Quisling at Radio Oslo — 19:32
On 9 April 1940, as the Wehrmacht takes possession of Oslo and the Nygaardsvold government flees northwards, sees an opportunity to impose his political figure. Without any prior German agreement (contrary to his December 1939 talks with ), he decides to act alone. At 19:00 he turns up at the NRK studio (Norwegian public radio) at Marienlyst, ejects the technicians and takes over the microphone.
At 19:32, Quisling proclaims live: "I am . The Nygaardsvold government has fled. I today assume power as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway. I call on the population not to resist the German army which is coming to free Norway from the pluto-democratic yoke. Long live Norway and German-Norwegian cooperation."
The reaction is immediate: stupefaction across Norway. The population has scarcely heard of Quisling — his party, Nasjonal Samling, took 1.8% of the vote at the last elections. The Wehrmacht itself is embarrassed: Hitler had not authorised this self-proclamation. , special German envoy in Oslo, must handle a catastrophic diplomatic situation: the self-proclamation was not foreseen by Berlin and places the Wehrmacht before a fait accompli.
Berlin must decide within hours.
What must Berlin do in the face of the Quisling self-proclamation?
Berlin applies B first (12-15 April), then C. Hitler disavows Quisling on 15 April 1940 and proposes to an administrative government chaired by , president of the Norwegian Supreme Court, a moderate. refuses. Faced with this failure, Hitler on 24 April 1940 appoints Reichskommissar , a German civilian administrator under Göring. Quisling is marginalised for 22 months. But on 1 February 1942, Hitler rehabilitates him: Quisling officially becomes Ministerpräsident of the Norwegian government under Terboven's tutelage. He begins the "nazification" of Norway — antisemitic laws, deportation of 770 Jews to Auschwitz of whom 33 will survive, brutality against the resistance. At the Liberation on 9 May 1945, Quisling is arrested immediately, tried for high treason, sentenced to death and shot at Akershus fortress in Oslo on 24 October 1945 at 03:30. The word "quisling" enters English dictionaries (Oxford, 1944) and other languages, a synonym for national collaborator and traitor. Norway tries some 50,000 collaborators after the war — among the highest proportions in Europe.
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