The Consequences Of Quisling

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 August 1941, Page 7

The Consequences Of Quisling

NAZIS AND NORWAY Major Quisling is now virtually insane. and two other members of Ids puppet <;i>vernment have bad "mwvous asylum. This is reported by a Norwegian correspondent of "Tin- Times,’ who cays (lie situation in Norway is approaching a crisis which may he accompanied by serious disturbances. It is now clear to the Germans, he states, that the Quisling regime lias failed entirely. The Quislings are boycotted by the Norwegian people. Modern Judas Iscariot Quisling l«is not only given the world’s vocabularies a new and rb*h idiom for an old and dastardly function; lie has in spite of himself played a most important part in defeating exactly what lie sot out to help and defend: the power of German Nazism. What is now known about the developments in Norway from the day of tha German invasion till today already gives a clear indication hmv Quisling’s strange fate will go down in history: the traitor who saved those he tried to betray. The German, invasion of Norway in April, 1940, marked the opening of the active phase in Germany's war against Great Britain. It; was a coup de main without precedent, and the attack was indeed a totalitarian attack also in the sense that it did not respect any of il*? accepted rules of war; it. allowed all weapons, from the merciless bombing of civilians to the use of quislings. Already on the morning of the invasion Quisling was unpacked. He was Hitler’s new secret weapon, the traitor dolled up as the national hero, the revolutionary saviour of his country. But, as subsequent events were to prove, tin' weapon was dangerous and double-edged, to be used with care and discretion, otherwise it. might easily cut both ways and create results more damaging to the attackers than to the attacked. Hitler’s Own Words When the German Minister to Norway, l>r. Brauer, visited the Foreign Ministry at dawn that day, the invasion had already begun; and when he presented to tlx.* Norwegian Government, which had been assembled since midnight, the German conditions for surrender, lie was told by Dr. Koht, the Foreign Minister, that Norway would fight, that in fact she was already fighting. Dr. Koht reminded the German of Hitler’s own words when, in a recent speech, he had declared that a nation humbly bowing to violation without offering resistance does not deserve to live. The same afternoon the Governmen” and the Storting assembled in the town of Ha mar, 70 miles north of Oslo, to confirm the resolution reached earlier in the day. Meanwhile even's had developed with great speed. Oslo and all the main ports as far as Narvik were in German hands. The mobilization of t!*> army, ordered tiie previous night, was completely disorganized by the invasion. When, therefore, the German Minister made a fresh demarche and requested that new conversation** should be opened, it is not (surprising that the possibility of reaching an understanding will* the Germans should have been seriously discussed. On one point, however, there was unanimity : Quisling, who had taken charge in Oslo on Ix.'bulf of the Germans, must disappear again. It .vas obvious that any arrangement which Included him was doomed. When the Storting, which had begun its deliberations at Ha mar, but had had t.o be i vans hired to Llvermn because motorized German forces were approaching adjourned about midnight, the Govern merit was given full authority to net There was no doubt that, whatever the decision. Quisling could not be tolerated.

Decisive Factor | Ou the following day the German I Minis!er appeared at Llvermn und met first the King, then the King and the i Foreign Minister. He maintained that i Quisling should be put at the head of any administration the Germans were i willing to accept. Then the die was i cast. In the words of Dr. Koht: “Dr. j Brauer asked whether the reply to the effect that King Haakon could not apj point the Quisling Government meant | that flic Norwegian resistance against j the German invasion would continue. I replied: ‘Yes, as long as possible.’” : This decision was agreed to by a fall | meeting in the Cabinet after Dr. \ Brauer had left Elverum, and he was | informed of it over the telephone be- ! fore lie reached Oslo. Even so, public opinion against Quisi ling was so strong that the Germans I could not ignore it. He was dropped a i few days later and shelved for the time i being. Nor did he appear again till the end of September, when the Germans ! made their decisive capital mistake in reinstating him In power at the same j time as they disposed of King Haakon, | the Royal Family, the Government, I and all the political parties except Quisling’s party, Nasjonal Sanding, j The German refusal on April 10 to i dispose of Quisling threw Norway into | the war on the side of Great Britain. ; There cannot be much doubt that this | was the decisive factor. A Hardened Front ! Having shelved Quisling for the first ! time, the Germans tried for a while to ; win the Norwegians over by playing the friendly and human “protector,” with [ sweet words, flattery and promises. I In most parts of the country, howj ever, the population were not convinced. | The opposition stiffened. And in any case the Germans could not keep up this conciliatory pose for very long. The collapse of tlie Low Countries and France was used by the Germans in an effort to persuade the Norwegians to depose King Haakon and the legal Government. They failed. The people rose in revolt. I By the end of September Terboven i threw off the mask. In a series of dei erees broadcast from Oslo he alone in j addition to deposing King Ilaakon, dis- ! solving the legal Government, irnd abolishing all political parties except Quisling’s own, established a puppet Government entirely composed of quislings. Quisling was thus reinstated, if not in name, at least in fact. The war in Norway was declared ;rfresh. Here, then, are the consequences of Quisling. He united the Norwegian people in will to carry on the war against tlie Germans in that critical

hour when resistance might have seemed hopeless, lie again re-established and hardened the front in Norway when, after the Norwegians had been forced to lay down their arms, the developments in Flanders and France were used by the Germans to force a moral surrender. The further consequence wars the unbending passive re 1 sistanee which, in increasing degree, is now harassing and worrying the Ger-