Today is the 75th anniversary of execution, by firing squad, of Vidkun Quisling who headed a puppet government in Norway during the Nazi occupation.
The Norwegian Nazi sympathiser was convicted of murder and treason and sentenced to death on 10th September, 1945.
No kidding Clyde; that’s the first thing I thought when I saw the execution date. That made a point didn’t it? Our system where the doomed sit on death row for 20 years - sort of doesn’t make the same point, to me.
That is too quick for our civil justice system, or indeed under the UCMJ. Fact of the matter, trial errors do occur and the record needs to be prepared and reviewed so those can be detected, and if they contributed to an improper result, then you can determine what (if any) remedy is proper.
But - for Quisling (or most of the major war criminals), more a matter of establishing identity and then make a record of what they did. And then top them. For most situations, I think a bit more deliberation is proper. But for Vidkun Quisling (or his like)...
When I was a bit younger his name was very much part of the English lexicon and I suspect it may still be on the other side of the pond but here, especially with the young, it would simply not register.
To any Brits out there is the term “Quisling” still in use?
Victors Justice, not much different from the trial of Petain and Laval in France. The Dutch put Anton Mussert in front of a firing squad, the top Belgian collaborators had their death sentences commuted, Leon Degrelle escaped to Spain. On May 8 General Leclerq met a group of French POWs from the Waffen-SS Charlemagne Division, when he asked them why they were wearing German uniforms one arrogantly asked he was wearing an American one. Not a good career move.
Victors Justice, not much different from the trial of Petain and Laval in France. The Dutch put Anton Mussert in front of a firing squad, the top Belgian collaborators had their death sentences commuted, Leon Degrelle escaped to Spain. On May 8 General Leclerq met a group of French POWs from the Waffen-SS Charlemagne Division, when he asked them why they were wearing German uniforms one arrogantly asked he was wearing an American one. Not a good career move.
Throughout history there are people that are not committed to one side or the other but they instead try to guess at who will win the war. When they guess wrong and join the losers they get victor's justice. In the case of mass murderers execution usually follows.
Some of my ancestors apparently did this in Scotland and to avoid the penalty migrated to British Colonial America...
There are two good books, "Life with the Enemy" by Werner Rings and "The Patriotic Traitors" by David Littlejohns that deal with collaborators in WWII. By 1943 the TO&E of German divisions on the Eastern Front called for about 2,000 Hiwis
to fill non-combatant roles, there were the battalions of Eastern "volunteers" in Normandy. I read the French Foreign Legion got a lot off the ex-Waffen SS types, they were given the choice between fighting pour la France or ending up like the moron who wised off to LeClercq. I read in the Civil War 100,000 white Southerners fought for the Union, during the March to the Sea Sherman's personal escort was the 1st Alabama Cavalry.
The Librarian recently picked up a book on the "Galvanized Yankees" that is of interest. Confederate POWs recruited by the Union, used in several ways, most famously against Indians (native Americans, whatever term you like - myself, I like Amerind; I advise against use of one of the terms apparently applied by at least some of the old Mountain Men: Red N-word).
Can endorse "Life with the Enemy" a good overview of occupation in European countries in WW2. Severity depended very much on what country you lived in.
For aspects of the occupation in France, try "The Unfree French", Richard Vinen and "Petain's Crimes", Paul Webster.
Think the Channel Islands had a few also.
Another for your book lists - 'The Partisans' by David Mountfield, Hamlyn Publishing, 1979, ISBN 600 37152 2.
I'd say, then, that we are lucky men. The Librarian (my spouse of 46 years, now) has a Tee shirt that says "Librarians are novel lovers". She got it at a Texas Librarians Association meeting.
Shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Arnold TRIED to betray a critical fortress, but failed and nobody died over it except Major Andre, and he was a Brit. Arnold should excoriated, and if he hadn't got away, I expect we'd have hanged (or shot) him, and no tears shed. Quisling led a puppet regime that killed a lot of his fellow citizens. His name should be a pejorative. At home and here.
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