The Intended Pariahs: Norway´s Legal Settlement with Passive Nasjonal Samling Members after 1945
 

No. 2024-09

English Abstract: In the wake of World War II, all previously German-occupied countries in Western Europe carried out legal settlements with those citizens suspected of treasonous collaboration with the occupier. Of these, Norway's treason trials were the most extensive, having as their basis a lower threshold for criminalisation than other countries. According to two legal decrees adopted by the Norwegian Government-in-Exile in 1942 and 1944 respectively, joining or remaining a member of Vidkun Quisling´s (1887–1945) collaborationist party Nasjonal Samling (National Unity, NS) after the German invasion 9 April 1940 was punishable as treason. The purpose was to impose a collective punishment on all members, including those who were completely passive. From the outset, however, it was unclear how the decrees related to the Norwegian Penal Code of 1902. The main question was whether party membership alone could automatically lead to punishment when the Penal Code requires a careful assessment of the defendant´s criminal intent. During the post-war trials of some 30 000 passive NS-members, this legal ambiguity led to considerable variation in the assessment of their guilt. In most cases, however, suspects were punished for treason based on a summary assessment of intent, even though this practice did not fulfil the requirements of the Penal Code. The end result was the most comprehensive legal reckoning ever carried out against a defeated authoritarian regime.