence in Oslo, serving Jews throughout the country.
There is also a Society for Progressive Judaism located in Oslo. The Society for Progressive Judaism in Norway (PJN) arranges monthly Pot Luck Shabbat celebrations, and weekly parasha studies.
Norwegian Jews are well integrated into Norwegian society. Prominent Norwegian Jews include former president of Stortinget (the parliament), Jo Benkow; Leo Eitinger and Berthold Grünfeld, who were noted psychiatrists; Robert Levin, the musician; theatre critic Mona Levin and Bente Kahan, an actress and vocalist.Antisemitism in Norway
Religious and ethnic tolerance is a strongly held value in Norwegian public life, though residual antisemitism has persevered in private circles. To the extent that antisemitism can be associated with Nazism, the mainstream Norwegian political environment has strongly adopted a platform that rejects it. The prevalence and intensity of anti-Israel activism, especially from the radical left, has raised a debate about possible blurring of the lines between anti-Israelism and antisemitism.
There have been episodes of desecration of the synagogue in Oslo,. On 17 September 2006 the synagogue in Oslo was subjected to attack with an automatic weapon, only days after it was made public that the building had been one the planned target for the Algerian terror group GSPC that had been plotting a bombing campaign in the Norwegian capital. The synagogue in Oslo is under continuous surveillance and protected by barriers. On 2 June 2008 Arfan Qadeer Bhatti was convicted on the shooting attack and given an eight year preventive custody sentence for serious vandalism. The Oslo city court judge could not find sufficient evidence that the shots fired at the synagogue amounted to a terrorist act. In July 2006 during the 2006 Lebanon War the congregation issued an advisory warning Jews not to wear kippot or other identifying items in public for fear of harassment or assault.
In August 2006, the issue of New anti-Semitism made a brief but intense appearance in the public eye when Jostein Gaarder published an op-ed in Aftenposten that stirred controversy over its content and literary form.
In December 2008, a Norwegian Jew filed a complaint against a comedian who mocked the Holocaust, but fellowcomedians and his TV station have backed the controversial performer. Otto Jespersen joked on national television in his weekly routine of holding an infamous monologue, that "I would like to take the opportunity to remember all the billions of fleas and lice that lost their lives in German gas chambers, without having done anything wrong other than settling on persons of Jewish background." Jespersen also presented a satirical monologue on anti-Semitism that ended with, "Finally, I would like to wish all Norwegian Jews a Merry Christmas - no, what am I saying! You don't celebrate Christmas, do you!? It was you who crucified Jesus", on December 4. Jespersen has received criticism for several of his attacks on social and ethnic groups as well as royalty, politicians and celebrities, and in defence of the monologue TV2 noted that Jespersen attacks in all directions, and that "if you should take [the monologue] seriously, there are more than just the Jews that should feel offended."
In 2010, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation after one year of research, revealed that anti-Semitism was common among Norwegian Muslims. Teachers at schools with large shares of Muslims revealed that Muslim students often "praise or admire Adolf Hitler for his killing of Jews", that "Jew-hate is legitimate within vast groups of Muslim students" and that "Muslims laugh or command [teachers] to stop when trying to educate about the Holocaust". Additionally that "while some students might protest when some express support for terrorism, none object when students express hate of Jews" and that it says in "the Quran that you shall kill Jews, all true Muslims hate Jews". Most of these students were said to be born and raised in Norway. One Jewish father also told how his child, after school, had been taken by a Muslim mob (though he managed to escape), reportedly "to be taken out to the forest and hanged because he was a Jew".External links
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
See also: Quisling regime
See also: Legal purge in Norway after World War II
Main article: Quisling
Political officesPreceded by
Jews in Norway are one of the country's smallest ethnic and religious minorities. The largest synagogue is in Oslo. A smaller synagogue in Trondheim (63° 25' N) is often claimed, erroneously, to be the world's northernmost synagogue. (Trondheim's is, in fact, fifth on the list; the northernmost synagogue is located in Murmansk, Russia.)
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