TRAITOR QUISLING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 28 July 1942, Page 1

TRAITOR QUISLING

PRICE FOR BETRAYAL OF NORWAY

FULL .STORY BY FORMER EDITOR “Mein Fuhrer, please accept my respectful thanks. The 25th of September, 1940. will lor ever remain the most eventful and the happiest day of my , life, which I have devoted to you, the f appointed leader and constructor of 1 a new Europe. I remain in faithful devotedness, your Vidkuhn Quisling.” This was the cable Vidkuhn Quisling. 1 “the man who sold his country,” sent to Adolf Hitler, after the Fuhrer had appointed him "sole political leader of Norway”—reward for Quisling having ' prepared the ground so well for the Nazi invasion of Norway in April, 1940. ! Quisling was given this impressivesounding appointment only after he had served a trial period for his new "boss” —but Hitler had not found him lacking in the essentials of successful Nazism. Vidkuhn Quisling is not the type of man you would pick out from the crowd as a potential dictator, writes Paul Grisar, who was a former publisher and Editor in Germany, in the Melbourne “Argus.” Of medium height, his eyes are the strongest feature of a thin-lipped, weak face. They hold the cold, grey quality of a man with fanatical ambitions, who would stop at nothing to achieve his ends. Quisling was born in 1887. From j childhood he was trained to be a major in the Norwegian Army—but his innate j thirst for power filled him with desires far beyond mere military achievement. He learnt the procedure for being entrusted with various diplomatic jobs, and also how to ensure that his name was mentioned regularly in reports, in newspapers, and in the magazines. He perceived in Fridjof Nansen, fam- . ous Norwegian explorer, for instance, a man who would be of invaluable assistance to him in his military and diplomatic career. So Quisling was quick to volunteer for some of the explorer’s small-scale expeditions, and eventually became Nansen’s principal asisstant. And the wily Vidkuhn had chosen well. As a result of this association important diplomatic missions of a confidential character were entrusted to him —one of which took him fatefully to Russia. Russia was to have a big influence on Quisling’s future. It gave him his wife, and it gave him the germ of a Communistic hatred which was to have farreaching consequences. Romance came to him in the person , of Maria Vasilievna Pasek. of Kharkov, in the Ukraine. This Russian-born girl of typical Russian appearance, caused Vidkuhn to forget his oft-re-peated assertion that he was “wedded to his career and had no time for women.” He proposed to her as they strolled idyllically through a wintry forest, and her “yes" (as she later told a friend in Berlin) came from “the deepest part of her heart!” Vidkuhn called Maria his “first true love,” and he married her in 1923. when he was 36 years of age. Maria's family had once been very wealthy under the Czarist rule, but their properties and possessions were lost when the Bolshevists succeeded to power. Thus her marriage meant much to her —an end to Bolshevist Russia, and a return to social status and comfortable circumstances. Through her. Quisling's hatred of Communism grew very rapidly. When he returned to Norway and detected Communistic tendencies all around him, he started developing Fascist ideals, and with the help of the Norwegian Industrialists and other financial circles, started his own party. He ambitiously called his movement “Nasjonal Samling” (National. Union)—but with none too happy results. He did not poll enough votes for even one seat in the Norwegian Parliament, although a vast amount of money was spent on election propaganda. The years 1927 and 1928 saw Quisling with the Norwegian diplomatic service in Moscow. The fact that the BritishRussian diplomatic relations were severed temporarily at that time gave Quisling a very good opportunity to ' offer his services to take charge of the British legation. England accepted, and showed her appreciation for services tendered by making him an Honj orary Commander of the Order of the j British Empire on 22nd November, 1929. : But Quisling was stricken from the ’roll in June. 1940. after his shameful betrayal of his homeland, j It had long been Quisling's desire to : come to some arrangement with a third ; great Power by using Norway as a bar- ■ teving medium. He first of all tried England. and greatly welcomed the opportunity to come into closer contact with her by acting for Britain in the honorary capacity mentioned. But a few years later, he considered Hitler a more promising and better paying proposition. He contacted the Nazi Government for the first time, in 1933 through the German Ambassador in Oslo. In 1934. Quisling received, via the German Embassy, Hitler’s invitation to Berlin for himself and his wife —as guests of the the Nazi Government On his arrival in Berlin Quisling was greeted at the station by the Nazi Propaganda Minister. Dr Goebbels (whom anti-Nazi German circles call "Wotan’s Micky Mouse”): Ernst Rosenberg, the Nazi philosopher who wrote the mystic ! book "The Myth of the Twentieth Century,” which presents a cocktail of . views taken from different anti-Chris- . tian books of old date —declared to be the foundation for the new Nazi pagan | ism: and Herr Bohle. leader of the ; Nazi Association of Germans Abroad, and also administrative head of the “Confidential Information Service Abroad.” the nucleus of the Nazi espionage system. Quisling was given a great reception. } Hitler, who always has cheap praises j on hand when there is an opportunity j of snaring someone into his parlour, j gave a dinner in Quisling’s honour in j Berlin’s famous Hotel Kaiserhof (“fam- j ous” because Hitler and the whole Nazi leader’s crowd waited in January. 1933. m Hotel Kaiserhof. for Goering’s return from his negotiations with Hin denburg, and it was there that Goer j ing. happily smiling, brought back Hit- j ler’s appointment as Chancellor). Hitler welcomed Quisling as “one of the coming men of Scandinavia in a new Europe.” Quisling, in return, raised his glass and toasted Hitler, saying. "No one ever deserved the title ‘Fuhrer,. (leader) more than you. because you are the living miracle of energy, willpower, and determination in the twentieth century.” Later on, in the Chancellery. Quisling was sworn in. Propaganda Minister Goebbels spoke the words, and Quisling, with 2 fingers of his right hand raised, repeated the words of the Nazi oath: “I herewith solemnly vow eternal faithfulness to Adolf Hitler, whom I recognise as my Fuhrer and master. I pledge to serve him in peace and war. Whatever may happen, my life belongs to him, and only my death can relieve me of this oath, which I take of my own free will.” While these words were being spoken Goebbels was standing before Quisling on a dais. The two men faced each other. High Nazi officials in gala uni forms formed a semicircle around them. To give the whole scene a "holy” and mysterious atmosphere, 2 bowls of ; burning incense, emitting smoke an:. ( perfume, stood on 2 columns flanking , Goebbels at his left and right hand. I In following years Quisling appeared frequently at Nazi gatherings and meetings as guest of honour of the Nazi party. Each time he was granted a reception by the Fuhrer, to whom he handed over his reports. In July, 1937, a ' Nazi meeting took place at the German 1

