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00:30Wittgen Quisling. His name means traitor.
00:42To be a Quisling is to be a Judas, and few men were more of a Nazi collaborator than this man.
00:50A vile race of Quisling is hired to fawn upon the conqueror, to collaborate in his design.
01:00As Hitler's Norwegian inside man, Wittgen Quisling betrayed his country and paved the way for Nazi invasion and occupation.
01:10In return, Quisling believed Hitler would make him the Norwegian Führer.
01:15But instead, the Nazis found out he just wasn't up to it.
01:22He was incompetent and rotten at his job.
01:26So Norway, the country that Quisling claimed to love, had to be swallowed up into the Reich.
01:31Quisling was sidelined.
01:37He became a cartoon hate figure.
01:41A puppet, lampooned by the Allies, despised by his countrymen, and with none of the power he so craved.
01:49How did Wittgen Quisling get it all so wrong?
01:55Was World War II's most notorious Nazi collaborator a fool?
02:01Evil?
02:02Or simply insane?
02:13The man whose name would become synonymous with collaboration was born in 1887 in the Telemark region of Norway.
02:21The son of a Lutheran clergyman, he had a strict upbringing.
02:30After school, he attended a military academy and became a major.
02:34Then in the 1920s, there was an event in Russia that would affect him deeply.
02:46The country was suffering a terrible famine, as a result of the Communist Revolution and years of civil war.
02:55Vast swathes of the country became a wasteland.
02:58Disease, starvation and poverty were everywhere.
03:06Millions died.
03:11Quisling was sent to the Ukraine to coordinate the relief effort.
03:16He worked for the League of Nations Aid Committee in Russia.
03:22He witnessed first-hand the devastation.
03:28In his eyes, suffering and inequality all prospered under communism.
03:43Nonetheless, Quisling did well in Russia.
03:47As attaché in Moscow, he represented British interests, and the British government even awarded him the CBE.
03:58But after he returned to Norway in December 1929, his views on communism became increasingly hard-line.
04:07He saw it as a menace that threatened his beloved country.
04:17Then came the Great Depression, which affected the lives of everyone.
04:21Beginning in America, it spread like a contagion across Europe.
04:24It's legacy was the financial meltdown of the whole continent.
04:35Millions lost their jobs.
04:38Crime increased.
04:40Rioting spread.
04:46Norway was not immune.
04:48It was hit by a wave of strikes and civil unrest.
04:53All spawned by the Great Depression.
04:58As society collapsed, Quisling became fearful that this chaos would become a breeding ground for Norwegian communism.
05:04So, he decided to take action and enter politics, using it as a weapon to halt the spread of communism.
05:18Then, in 1931, he had an unexpected break.
05:24A high-level post as Minister of Defence in the government.
05:27This was his big chance to do something in his campaign against communism.
05:38But he blew it.
05:43In June 1931, there was a communist-led strike at a Norse hydro-industrial plant.
05:49A high-level post, Quisling sent in the army, and it didn't go down well.
05:57The relationship between Quisling and his fellow ministers soured.
06:05Then, after just two years, the government fell.
06:08Now, Quisling looked for inspiration, and he found it in Germany.
06:21And now, a crazy or conscious liar can think that I or someone ever had the intention.
06:35A high-level post, Nazi- Hitler, and it was a revolution.
06:37It was a revolution.
06:37A high-level post, Nazi- Hitler, and it was a revolution.
06:38A high-level post, Nazi- Hitler, and it was a revolution.
06:45January 1933.
06:48Adolf Hitler rose to power.
06:53In just 12 years, he had created a successful mass fascist movement.
07:00Quisling was smitten.
07:05The Nazis' tough stance on communism, that was what Norway so badly needed.
07:18Their idea of the great leader, the totalitarian Führer, that could be him.
07:25And the German notion of a powerful national identity, a fatherland to which everyone and
07:32everything was subjugated, that could work in Norway.
07:35And unite the divided country.
07:41So, Kvisling hatched a plan to create a Norwegian fascist movement, modelled exactly on the Nazis.
07:51He founded National Samling, National Union, in May 1933.
