Following Nazi Germany’s 1940 invasion of Norway, former Norwegian Defense Minister Vidkun Quisling agreed to serve as Norway’s minister-president under German tutelage. He was arrested in May 1945. After a three-week trial, a jury convicted Quisling of murder and conspiring with Nazi Germany. He was executed that October.
While Quisling insisted history would vindicate him, it has not. Contemporaries noted how Quisling served the Nazis while Danes from all walks of life helped evacuate the country’s Jews. Denmark’s King Christian X led resistance, even reportedly wearing a Jewish star to rebuff the Nazis. Decades after his death, Quisling’s moral compromise to the forces of evil was so great, his name entered the English lexicon as a collaborator who prioritized his own power over any moral standard.
