VIDKUN QUISLING: 

NORWAY'S BENEDICT ARNOLD
 
Born 1887.
Executed Oct. 24, 1945.
 
AS IN ALL the other occupied countries, the Nazi power profited from the support of local sympathisers. During a visit to Hitler in Berlin in the winter of 1939-40, the leader of the national socialist Nasjonal Samling Party, Vidkun Quisling, had pointed out how valuable it would be for Germany to occupy Norway. Immediately after the invasion, on the morning of April 9, 1940, he proclaimed himself the new head of the government and ordered the Norwegian armed forces to stop battling the Germans. But Quisling's intervention backfired and stimulated the resistance. Thus, the occupying power quickly realized that -- for the time being -- Quisling did not serve their interests and they chose to base their administration of the country on a certain degree of give-and-take with the existing civilian authorities. 
 Excerpted from Norway and World War II on the Odin website
 
 
Quisling, Vidkun (1887-1945), Norwegian politician, whose collaboration with the Nazis...during World War II (1939-1945) made his name synonymous with traitor. In the 1930s he found the Nationa Union, a Fascist party that received subsidies from Germany. After the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940 the National Union was declared the only legal party. The Germans installed Quisling as prime minister in 1942 and throughout the war he collaborated with the Nazis. Quisling was tried and executed after the war.
 From Encarta.
 
 
Katrine Clip, in her feature on "Norwegian Words," offers a collection of English words derived from Norwegian. Of the word "quisling," she says: 
      A word Norwegians are not very proud of having given to the world: it derives from Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945), a Norwegian politician who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. He established his name as a synonym for "traitor", someone who collaborates with the invaders of his country, especially by serving in a puppet government.
Why Did Quisling Betray Norway? is a scholarly article by "Wincent" (a pseudonym), a student at Flinders University in South Australia. 
 
 
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