07:59As leader, Fora, in Norwegian, all members had to show blind obedience to him.
08:06They adopted the Roman salute.
08:08And Kvisling created his own paramilitary thugs, just like Hitler's brown shirts, known as the herd.
08:18His party even adopted the sun cross as their symbol, which bore a resemblance to the swastika.
08:28Their uniforms were emblazoned with a flying eagle, just like the Nazi emblem.
08:38And in the same way as Hitler had risen to power with a 25-point plan, Kvisling drew up a list of 30 things he would change.
08:50They included abolishing unemployment.
08:52He never explained how.
08:53He never explained how.
08:54Censoring the press, banning strikes, and the sterilization of undesirables.
09:04But Kvisling differed from the Nazis in three key areas.
09:09He never mentioned anti-Semitism, never chose to call his party National Socialist, and he maintained party ties to Christianity.
09:17Six months after he founded it, his fledgling NS movement was put to the test.
09:30He was fired.
09:36Kvisling hit the campaign trail, ready for the October 1933 elections.
09:43Unlike Hitler, he was no charismatic orator, and the elections showed it.
09:57His party gained just 2.2% of the vote, not a single seat in parliament,
10:03and did just a little better than their detested rivals, the communists.
10:07Three years later, in the 1936 general election, he did even worse.
10:21National Samling had completely failed to capture popular support.
10:26It remained confined to the margins of Norwegian politics.
10:30A lunatic fringe.
10:31Then in the summer of 1939, whilst attending a conference in the German port of Lübeck,
10:43Quisling's fortunes turned.
10:47He met Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler's most senior foreign policy advisor.
10:53Rosenberg had recognised Quisling's potential as a German ally,
10:57and set out to entice him to the Nazi cause.
11:01Quisling was taken on a whirlwind tour of Berlin.
11:19Meeting prominent Nazis and military figures,
11:22including Admiral Rader, the head of the German Navy.
11:25It looked like he had finally found like-minded allies who would support him.
11:35With the help of the Nazis, he could at last become a great leader,
11:38and change Norwegian politics forever.
11:43And soon, events would come together and give Quisling the opportunity to exploit his new contacts.
11:49But it would come at a heavy price.
11:54September 1939.
12:13Britain and France were forced to declare war on Germany.
12:18A dark cloud descended over the whole of Europe.
12:21The German blitzkrieg, or lightning war, finished off Poland in just over a month.
12:37Now the German war effort needed two things.
12:43Iron ore, to make steel and armaments.
12:46And ships to expand its fleet.
12:55Norway offered both.
12:57Quisling quickly realised that Hitler needed the Norwegians.
13:05With Rosenberg's help, he travelled back to Berlin in December 1939,
13:10to meet more senior Nazis.
13:12This time, he had a plan.
13:20In the meeting, he set out his stall to Alfred Rosenberg.
13:27Quisling proposed to stage a coup d'etat in the capital, Oslo.
13:33He would set up a new government, with himself as Führer.
13:36Then he would invite the Germans to land in Norway.
13:42The plan met with Nazi approval.
13:51To help the German landings, he gave Admiral Raeder secret intelligence regarding defence agreements with Britain and Norwegian naval forces.
13:59And he made a promise.
14:03Quisling guaranteed that the Norwegian people would support his coup.
14:07This meeting was a huge turning point in Quisling's life.
14:24He was taken right to the top, to meet the Führer himself, for the first time.
14:30Quisling was granted an audience with Adolf Hitler on the 14th of December, 1939.
14:45Though this meeting was held behind closed doors with no minutes,
14:49Rosenberg wrote in his diary that Quisling seemed very satisfied with the talks.
14:54The Norwegian met the Führer again on the 18th,
15:03when Hitler assured him that his plan for a takeover would receive the military backing of Germany.
15:13Unbeknownst to his people back in Norway,
15:16Quisling had done a deal with the Germans.
15:19He would become Führer in Norway,
15:21and, in return, allow the Germans to maintain a purely military presence,
15:26to deter any British or French attacks.
15:32Quisling was overjoyed.
