Ragnar Skancke

Last updated • 5 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

April 1940 "coup" government

The first political position given to Professor Skancke was that of Minister of Labour in Vidkun Quisling's April 1940 "coup" government, the latter's attempt at seizing power in Norway following the German invasion of 9 April. Skancke was in Trondheim at the time, and only heard of his appointment when it was announced on the radio. He reacted with opposition to Quisling's attempt to form a government, refusing to assume the ministry allotted to him. [4]

Terboven council and NS government

Reichskommissar Josef Terboven, the leading civilian German leader in occupied Norway, on 25 September 1940 appointed a council of Norwegian ministers to assist him in governing Norway. Skancke was appointed as Councillor of State for Church and Educational Affairs, and was given the title Minister for Church and Educational Affairs exactly a year later. [5]

Acts during war

During his collaborationist work in occupied Norway Skancke mostly acted in passive ways, but did not hesitate to enact countermeasures if he met opposition to his work. Although not taking a leading part in the attempted nazification of the Norwegian Church and school system, he did take full responsibility for the sacking of bishops, priests and teachers opposed to National socialist teachings. [6] He also ordered Norwegian teachers and school children to attend a Hitler Youth exhibition in Oslo in February 1941, which led to the first school strike of the occupation, [7] and ordered the confiscation of books by authors opposed to Quisling. [8] Skancke, however, was completely opposed to the deportation to Finnmark of teachers who would not institute the new teaching programmes. [9] In one instance of refusal to cooperate fully with the German authorities, Skancke delayed acting on an order from Reichskommissar Terboven issued on 5 July 1941 that all Norwegian church bells were to be sent to Germany for smelting and use in the war industry. The case dragged out until it was handed over to minister of trade Eivind Blehr in 1942. Blehr refused to release the bells, leading to several confrontations with Terboven until the Germans were later persuaded to drop the demands, saving all the bells. [10]

Post-war conviction and execution

Trials

Following the May 1945 German capitulation in Norway and the rest of Europe, Skancke was put on trial for treason. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1946. In March 1947, the Norwegian Supreme Court rejected Skancke's appeals and confirmed the sentence. In response to the confirmation of his sentence, Skancke attempted to get a retrial, presenting new evidence and witness testimonies. During this process, the mood in Norway largely changed with many calls for clemency for the former collaborationist minister. [9]

Execution

As all calls for clemency were rejected Skancke was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress on 28 August 1948, the last person to be executed in Norway, which has since abolished capital punishment for all crimes, including war crimes and treason. Before his execution, the Norwegian High Court had received letters from 668 priests who asked for mercy on Skancke's behalf. [11] Ragnar Skancke was one of only three Norwegian Nazi leaders to be executed for political crimes in the post-war legal purge, the others being Quisling and Internal affairs minister Albert Viljam Hagelin, [9] [12] all the 34 other Norwegians and Germans executed in the post war process having been convicted of murder, torture or systematic informing. [13]

Published works

In addition to professional works on electrical engineering in the 1930s, Skancke also wrote a book on Vidkun Quisling. [14]

Notes

  1. ↑ Norwegian Government Official Website: Ministries 1940–1945 - Under German occupation in Oslo
  2. ↑ Norwegian University of Science and Technology: Ragnar Sigvald Skancke Archived 19 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in Norwegian)
  3. 1 2 Steenstrup, Hj., ed. (1930). "Skancke, Ragnar Sigvald". Hvem er Hvem? (in Norwegian) (2 ed.). Oslo: Aschehoug. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  4. ↑ Dahl, Hans Fredrik and Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife: Quisling: A Study in Treachery, page 179
  5. ↑ Norgeslexi.com: Commissariat Councillors Archived 11 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in Norwegian)
  6. ↑ Time Magazine: The Bishop and the Quisling, Monday, 25 December 1944
  7. ↑ Norgeslexi.com: Nasjonal Samling's youth and children efforts Archived 1 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Norwegian)
  8. ↑ Cohen, Maynard M.: A Stand Against Tyranny: Norway's Physicians and the Nazis, page 109
  9. 1 2 3 NorgesLexi.com: Skancke, Ragnar (Sigvald) (1890—1948) Archived 25 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in Norwegian)
  10. ↑ Norgeslexi.com: The Norwegian church bells Archived 15 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Norwegian)
  11. ↑ Nuav.net: Personalities relating to Norway during World War 2 - S
  12. ↑ University of Oslo: Use of the death penalty in the 1945-1948 legal purge Archived 26 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine (in Norwegian)
  13. ↑ Nøkleby, Berit (1995). "dødsstraff". In Dahl, Hans Fredrik (ed.). Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Cappelen. pp. 381–382. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  14. ↑ WorldCat book finder: "Ragnar Skancke"
Ragnar Sigvald Skancke
Ragnar Skancke.jpg
Minister for Church and Educational Affairs
In office
1 February 1942 –8 May 1945
Authority control databases OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasjonal Samling</span> Norwegian far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945

