97 Facts About Vidkun Quisling

Vidkun Quisling first came to international prominence as a close collaborator of the explorer Fridtjof Nansen, and through organising humanitarian relief during the Russian famine of 1921 in Povolzhye.

Vidkun Quisling was posted as a Norwegian diplomat to the Soviet Union and for some time managed British diplomatic affairs there.

Vidkun Quisling returned to Norway in 1929 and served as minister of defence in the agrarian governments of Peder Kolstad and Jens Hundseid.

Vidkun Quisling headed the Norwegian state administration jointly with the German civilian administrator, Josef Terboven.

Vidkun Quisling was put on trial during the legal purge in Norway after World War II.

Mercy failed, and Vidkun Quisling was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress, Oslo, on 24 October 1945.

The term Vidkun Quisling has become a byword for "collaborator" or "traitor" in several languages, reflecting the contempt with which Vidkun Quisling's conduct has been regarded both at the time and in the present day.

The elder Vidkun Quisling had lectured in Grimstad in the 1870s; one of his pupils was Bang, whom he married on 28 May 1886, following a long engagement.

Vidkun Quisling was bullied by other students at the school for his Telemark dialect, but proved a successful student.

Academically Vidkun Quisling proved talented in humanities, particularly history, and natural sciences; he specialised in mathematics.

In 1905, Vidkun Quisling enrolled at the Norwegian Military Academy, having received the highest entrance examination score of the 250 applicants that year.

Norway was neutral in the First World War; Vidkun Quisling detested the peace movement, though the high human cost of the war did temper his views.

In September 1919, Vidkun Quisling departed Norway to become an intelligence officer with the Norwegian delegation in Helsinki, a post that combined diplomacy and politics.

Vidkun Quisling replied [that] the Russian people needed wise leadership and proper training [that they suffered from] indifference, a lack of clearly defined goals with conviction and a happy-go-lucky attitude [and that] it is impossible to accomplish anything without willpower, determination and concentration.

Alexandra wrote in her memoirs that Vidkun Quisling declared his love for her, but from his letters home and investigations undertaken by his cousins, Vidkun Quisling merely seemed to have wanted to lift the girl out of poverty by providing her with a Norwegian passport and financial security.

Vidkun Quisling found the situation much improved and, with no fresh challenges, found it a more boring trip than his last.

Vidkun Quisling did however meet Maria Vasiljevna Pasetchnikova, a Ukrainian more than ten years his junior.

Vidkun Quisling recalled that she was impressed by his fluent command of the Russian language, his Aryan appearance, and his gracious demeanour.

Vidkun Quisling later claimed to have married Pasetchnikova in Kharkiv on 10 September 1923, although no legal documentation has been discovered.

Maria wanted to see Western Europe; Vidkun Quisling wanted to get some rest following bouts of stomach pain that had lasted all winter.

The stay in Paris required a temporary discharge from the army, which Vidkun Quisling slowly grew to understand was permanent: army cutbacks meant that there would be no position available for him when he returned.

Vidkun Quisling devoted much of his time in the French capital to study, reading works of political theory and working on his philosophical project, which he called Universism.

Vidkun Quisling's stay in Paris did not last as long as planned, and in late 1923 he started work on Nansen's new repatriation project in the Balkans, arriving in Sofia in November.

Back in Norway, and to his later embarrassment, Vidkun Quisling found himself drawn into the communist Norwegian labour movement.

In May 1926, Vidkun Quisling found another job with long-time friend and fellow Norwegian Frederik Prytz in Moscow, working as a liaison between Prytz and the Soviet authorities who owned half of Prytz's firm, Onega Wood.

Vidkun Quisling stayed in the job until Prytz prepared to close down the business in early 1927, when Quisling found new employment as a diplomat.

Vidkun Quisling took these rebuffs as a personal insult; in 1929, with the British now keen to take back control of their own diplomatic affairs, he left Russia.

Vidkun Quisling was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to Britain, an honour revoked by King George VI in 1940.

Vidkun Quisling focused more on organisation than the practicalities of government; for instance, all members of Norsk Aktion were to have their own designation in a militaristic hierarchy.

Vidkun Quisling next sold a large number of antiques and works of art that he had acquired cheaply in post-revolutionary Russia.

Vidkun Quisling's collection stretched to some 200 paintings, including works claimed to be by Rembrandt, Goya, Cezanne and numerous other masters.

Vidkun Quisling left Nordisk folkereisning i Norge in May 1931 to serve as defence minister in the Agrarian government of Peder Kolstad, despite being neither an Agrarian nor a friend of Kolstad.