15:34He seemed to have the deal he needed,
15:37and his route to ultimate power appeared certain.
15:44As he flew back to Norway, the Germans were getting ready.
15:51Norwegian insurgents were trained,
15:53and a list of military targets drawn up.
15:59But what Quisling didn't know
16:01was that Hitler was planning to take over Norway before he was ready.
16:11On the 3rd of April, 1940,
16:13Quisling travelled to Copenhagen
16:15to meet with the deputy head of the German intelligence service.
16:21He passed over yet more military secrets to Hitler's spies.
16:27Then, less than a week later,
16:30the Germans struck.
16:31After seven months,
16:38the war has suddenly flared up
16:40into a tremendous conflagration
16:41with the Nazi invasion of Norway and Denmark.
16:53Norway was invaded on the 9th of April, 1940.
16:56It was a spectacular military operation
17:03that surprised everyone.
17:05Even Quisling was caught unawares.
17:10The German navy attempted to sail right up to Oslo.
17:18And Luftwaffe transports dropped paratroopers
17:21to seize key targets.
17:22Seeing the Germans had invaded without waiting fire,
17:31Vittgen Quisling reacted
17:32and tried to regain the initiative.
17:39He seized the Oslo radio transmitter
17:41and proclaimed himself Norwegian prime minister.
17:47He announced that he spoke for the whole nation
17:49and called a halt to hostilities.
17:52Germany, he said,
17:55had promised to guarantee
17:56Norwegian freedom and independence
17:58and had acted to protect her from British aggression.
18:04The move seemed to work.
18:07Hitler agreed to recognise his government immediately.
18:11This was one of the most amazing acts of treachery
18:14the world has ever known.
18:15It brought Major Quisling international fame,
18:19making his very name synonymous with the word traitor.
18:24Virtually overnight,
18:25Quisling was seen as a Judas around the world,
18:28especially in London.
18:30The British press in particular
18:31used his name as a byword for traitor
18:34from that moment on.
18:35A vile race of Quisling use a new word
18:41which will carry the scorn of mankind
18:44down the centuries.
18:47He's hired to fawn upon the conqueror
18:50to collaborate in his designs.
18:54But right from the start,
18:58it all went wrong for Quisling.
19:01King Håkon, the Norwegian monarch,
19:04refused to accept Quisling's government.
19:08He labelled Quisling's regime as illegitimate
19:11and his claim to speak for the nation false.
19:16King Håkon led a fight back,
19:18first from Norway,
19:20then from London.
19:21Bitter fighting continued,
19:29especially in the north around Narvik,
19:31a vital strategic port,
19:33crucial for the transportation of iron ore.
19:41The Royal Navy fought Hitler's Navy
19:43in the waters near Narvik.
19:51On land,
19:58Norwegian ground forces fought alongside
20:01British, French and Polish troops
20:03in the mountains that surrounded the port.
20:09It was all a massive embarrassment for Quisling.
20:12It showed that he didn't have the situation under control.
20:15Despite having promised Hitler in their previous meetings
20:23that he could rally the whole country,
20:25it was patently clear that he could not.
20:31Hitler realised he would have to pacify Norway himself,
20:34and he soon moved to control the situation without Quisling.
20:43Within six days of the invasion,
20:45Hitler put his own man in charge of Norway.
20:50Joseph Ter Boven was appointed Reichskommissar
20:53on the 20th of April, 1940.
20:57Ter Boven was a man with serious Nazi pedigree,
21:00and his task was to bring Norway under direct control
21:03of the Reich.
21:07He became the supreme authority,
21:09and he was good at his job.
21:14By June 1940, all resistance ceased,
21:17and the nation capitulated.
21:19The parliament was dissolved in August.
21:23Norway, the country that Quisling had wanted to lead,
21:26was swallowed up by Hitler's empire.
21:30But Quisling wasn't quite finished.
21:34Hitler still had plans for him.
21:40Ter Boven was ordered by Hitler to work with Quisling
21:43and create a temporary puppet government
21:45with a facade of legality.
21:48The goal was then to build NS into a popular party
21:52and prepare Quisling for power,
21:54allowing the Germans to withdraw.
