THE TRIAL IN OSLO

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 49, 27 August 1945, Page 4

THE TRIAL IN OSLO

QUISLING ON EFFORTS TO AVOID FIGHTING

LONDON, August 24. When the treason trial of Vidkun Quisling Avas resumed yesterday, the prosecutor, Mr. Schoejdt, questioned the accused about his so-called adjutant, Franklin Knudsen. Quisling said that on the day of the German invasion Knudsen had no position with him. "He just came and reported to me." Denying that he ordered Knudsen to broadcast messages recalling all merchant ships to Norway or Germancontrolled ports, Quisling said Knudsen acted on his own initiative. He was a ship owner and v/as concerned with shipping. Hagelin, a Norwegian business man Avho Avas Quislings' alleged agent in Germany before the invasion, said in evidence that he had been under treatment for loss of memory since November, 1944. His answer to almost every question was, "I cannot remember." He said he knew the Nazi chief Rosenberg, but never talked politics with him. He himself had never been a member of the Nazi Party or Quisling's representative in Germany. Other witnesses gave evidence that Quisling looted King Haakon's palace and other public buildings to furnish his own home. Quisling declared in a high-pitched voice that he had 'always struggled to avoid any fighting in Norway, and was determined that civil war should never arise. He and several Ministers offered to resign after the death of Hitler, but were told that—this Avould only create a much worse situation. Terboven, the Nazi Commissioner in Norway, offered him the opportunity of fleeing by submarine or plane to a foreign country, but he had refused. Hitler, during thier last meeting, in January, 1945, had told him that if Sweden entered the war and invaded Norway, the Germans would immediately destroy Stockholm, Malmo, and Gothenburg by bombing. Hitler assured him: "Germany will win. I am getting a new weapon soon." Ter-boA'-en on May 11 offered him a chance to flee from Norway. "He did not tell me Avhere, but I guessed Spain," said Quisling. A German army officer testified that Quisling urged the Nazis to imprison certain Norwegian officers in Germany because it Avas impossible to work with them and they might make serious difficulties. Witness, Avho Avas on the staff of the Nazi commander-in-chief in Norway during the occupation, added that Quisling demanded a forced labour service for NorAvay. A clerk in the Norwegian Defence Ministry gave evidence that Quisling and two German naval officers called at the Ministry on the day of the invasion, April 9, 1940. Quisling told the staff of the Ministry that the Nygaardsvold Government had been deposed and that he had taken over. Quisling ordered the arrest of the | members of the Nygaardsvold Government and also instructed that messages for an immediate cease-fire should be sent to the fortresses guarding Oslo and Trondheim Fiords. Quisling denied that he had anything to do with the deportation of Nonvegian officers or proposed harsh punishment for patriots or sponsored forced labour laws. He asserted that the Germans Avere determined to fight on in Norway after capitulating on the Continent, but he had dissuaded them. The Germans treated him shamefully during the occupation. He was aware of the danger from Sweden, and believed that the Swedes could have driven the Germans out of Oslo. The trial has been adjourned for two days.