Vidkun Quisling had been suggested to Kolstad for the post by Thorvald Aadahl, editor of the Agrarian newspaper Nationen, who was in turn influenced by Prytz.

Vidkun Quisling created a list of the Revolutionare Gewerkschafts Opposition leadership, who had been the alleged agitators at Menstad; a number of them were eventually charged with subversion and violence against the police.

Vidkun Quisling's policies resulted in the establishment of a permanent militia called the Leidang which, unlike the body he had previously planned, was to be counter-revolutionary.

In mid-1932 Nordisk folkereisning i Norge was forced to confirm that even though Vidkun Quisling remained in the cabinet, he would not become a member of the party.

Vidkun Quisling later indicated it was an attempt to steal military papers recently left by Swedish Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm Kleen.

Just as he had been under Kolstad, Vidkun Quisling was involved in many of the spats that characterised Hundseid's government.

In Parliament Vidkun Quisling's speech was viewed as political suicide; not only was his evidence weak, but questions were raised as to why the information had not been handed over much sooner if the revolutionary threat were so serious.

In 1932, during the Kullmann Affair, Vidkun Quisling turned on the prime minister for questioning his hard-line stance over pacifist agitator Captain Olaf Kullmann.

Vidkun Quisling was mildly disappointed and would have preferred to head a national movement, not just one of seven political parties.

When Vidkun Quisling tried to introduce the bill directly, it was swiftly rejected, and the party went into decline.

Vidkun Quisling began to familiarise himself with the international fascist movement, attending the 1934 Montreux Fascist conference in December.

On his return trip from Montreux, he met Nazi ideologue and foreign policy theorist Alfred Rosenberg, and though he preferred to see his own policies as a synthesis of Italian fascism and German Nazism, by the time of the 1936 elections, Vidkun Quisling had in part become the "Norwegian Hitler" that his opponents had long accused him of being.

In 1939, Vidkun Quisling turned his attention towards Norway's preparations for the anticipated European war, which he believed involved a drastic increase in the country's defence spending to guarantee its neutrality.

Meanwhile, Vidkun Quisling presented lectures entitled "The Jewish problem in Norway" and supported Adolf Hitler in what appeared to be growing future conflict.

Vidkun Quisling was received particularly well in Germany, which promised funds to boost Nasjonal Samling's standing in Norway, and hence spread pro-Nazi sentiment.

When war broke out on 1 September 1939, Vidkun Quisling felt vindicated by both the event and the immediate superiority displayed by the German army.

Vidkun Quisling remained outwardly confident that, despite its size, his party would soon become the centre of political attention.

Vidkun Quisling was nonetheless active, and in October 1939 he worked with Prytz on an ultimately unsuccessful plan for peace between Britain, France and Germany and their eventual participation in a new economic union.

Vidkun Quisling was incapacitated by a severe bout of illness, probably nephritis in both kidneys, for which he refused hospitalisation.

Vidkun Quisling drew up a list of ministers and, although the legitimate government had merely relocated some 150 kilometres to Elverum, accused it of having "fled".

Vidkun Quisling revoked an earlier order to mobilise against the German invasion.

At 22:00, Vidkun Quisling resumed broadcasting, repeating his earlier message and reading out a list of new ministers.

Vidkun Quisling now reached the high-water mark of his political power.

Vidkun Quisling let it be known that he would sooner abdicate than appoint any government headed by Quisling.

In return, Hitler wrote to Vidkun Quisling thanking him for his efforts and guaranteeing him some sort of position in the new government.

Vidkun Quisling would serve as acting prime minister and ten of the thirteen "cabinet" ministers were to come from his party.

Vidkun Quisling set out on a programme of wiping out "the destructive principles of the French Revolution", including pluralism and parliamentary rule.

Vidkun Quisling's party experienced a rise in membership to a little over 30,000, but despite his optimism it was never to pass the 40,000 mark.

On 5 December 1940, Vidkun Quisling flew to Berlin to negotiate the future of Norway's independence.

Vidkun Quisling clearly believed that if Norway supported Nazi Germany on the battlefield, there would be no reason for Germany to annex it.

Vidkun Quisling remained convinced this was an anti-German sentiment that would fade away once Berlin had handed power over to Nasjonal Samling.

Vidkun Quisling remained doubtful it would happen, since Germany and Norway were in the midst of complex peace negotiations that could not be completed until peace had been reached on the Eastern Front, while Terboven insisted that the would remain in power until such peace came about.