22:00Quisling chaired a cabinet formed in the autumn of 1941,
22:04known as the Council of Ministers.
22:08But behind the scenes, Ter Boven was firmly in charge.
22:13Together, he and Quisling set about
22:15Nazifying Norway.
22:17Now Norwegians would find out what life under the Nazis was like.
22:27Political parties were banned,
22:29as were public meetings.
22:32The press was censored,
22:35free speech outlawed,
22:36and the population was told rationing would be introduced.
22:39Quisling approved all of it.
22:48As Hitler had requested,
22:50he then went on a drive to expand his party and popularity.
22:54Once again,
23:01Witt and Quisling hit the campaign trail.
23:06But yet again,
23:07his recruitment drive failed abysmally,
23:10even though there wasn't any political opposition.
23:15Quisling could still only muster some 20,000
23:18out of the 100,000 members he aimed for.
23:21It was another embarrassment for the self-styled Forer,
23:27and more proof that he wasn't the popular leader he claimed to be.
23:32The Nazi strategy to build him up
23:34was failing.
23:37But he still had grand plans.
23:43In 1941,
23:45Heinrich Himmler himself had come to Oslo
23:47to see the inauguration of the Standarte Nordland.
23:51An SS military unit
23:53grouping Scandinavian volunteers
23:54in SS Division Viking.
24:01But Quisling wanted to build something bigger and better.
24:06He wanted to show Norway was indispensable to the war effort
24:10and win Hitler's favour.
24:11He offered to provide his own personal forer-guard
24:18of Norwegian volunteers.
24:24And soon there came a chance to create it.
24:27June 1941.
24:41Operation Barbarossa.
24:45Hitler's much-awaited invasion of Russia
24:46finally began.
24:50It should have been the perfect excuse for Quisling
24:52to create his own elite fighting force.
24:57But his rival, Terboven, beat him to it.
25:05Terboven summoned recruits
25:06for a legion of Norwegian volunteers
25:08to fight for Hitler.
25:13Similar to SS Nordland,
25:15but grander in scale
25:16with their own national uniforms,
25:19Norwegian officers,
25:20and to placate Quisling,
25:22allegiance to him.
25:28To make the legion more appealing to Norwegians,
25:30Terboven promised they would only fight
25:32on the Finnish front.
25:40Quisling had no choice
25:41but to endorse his rival's legion.
25:44He urged all Norwegians to join.
25:49Again, volunteers were found
25:50from his paramilitaries, the herd.
25:531,200 joined in total.
26:02But in the end,
26:04nothing happened
26:05as he had wanted.
26:08The unit never wore Norwegian uniforms,
26:11but German SS uniforms instead.
26:15They were made to swear an oath
26:17of allegiance not to Quisling,
26:19but to Hitler.
26:25And to make matters worse,
26:27they ended up in a dangerous hot spot
26:29on the German front line
26:31in Russia,
26:32not on the Finnish front.
26:44The Norwegian legionnaires
26:45saw action around Leningrad.
26:52There, they besieged the city for months.
26:55It was some of the toughest fighting
27:02in the whole of Russia.
27:11Many were killed in combat
27:12or by the bitter cold.
27:18What's more,
27:19the SS High Command
27:20complained about their attitude.
27:21They didn't show the proper respect
27:24for orders
27:24and suffered from poor fighting spirit.
27:29In the end,
27:31the legion was disbanded.
27:39Not only had Quisling's idea
27:40been hijacked
27:41and the Norwegian legion failed,
27:44but all it had achieved
27:45was to deplete the numbers
27:46of his NS party
27:47even further.
27:51The more party faithful
27:52were killed,
27:53the more his power base
27:54was shrinking.
27:58And yet again,
28:00he had failed
28:01to please the Nazis.
28:06Meanwhile,
28:06in London,
28:07events were occurring
28:08that would discredit him
28:09even more
28:10and see his grasp on power
28:12slip still further.
28:13Winston Churchill's secret army,
28:22the Special Operations Executive,
28:24had been given strict orders
28:25to start a reign of chaos
28:26in occupied Europe.
