t midnight.
1940 Sep 25, German High
Commissioner in Norway set up the Vidikun Quisling government.
(SFC, 6/25/97, p.A10)(MC, 9/25/01)
1940 Nov 9, Germany invaded
Norway and Denmark. [see Apr 9, 1940]
1941 Jun 26, In Norway an
adviser to collaborationist leader Vidkun Quisling suggested in a
letter, four days after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, that
northern Russia would be better used by Germanic peoples because
Slavic peoples "don't know how to make use of the land." The
document was not made public until 2010.
1941 Jul 16, Dag Solstad,
Norwegian novelist and playwright, was born.
1942 Oct, An advance team of 4
Norwegian commandos parachuted into Norway as part of Operation
Grouse to destroy the German-operated heavy-water Vemork plant on
the Mane River near Rjukan.
(ON, 4/07, p.2)
1942 Nov 26, The German ship SS
Donau prepared to leave the Oslo wharf with 332 Norwegian Jews bound
for death camps.
1942 Nov, A Royal Air Force
bomber and 2 gliders, carrying 34 British commandos, crash landed in
Norway. This was part of Operation Freshman, which planned a raid on
the heavy-water plant at Vemork. The survivors were captured by
German soldiers and executed by the Gestapo.
(ON, 4/07, p.2)
1942-43 Under the Quisling government 767 Jews
were deported to Auschwitz. An estimated 1,100 Jews fled to Sweden
and bureaucrats looted the possessions of 1,179 Jewish families and
71 Jewish companies.
(SFC, 6/25/97, p.A10)
1943 Feb 28, In Operation
Gunnerside Norwegian commandos flown in from Britain bombed the Nazi
heavy water plant near Rjukan. The raid was later depicted in the
1965 film "The Heroes of Telemark." The 9 commandos included Claus
Helberg (d.2003) and Knut Haukelid (d.1994).
(SFC, 3/14/03, p.A27)(ON, 4/07, p.4)
1943 Nov 16, One hundred and
forty American bombers flew from British bases to Vemork, Norway, to
destroy the Nazi heavy water facility near Rjukan, where production
had resumed despite a commando raid in February. Only 14 of some 700
bombs hit the plant killing 24 civilians. The bombing did not harm
the basement level where the heavy water was collected and stored.
(ON, 4/07, p.5)
1943 Gustav Vigeland (b.1869),
Norwegian sculptor, died. His major life's work was the creation of
212 sculptures of 600 figures in an Oslo park named Vigeland Park.
(SSFC, 6/22/03, p.A1)
1944 Jan 23, Edvard Munch
(b.1863), Norwegian painter and hopeless alcoholic, died. His work
included “Kiss by the Window" (1892), “The Scream" (1893) and “Self
Portrait With Cigarette" (1895). He had a breakdown in 1908 and
retreated to Ekely, where he painted for his remaining years. He
left behind a collection 1,008 paintings at his estate outside Oslo.
In 2005 Sue Prideaux authored “Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream."
(WSJ, 4/16/02, p.D7)(SSFC, 12/18/05, p.M2)(Sm,
3/06, p.60)(WSJ, 2/25/09, p.D7)
1944 Feb 20, A time-bomb
planted by Norwegian commando Knut Haukelid sank the Lake Tinn ferry
Hydro, which carried heavy water canisters from the Vemork plant
destined for Germany. 12 German soldiers and 14 civilian passengers
drowned. Rescuers saved 23 Norwegians and 4 Germans.
(ON, 4/07, p.5)
1944 Nov 12, The RAF sank the
German battleship Tirpitz at Troms Fjord, Norway. Great Britain so
feared the Tripitz, that any hint of its use caused escort ships to
flee their convoys.
(HN, 11/12/98)(MC, 11/12/01)
1944 Odd Nerdrum, Norwegian
figurative artist, was born. He made haunting oils of eerily
(WSJ, 3/19/97, p.A16)(www.oddnerdrum.com)
1945 Feb 9, The German
submarine U-864 with a crew of 73 sank about 2 1/2 miles off Fedje,
Norway. It was on a desperate mission to supply Japan with advanced
weapons technology and carried a poisonous cargo of 70 tons of
mercury. Leakage of the mercury posed a severe threat in 2006 and
plans were made to encase the wreck. In 2007 Norway’s government
said it would be buried in special sand to protect the coastline.
(AP, 12/20/06)(AP, 2/13/07)
1945 May 9, Norwegian Nazi
collaborator Vidkun Quisling was arrested.
1945 Sep 10, Vidkun Quisling
was sentenced to death in Norway for collaborating with the Nazis.
He was executed by firin