His wife is Russian. Might be easy enough to pass her off as a refuge.
True enough.
I will continue following this one.
His wife is Russian. Might be easy enough to pass her off as a refuge.
Lord Haw Haw was captured in Flensburg. Quisling may not be as safe as he thinks.
Frensburg or Flensburg?
That and it is where many of the remaining government officials are. I also wish to point to Quislings speech perhaps being too clear, as those unfamiliar with Scandinavian tongues would try to Heimlich Danes as they seem to be choking when they speek.Yikes, its Flensburg, by the Danish border. Thanks for the correction.
A hope…
Yet, several hundred miles away, there was an occupation force who equated “Danish” with a dessert and Italy with the leaning tower of “Pizza”.
What is this guy guilty of exactly?
What is this guy guilty of exactly?
The name "Quisling" was well enough in US popular culture back when I was in the 4th grade in the 1970s that I got it when Linus called Snoopy a "Quisling" (re revealing Linus's hiding out from the intervention against his blanket dependency). I was to be sure a disgustingly bookish kid, and the cartoon was probably from the mid-60s. I swear I also saw a few minutes of some British wartime comedy movie about sleazy Nazis that used the word "quisling." I thought the man had managed to make an indelible if infamous name for himself. Sigh.
I suppose if he can make it to Spain he might be able to catch his breath; I can't be sure he'd be able to stay there indefinitely though. I don't know if Franco honored any extradition treaties whatsoever. I daresay though that with the collapse of Hitler and the British and Americans pretty much able to hold all Spanish overseas trade and contact with their little bits of leftover empire hostage at a whim (what's Franco going to do if the Anglo-Americans, either of them, get high-handed? Call on Stalin to use his UN vetoes on his behalf? The French maybe Chiang Kai-Shek? Maybe that works in the 1950s, buddy, but not in 1945!) Franco would not want to step on Allied toes. I would guess that Spain was a sort of "don't ask, don't tell" situation for Reich refugees--as long as pro-Allied observers didn't notice fleeing Germans and their collaborators hiding out there, the Spanish police would not be proactive in ferreting them out. But if it became known that a camp commandant or puppet-state lackey were hanging out in a Spanish town, Franco's police would suddenly notice and grab him for extradition. At any rate I don't happen to have heard of anyone wanted for Nazi war crimes or crimes against humanity simply staying in Spain with impunity--whereas one does hear that about other places, notably in South America.
Having decided to run, if he makes it, we know from hindsight that Argentina or Uruguay or someplace like that is where he has to wind up. Even there, any Nazi or collaborator with a name anyone would recognize would have to live under an assumed identity; only the very small-time refugees (I hate soiling the name of worthy refugees with Nazis on the lam by the way) could live there openly.
I am unsure how hard the Norwegians would search for him as it might be seen as better to let him vanish. One of his charges against the King during the war and at his trial was how he abandoned Norway. They might like the idea of Quisling just going away, even if it meant that he didn't stop a civil war.
I do not believe that Quisling had much effect on defenses. As it was, Norway lasted longer from touchdown to German victory than FRANCE. As for the thing about the Norwegian King, I am aware he had nothing to worry about. It was simply a point about the propaganda angle of one abandoning his responsibilities after accusing another of doing so.
It supposedly worked at one or two places where he had sympathizers, but on the whole people didn't listen to him and they refused to form a government with him as Prime Minister when the Germans said to. The Cabinet and Storting were reportedly unsure about what to do but their resolves were steeled when the King threatened to abdicate. Keep in mind, he was elected with an overwhelming majority to the position of king. Unlike the Prime Ministers.Didn't he launch a series of radio broadcasts, claiming to be speaking for the government, ordering troops not to mobilize as the 'government had already decided not to resist'? For a nation so dependent on a reserve force, mobilization is everything. Denmark had already decided not to resist, so its not so much a stretch that a political collapse might do the same to Norway. At least, you might as an officer be confused enough to hesitate.