28:29It was helped
28:29by the Norwegian government
28:30in exile.
28:37SOE managed to create
28:38an extremely effective network
28:40of Norwegian spies
28:41and agents
28:42known as the Home Front Army.
28:47The Home Front Army
28:48began to plan sabotage
28:50and assassinations
28:51of NS members
28:51and Nazi sympathisers.
28:59More and more young men
29:01and women escaped Norway,
29:03often making the treacherous
29:04journey by boat
29:05to sign up.
29:06They were all desperate
29:07to get rid
29:08of the unpopular Quisling.
29:12They would crew
29:12118 ships,
29:15fly in four squadrons
29:16and create an army brigade
29:17numbering
29:17one and a half thousand men.
29:23Norwegian volunteers
29:24also trained to fight
29:25as commandos
29:26in specialist British units.
29:29Their mission
29:30was to carry out
29:31military operations
29:32deep within
29:33occupied Norwegian territory.
29:34British commandos
29:36targeted the Lofoten Islands.
29:53They took with them
29:54the men they trained.
29:57We have also on board
29:59Norwegian soldiers
30:00and sailors.
30:01Men picked for their physique
30:03and initiative,
30:04their dash and enterprise.
30:05Men brought to the peak
30:06of military efficiency
30:07by long and intensive training
30:10and in high spirits too
30:12for they are bound
30:13for their home country,
30:14Norway,
30:15to strike
30:16at the enemy
30:17in occupation.
30:20The targets were tanks
30:21of fish oil
30:22used to make explosives.
30:23The operation
30:39was a tactical
30:40and propaganda success.
30:43And that's Hitler's
30:44cod liver oil
30:45going up
30:46instead of down.
30:49Stacks of barrels
30:50of the precious liquid
30:50vital for the Nazi war machine.
30:53are broken open
30:54and tipped into the harbor.
30:58Other parties
30:59have different work
31:00to do.
31:01The rounding up
31:01of Germans
31:02and Quislings
31:03and marching them off
31:04for interrogation.
31:08Over 300 new volunteers
31:09left the islands
31:10and joined the convoy
31:11to fight for the Allies.
31:17The raiders even made a joke
31:19at Hitler's expense
31:20and sent a telegram
31:21teasing the Führer
31:22before they left.
31:25Herr Hitler,
31:27reference your last speech.
31:29I thought you said
31:30that whenever British troops
31:31land on the continent
31:32of Europe,
31:33German soldiers
31:33will face them.
31:35Well,
31:36where are they?
31:36300,000 German troops
31:41badly needed elsewhere
31:42had to be garrisoned
31:43in Norway
31:44doing nothing,
31:45simply to deter
31:46further Allied raids.
31:47despite this,
31:57all Quisling's efforts
31:58seemed on the surface
31:59to be rewarded
31:59on the 1st of February 1942
32:01when he became
32:04minister-president,
32:05the head of state,
32:07even though Norway
32:07was still officially
32:08part of the Reich.
32:09He had all the
32:15trappings of power,
32:17a title,
32:18a sumptuous residence
32:19and his head
32:20on the national
32:21postage stamp.
32:26But Quisling effectively
32:27remained on probation.
32:30Ter Boven
32:30was still in charge.
32:33He was a puppet
32:34and his new puppet title
32:37came at a price.
32:38as Quisling became
32:40the figurehead
32:40of a clampdown
32:41and was forced
32:42to turn on his own people.
32:51Throughout 1942,
32:53the British attacks
32:54against Norway
32:54continued.
32:58And it wasn't just
32:59the commander raiders
33:00who inconvenienced
33:01Quisling.
33:05The home front army
33:06resistance movement
33:07inside Norway
33:08was growing in strength.
33:16Its campaign of sabotage
33:18and assassinations
33:19was working.
33:23Their most famous achievement,
33:25later immortalised on film,
33:27was the partial destruction
33:28of the Norsk hydro-heavy
33:30water plant in Telemark.
33:38It was one of a number
33:39of daring attacks
33:40right under the minister-president's nose.
