Nasjonal Samling - Post War

Post War

The post-war authorities banned the party and prosecuted its members as collaborators. Nearly 50,000 were brought to trial, approximately half of whom received jail penalties. The authorities executed Quisling for treason as well as a few other high-profile NS members, and prominent German officials in Norway, for war crimes. The sentences' legality has been questioned, however, as Norway did not have peacetime capital punishment, and the Norwegian constitution at the time stipulated that capital punishment for war crimes had to be carried out during actual wartime.

Another issue of post-war treatment has been the ongoing Hamsun debate in Norway. The internationally renowned author Knut Hamsun, though never a member, was a well-known sympathiser. After the war Hamsun was, however, deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, and many feel that the issue of his links to the party has never been properly resolved. Hamsun's status as a Nobel Prize laureate and probably the best-known Norwegian author next to Henrik Ibsen, also results in his ties to NS being a touchy subject, as many feel the valuation of Hamsun's literature should not be marred by constant debate about whether or not he was a fascist.