Back at home, Vidkun Quisling was now less concerned about Nasjonal Samling's membership and even wanted action to clean up the membership list, including purging it of drunkards.

In time, criticism of, and resistance to, the party was criminalised, though Vidkun Quisling expressed regret for having to take this step, hoping that every Norwegian would freely come around to accepting his government.

Vidkun Quisling's attempted indictment of Bishop Eivind Berggrav proved similarly controversial, even amongst his German allies.

Vidkun Quisling was admonished and learned that Norway would not get the independence he so greatly yearned for.

Vidkun Quisling felt betrayed over this postponement of Norwegian freedom, an attitude that waned only when Hitler eventually committed to a free post-war Norway in September 1943.

In 1944, the weight problems Vidkun Quisling had been having during the preceding two years eased.

Vidkun Quisling became entangled in a similar debacle in early 1944 when he forced compulsory military service on elements of the Hirden, causing a number of members to resign to avoid being drafted.

On 20 January 1945, Vidkun Quisling made what would be his final trip to visit Hitler.

Vidkun Quisling promised Norwegian support in the final phase of the war if Germany agreed to a peace deal that would remove Norway's affairs from German intervention.

The meeting with the German leader proved unsuccessful and upon being asked to sign the execution order of thousands of Norwegian "saboteurs," Vidkun Quisling refused, an act of defiance that so enraged Terboven, acting on Hitler's orders, that he stormed out of the negotiations.

On recounting the events of the trip to a friend, Vidkun Quisling broke down in tears, convinced the Nazi refusal to sign a peace agreement would seal his reputation as a traitor.

Vidkun Quisling spent the last months of the war trying to prevent Norwegian deaths in the showdown that was developing between German and Allied forces in Norway.

Privately, Vidkun Quisling had long accepted that National Socialism would be defeated.

Vidkun Quisling declared whilst he did not want to be treated as a common criminal, he did not want preferential treatment compared to his Nasjonal Samling colleagues.

The civil leadership of the resistance, represented by lawyer Sven Arntzen, demanded Vidkun Quisling be treated like any other murder suspect and, on 9 May 1945, Vidkun Quisling and his ministers turned themselves in to police.

Vidkun Quisling soon started working on his case with Henrik Bergh, a lawyer with a good track record but largely unsympathetic, at least initially, to Quisling's plight.

Vidkun Quisling's defence rested on downplaying his unity with Germany and stressing that he had fought for total independence, something that seemed completely contrary to the recollections of many Norwegians.

From that point on, wrote biographer Dahl, Vidkun Quisling had to tread a "fine line between truth and falsehood", and emerged from it "an elusive and often pitiful figure".

Vidkun Quisling misrepresented the truth on several occasions and the truthful majority of his statements won him few advocates in the country at large, where he remained almost universally despised.

The prosecution's final speech placed responsibility for the Final Solution being carried out in Norway at the feet of Vidkun Quisling, using the testimony of German officials.

The Nasjonal Samling movement was wiped out as a political force in Norway and Vidkun Quisling has become one of the most written-about Norwegians of all time.

Vidkun Quisling was believed to care deeply about his people and maintained high moral standards throughout.

Vidkun Quisling was instead seen as weak, paranoid, intellectually sterile, and power-hungry: ultimately "muddled rather than thoroughly corrupted".

Vidkun Quisling liked to intervene in virtually all government matters, reading all letters addressed to him or his chancellery personally and marking a surprising number for action.

Vidkun Quisling was independent minded, made several key decisions on the spot and, unlike his German counterpart, he liked to follow procedure to ensure that government remained "a dignified and civilised" affair throughout.

Vidkun Quisling took a personal interest in the administration of Fyresdal, where he was born.

Vidkun Quisling rejected German racial supremacy and instead saw the Norwegian race as the progenitor of Northern Europe, tracing his own family tree in his spare time.

Party members did not receive preferential treatment, though Vidkun Quisling did not himself share in the wartime hardships of his fellow Norwegians.

Vidkun Quisling was interested in science, eastern religions and metaphysics, eventually building up a library that included the works of Spinoza, Kant, Hegel and Schopenhauer.

Vidkun Quisling kept up with developments in the realm of quantum physics, but did not keep up with more current philosophical ideas.

Vidkun Quisling blended philosophy and science into what he called Universism, or Universalism, which was a unified explanation of everything.

Generally, Vidkun Quisling worked on it infrequently during his time in politics.

Vidkun Quisling saw the events of the war as part of the move towards the establishment of God's kingdom on earth and justified his actions in those terms.