I Embassy in Riga (capital of Latvia, one j of the former Baltic States). Rosenberg represented the Fuhrer and Quisling acted as Nazi vice-chief. To encourage Quisling to think that he had done something really fine for his country. Hitler granted him Greenland, which belongs to Denmark. Situated not too far from isles belong- ! ing to Canada, and being a very impels ant link between the North American continent and Britain, Greenland has been taken under American guardian ! ship for the duration of the war Last October the Nazis sent an expedition there, just to see “whether the personnel of* the important Greenland wea ther stations did their job properly.” 'But this expedition was captured on its jway and handed over to Britain. To-day Quisling feels that if hr con gain Greenland for Norway it will al - : ter those judgments of his conduct which have made his name a synonym i for treachery. But he still needs a strong bodyguard when he walks about I in Norway. Last November a bomb exploded when he visited the quarters of his storm-troop bodyguard in Fredrikstadi 'Southern Norway), and he narrowly escaped injury. He had hoped for a great reception, but he heard the crash of a bomb instead of “Heil, Fuhrer Quisling!” From 1935 on very cheap trips to 1 Norway were arranged every year by (he Nazi Government. Stormtroops and SS men (Black Shirts) went over lo ' Norway in big oversea steamers. While ’the ships were proceeding in Norwegj ian waters among the fiords, and between different harbours at the coast, j the captain gave explanations from the bridge through a megaphone. The stormtroops and SS dutifully made notes, and upon their return to Germany, it was their duty to write essays giving all the details of the journey. This was checked by specially appointed Nazi instruction officers. On Friday. sth April. 1940. Quisling was in Berlin conferring with Hitler. Ooeiing. and the German generals—fixing the last items for the Nazi invasion of Norway. Quisling, with his good connections in Norwegian militarycircles. and his thorough knowledge of Norway’s military secrets (he had been Defence Minister), gave all the advice and information he could. Meanwhile, £45.000 had been plaocu i at Quisling's disposal with a bank in j Stockholm. Quisling had asked for it as a safeguard in case “things went ; wrong” and he lost his pension and fortune iii Norway. ! j Three days later, on Bth April Ger- | many invaded Norway according ♦ , well prepared plans!