33:49Ter Boven was furious
33:51that the home front army
33:52could act with impunity.
33:53Quisling was at a loss
33:57how to react.
33:59Desperate to be taken seriously
34:00and bullied by Ter Boven,
34:03Quisling agreed
34:04to brutal reprisals.
34:09Six commandos
34:10captured trying to sabotage
34:11the heavy water plant
34:12on a previous mission
34:13were executed.
34:16Murdering uniformed special forces
34:18was a war crime
34:19which went against
34:20the Geneva Convention.
34:27Then,
34:28to contain the Norwegian resistance,
34:30innocent civilians
34:31became fair game.
34:32They were rounded up
34:36and tortured.
34:38Quisling
34:39let it happen.
34:44Nazi recriminations
34:45were particularly brutal
34:47at the hands of a notorious
34:48ex-Norwegian soldier
34:49named Henry Rynan.
34:56Rynan worked for the SS secret police,
34:58the SD.
35:00He led a gang of 40 Gestapo agents
35:02who infiltrated resistance networks.
35:06A thousand people were arrested.
35:09Hundreds were murdered.
35:16Then, in October 1942,
35:18Quisling went even further.
35:21He cooperated with the crime
35:23that made the Nazis so infamous.
35:25In Oslo,
35:32750 Jews were arrested
35:34and deported
35:36to the Auschwitz death camp.
35:39Their property
35:40and wealth
35:41was stolen.
35:48Quisling's involvement
35:49made him even more unpopular.
35:51In the eyes of Norwegians,
35:54he had now sold his soul.
35:59In 1943,
36:01he made things even worse
36:03by advocating compulsory conscription.
36:05As head of state,
36:11he declared that Norway
36:12was at war with Russia
36:13and allied to the Reich.
36:17He wanted to pass
36:18an unpopular law
36:19allowing the Norwegian population
36:21to be called up
36:22to help the German war effort.
36:24He submitted plans
36:28to SS chief Gottloch Berger
36:30for 75,000 conscripts.
36:37Norwegians were recruited
36:38to fight in German ski-jäger units
36:40in Finland.
36:45Others were sent off
36:46to labour camps
36:46in Germany.
36:47In 1944,
36:53he tried to mobilise
36:54yet more young Norwegians
36:55for compulsory labour service.
36:59Then he made
37:00his next fateful mistake.
37:07A popular Norwegian police chief,
37:10Gunnar Eilfsen,
37:11refused to execute
37:12two girls
37:13who had avoided
37:14compulsory labour service.
37:15The police chief
37:18was killed
37:18for insubordination.
37:24Minutes from a meeting
37:25with Ter Boven
37:26showed that Quisling
37:27justified the use
37:29of capital punishment.
37:34Quisling's behaviour
37:35was all the more
37:36incomprehensible
37:37given the way
37:38the war was going.
37:451944 was a year
37:52of unmissable signs
37:53that the Reich
37:54would soon be finished.
37:58Over that summer,
38:00Germany suffered
38:00two simultaneous body blows.
38:05In the west,
38:07the Allies landed
38:08in Normandy.
38:08In the east,
38:15Russia's Operation
38:16Bagretion
38:16obliterated
38:17a huge portion
38:18of the forces
38:19on the eastern front.
38:24All the other
38:25Hitler collaborators
38:26around Europe
38:27had gone by now too.
38:31Mussolini,
38:32Italy's fascist dictator.
38:36Antonescu,
38:37the former ally
38:37in Romania.
38:40Admiral Horthy,
38:41regent in Hungary.
38:45Fritz Clausen,
38:47collaborator
38:47in neighbouring Denmark.
38:51The writing was
38:52on the wall
38:53for those who
38:54supported the Third Reich.
38:58Even the Fuhrer
38:59himself had been
39:00the target
39:00of an assassination
39:01plot and coup.
39:04Yet Quisling
39:05refused to turn back.
39:07Bizarrely,
39:12it was only
39:12at this moment
39:13as the Reich
39:13was collapsing
39:14that Adolf Hitler
39:15finally had
39:16quality time for him.
