Norwegian war hero to speak at UND

In spring 1945, as Nazi Germany was collapsing and Norwegians regained control of their country after five years of German occupation, Gunnar Sonsteby was assigned to watch over a prisoner, a notorious collaborator.Sonsteby, the most decorated Norwegian hero of World War II, will speak at UND on Sunday night.
He was a leader in the Norwegian underground and was known by many cover names during the long years of resistance. At times, he was known simply as No. 24. And at times, he was Kjakan, Norwegian for “The Chin.”


On this day in May 1945, The Chin stood guard over The Traitor, the man whose name has come to be synonymous with treason in many languages: Vidkun Quisling, who had served the Nazi occupiers by leading a puppet Norwegian government.Quisling said little as Sonsteby drove him to where he would be held pending trial. Sonsteby said he was struck by how alone the onetime Norwegian “fuhrer” seemed, and when they reached the holding area he allowed him a visitor — though it was hardly an act of sympathy.
“I told my friend, Halvor Rivrud, to get into the car with Quisling and tell him what he had experienced” thanks to Quisling’s collaboration, Sonsteby recalled in a recent online discussion with readers of the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten.



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