September 10- Quisling sentenced to death

On September 10, 1945 the leader of the Norwegian Fascist Party and Prime Minister of his country under Nazi occupation from 1942-1945, Vidkund Quisling was sentenced to death for high treason.

In the English language, the word �Quisling� has since become a term for a traitor, especially for someone who collaborates with a foreign occupier.
Vidkun Quisling was not the only European leader of a Fascist Party who came to power after Nazi-Germany, and wasn�t even the worst of that delightful bunch. Why he rose to such notoriety is a bit of a mystery. In any case, his career is a typical example of the rise of Nazi puppets in Europe.
In 1933 Quisling, a former army officer, had founded the �Nasjonal Samling�(National Unity), a party that modeled itself both in politics and structure on the NSDAP, the German Nazi Party. Quisling declared himself to be the �F�rer� (�F�hrer�. Leader) of the party, Norway�s very own little Hitler. The �Nasjonal Samling� had only very limited success in the democratic elections in the 30s, last but not least of its increasing Anti-Semitism and Pro-Germany stance in the years leading up to the war.



Poster of Quisling's Party


Quisling and his party had remained an insignificant footnote in Norwegian history, if it hadn�t been for the outbreak of WW2 in 1939. Quisling went to Germany in the winter of 39/40 and pointed out to his great role model how strategically important Norway had become for the German war efforts. Hitler understood the hint, and duly obliged, and thus on April 9, 1940 the Wehrmacht invaded Norway and occupied the country
The very same day, Vidkun Quisling went public on Norwegian radio and announced the formation of new government under his leadership, in the hope, the invaders would recognize it and let him govern the country, and ordered the still fighting units of the Norwegian army to lay down their weapons. Unfortunate for Quisling, his appeal only spurned on the resistance and so Quisling�s government only lasted a couple of days, as the Germans found it safer to install a military governor, Josef Terboven, a notorious Nazi bureaucrat .Only two years later Quisling finally was granted the post of Prime Minister of the occupied Norway.



Quisling and his �bervater

Both Terboven and Quisling ruled Norway with the usual Nazi brutality, persecuting the opposition and sending the small Jewish community to the concentration camps.
Not surprisingly both were detested by the Norwegians, and when the German forces surrendered in Norway on May 8, 1945, Quisling was arrested the very next day, while Terboven escaped justice by blowing himself up.
Quisling and other leading members of his party were tried for high treason by a Norwegian court, sentenced to death on September 10, 1945, and executed by a firing squad on October 24.

Quisling�s colleagues, not a complete list. Any additions?

Ante Pavelic,leader of the fascist Ustasha Party in Crotia and leader of the puppet regime in the �independent� Croatia under Nazi occupation.

Josep Tizo, President of the fascist government in Slovakia under Nazi occupation.

Phillipe Petain,leader of the puppet state �Vichy France�, under German occupation during WW2.

Ferenc Sz�lasi,leader of the Hungarian fascist �Arrow Cross� party, and briefly Prime Minister of Hungary during the last months of Geramn occupation.



What else happened on this day?



1981 The painting 'Guernica' is returned to Spain. Spanish artist Pablo Picasso's monumental anti-war mural Guernica is received in the town of Guernica, whose suffering during the Spanish Civil War inspired the painting. In 1937, with the approval of Francisco Franco, Nazi Germany tested its deadly new air force on Guernica, a town in the independent-minded Basque region. In three hours of bombing, one-third of its 5,000 inhabitants were killed. In protest, Picasso painted Guernica from his exile in Paris. In 1939, the painting went to New York, where it remained, in accordance with Picasso's wishes, until democracy returned to Spain.



Guernica, by Pablo Picasso

Full list:

Wikipedia

Edited by Komnenos

The executing of Ferenc Sz�lasi (1946)

Today in 1924., the Georgian Temporary government was established, but the Red Army surpresses the uprising in a cruel fashion.

Quisling�s colleagues, not a complete list. Any additions?

Anton Mussert leader of the Dutch National Socialist League. He married his own aunt and was also sentenced to death.

Leon D�grelle collaborationist leader in Belgium. Hitler once said about him that if he had a son, he'd like him to be like D�grelle

Have you noticed he even has the same hair-do as Adolf! Quite the little suck up.