39:25Even though
39:26the end
39:26seemed inevitable,
39:28he was summoned
39:28to meet Himmler
39:29and Hitler
39:30again in January
39:311945.
39:32The Nazis
39:34pulled out
39:35all the stops.
39:40Quisling saw
39:40Hitler no fewer
39:41than three times
39:42during his official
39:43state visit.
39:46He was whisked off
39:47to meet Goebbels
39:48and Ribbentrop too.
39:52At long last,
39:53he was finally
39:54being treated
39:55as a proper
39:56head of state.
39:57Quisling seemed
40:01to recover
40:01some of his
40:02statesmanship.
40:03He was determined
40:04to try and do
40:05a deal with Hitler
40:05one last time
40:07to finally negotiate
40:08with him
40:09and regain independence
40:11for Norway.
40:15His idea
40:15was for a grand
40:16alliance
40:17uniting all
40:18Germanic peoples
40:18after the war.
40:21In exchange
40:21for its membership,
40:23a peace
40:23had to be signed
40:24with Norway
40:24guaranteeing
40:26its independence.
40:31But Quisling's
40:32plan
40:32was hopeless.
40:34It depended
40:35on Germany
40:35winning the war
40:36which was clearly
40:37not going to happen.
40:39Dead Nazis
40:40and captured Nazis,
40:41men dazed
40:42and bewildered
40:43by the fury
40:43of the Allied attack.
40:45As the Russians
40:46sweep on,
40:46Germany sees
40:47certain doom
40:47on two fronts.
40:50To make matters
40:51worse,
40:52Hitler was enraged
40:53by continued acts
40:54of sabotage
40:55in Norway
40:55and refused
40:56to accept
40:57any such treaty.
40:59Quisling's plan
41:00was rejected.
41:05From this point on,
41:07Quisling's actions
41:08became more
41:08and more delusional.
41:12In the dying days
41:14of the war,
41:14he offered citizenship
41:15to 400,000
41:17German soldiers
41:17in Norway.
41:23He even suggested
41:24the idea
41:24of making Norway
41:25a fortress,
41:26Festoon Norway,
41:28somewhere the Nazis
41:29could make a last stand
41:30against the Allies.
41:32But it was all too late.
41:35The day of victory
41:36in Europe
41:37was the day
41:37of freedom for Norway,
41:39isolated from our Allies
41:40since 1940.
41:42The first British party
41:43to enter Oslo
41:44is greeted by the chief
41:45of the German ground forces,
41:46putting up an oily show
41:47of friendship
41:48which is coldly rejected.
41:49On the 8th of May, 1945,
41:55the German army
41:56in Norway
41:57surrendered.
42:00The 40,000
42:02home front forces
42:03emerged from hiding
42:04and joined the liberators.
42:10The Nazi regime
42:12was finished.
42:19Joseph de Boven
42:22blew himself up
42:23in a bunker
42:23with a hand grenade.
42:26But Vidkun Quisling
42:28remained in a dream world.
42:31Incredibly,
42:32he thought he could form
42:33a working relationship
42:34with the home front forces.
42:38He received a curt reply
42:40from King Hawkan's
42:41representatives.
42:44Hand yourself in
42:45or expect
42:46to be taken by force.
42:49The next day,
42:53a dazed and confused
42:54Quisling
42:54handed himself in
42:55at an Oslo police station.
43:02It was now time
43:03for retribution.
43:07Those Norwegians
43:09who had sided
43:09with the Nazis
43:10had to face
43:11their judgment.
43:11Henry Rinna,
43:20the brutal police enforcer,
43:22faced his fate
43:22with a chilling smile.
43:27But Norway's former leader
43:29tried to put up a fight.
43:35In August,
43:37Quisling's trial began.
43:38It was held
43:41in a temporary courthouse
43:42in Oslo,
43:43created especially
43:44for the occasion.
43:48The eyes of the world's media
43:50were focused on Norway.
43:54Quisling welcomed the chance
43:55to set the record straight.
43:58He wanted to explain
44:00how the Norwegian people
44:01had got it all wrong,
44:03how he had tried
44:04to protect them
44:04from Teboven,
44:05not act as an agent
44:07of the Nazis.
44:10The prosecution
44:11was so bemused
44:12by Quisling's reasoning
44:13that they had him
44:14assessed to see
44:15if he was insane.
44:18The psychiatrists
44:19eventually determined
44:20he was not.
44:24He was charged
44:25with treason,
44:26orchestrating a coup,
44:27ordering Norwegian soldiers
44:28to down arms,
44:30and assisting Germany's
44:31war efforts
44:32and occupation.
44:35What's more,
44:36he stood accused
44:37of killing
44:37Norwegian patriots,
44:39like the police chief,
44:40Alefsson.
44:42The prosecution
44:43called for the death penalty.
44:49Quisling would never accept
44:50he had done anything wrong.
44:52He maintained
44:52he had always tried
44:53to secure
44:54Norwegian independence.
44:58As his trial went on,
45:00more evidence
45:01began to stack up
45:02against him.
45:04Theft
45:05and embezzlement
45:06were also added
45:07to the list of crimes.
45:11But questioning
45:12quickly returned
45:13to his contacts
45:13with German Nazis
45:14and the matter
45:15of treason,
45:17especially his meeting
45:19in Copenhagen,
45:20days before the invasion.
45:26Quisling flatly refused
45:28to admit any knowledge
45:29of the meeting
45:30and denied any prior knowledge
45:31of an invasion.
45:35Later,
45:36further evidence
45:37was submitted
45:38proving that he had met
45:39with Admiral Rader,
45:40who had planned
45:41the German invasion
45:42of Norway.
45:46Quisling hit back
45:47with some impressive
45:47character witnesses
45:48who spoke up
45:49in his defense,
45:51but they could not
45:52defend his actions
45:53under the Nazis.
45:55His defense
45:56collapsed.
45:57Then,
46:02a key Jewish witness
46:03delivered more
46:03damning evidence.
46:07Leo Eitinger
46:08spoke at length
46:09about the deportation
46:10and gassing
46:10of Norwegian Jews.
46:14Quisling
46:14had been complicit
46:15in their deaths.
46:19In his final statement,
46:20he said,
46:21I have been guided
46:22by two considerations,
46:24my love of Norway
46:26and my love
46:27of the Norwegian people.
46:31The judges withdrew
46:32to contemplate
46:33the verdict.
46:37Vidken Quisling
46:38was sentenced
46:38to death
46:39on the 10th of September
46:401945.
46:44He had been found
46:45guilty of treason,
46:47murder,
46:47and theft.
46:50He was in shock.
46:58On the morning
46:59of the 24th of October,
47:001945,
47:02Quisling was led
47:03to a courtyard
47:03at Akashu's fortress,
47:05where a firing squad
47:06similar to this one
47:07awaited.
47:09He was blindfolded
47:10and prepared for death.
47:14As the shots rang out,
47:16Vidken Quisling
47:17protested his innocence
47:18one last time.
47:30Right until the moment
47:31of death,
47:32Vidken Quisling
47:32remained convinced
47:33he had done
47:34nothing wrong.
47:38But the truth
47:39was different.
47:40In fact,
47:41he was almost driven mad
47:42by his own contradictions.
47:45He was the patriot
47:47who betrayed his country.
47:49The nationalist
47:50who let his country
47:51be taken over.
47:53The man who loved
47:55his people,
47:56but also oppressed them.
47:58He was the figurehead
48:00who claimed to speak
48:01for a whole nation,
48:02but spoke for no one.
48:05A man of faith
48:06who was complicit
48:07in the murder of Jews.
48:11Vidken Quisling
48:11was convinced
48:12he could rally millions,
48:14but failed.
48:16And thought he could deal
48:17with Adolf Hitler
48:18and was wrong.
48:21In the end,
48:22these contradictions
48:23tore him apart
48:24and he paid for them
48:26with his life.
48:27in the end,
48:31he went down and
48:36saw him
48:44and went over
48:45and there
48:45would have been
48:46the front
48:47and he played
48:48a status
48:49of the family.