The Nasjonal Samling was a Norwegian far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling and a group of supporters such as Johan Bernhard Hjort – who led the party's paramilitary wing (Hirden) for a short time before leaving the party in 1937 after various internal conflicts. The party celebrated its founding on 17 May, Norway's national holiday, but was founded on 13 May 1933. Nasjonal Samling was made illegal and disbanded at the end of World War II, on 8 May 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vidkun Quisling</span> Norwegian politician, Nazi collaborator (1887–1945)

Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally headed the government of Norway during the country's occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Viljam Hagelin</span> Norwegian politician (1881–1946)

Albert Viljam Hagelin was a Norwegian businessman and opera singer who became the Minister of Domestic Affairs in the Quisling regime, the puppet government headed by Vidkun Quisling during Germany's World War II occupation of Norway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rolf Jørgen Fuglesang</span>

Rolf Jørgen Fuglesang was a Norwegian secretary to the Nasjonal Samling government of Vidkun Quisling 1940–1941 and minister 1941–1942 and 1942–1945. He was also President of the Kulturting 1943–1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tormod Kristoffer Hustad</span> Norwegian politician

Tormod Kristoffer Hustad was the Norwegian minister of agriculture in the 1940 pro-Nazi puppet government of Vidkun Quisling, provisional councilor of state for agriculture in the government appointed by Reichskommissar Josef Terboven in 1940, and minister of labour in the NS government 1942–1944. He was replaced by Hans Skarphagen in 1944. In the post-war legal purges he was convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment and forced labour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonas Lie (government minister)</span> Norwegian politician

Jonas Lie was a Norwegian councilor of state in the Nasjonal Samling government of Vidkun Quisling in 1940, then acting councilor of state 1940–1941, and Minister of Police between 1941 and 1945 in the new Quisling government. Lie was the grandson of the novelist Jonas Lie and the son of the writer Erik Lie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulbrand Lunde</span> Norwegian politician (1901–1942)

Gulbrand Oscar Johan Lunde was a Norwegian chemist and politician of the Nasjonal Samling party who became a minister in the collaborationist government of Vidkun Quisling during World War II. His 1942 death was deemed accidental, although a 2012 biography of Lunde concluded that he was assassinated because his cultural views clashed with those of the government of Nazi Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kjeld Stub Irgens</span> Norwegian politician (1879–1963)

Kjeld Stub Irgens was a Norwegian politician during the German occupation of Norway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axel Heiberg Stang</span> Norwegian landowner and forester (1904–1974)

Axel Heiberg Stang was a Norwegian landowner and forester who served as a councillor of state, and later a minister, in the Nasjonal Samling government of Vidkun Quisling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legal purge in Norway after World War II</span> Trial, sentencing and punishment of pro-Nazi Norwegian collaborators after WWII

The purge in Norway after World War II was a purge that took place between May 1945 and August 1948 against anyone who was found to have collaborated with the German occupation of the country. Several thousand Norwegians and foreign citizens were tried and convicted for crimes committed in Scandinavia during World War II. However, the scope, legal basis, and fairness of these trials has since been a matter of some debate. A total of 40 people—including Vidkun Quisling, the self-proclaimed and Nazi-supported Minister President of Norway during the occupation—were executed after capital punishment was reinstated in Norway. Thirty-seven of those executed were executed under Norwegian law, while the other three were executed under Allied military law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reichskommissariat Norwegen</span> Occupied territory

The Reichskommissariat Norwegen was the occupation regime set up by Nazi Germany in German-occupied Norway during World War II. Its full title in German was the Reichskommissariat für die besetzten norwegischen Gebiete. It was governed by Reichskommissar Josef Terboven until his deposition on 7 May 1945. The German military forces in Norway, then under the command of general Franz Böhme, surrendered to the Allies on 9 May and the legal government was restored.

During the occupation of Norway by Germany, the occupying powers imposed martial law in Trondheim and other surrounding areas, effective October 6, 1942 through October 12, 1942. During this time, 34 Norwegians were killed by extrajudicial execution. This also served as a pretext for the arrest and detention of all male Jewish inhabitants of the area as part of the Holocaust in Norway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Marthinsen</span> Norwegian police commander

Karl Alfred Nicolai Marthinsen was the Norwegian commander of Statspolitiet and Sikkerhetspolitiet in Norway during the Nazi occupation during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quisling regime</span> Collaborationist government of Norway (1942–45)

The Quisling regime, or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaboration government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 1942 until its dissolution in May 1945 was Den nasjonale regjering. Actual executive power was retained by the Reichskommissariat Norwegen, headed by Josef Terboven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie (1885–1956)</span>

Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie was a Norwegian jurist and Nazi collaborator. He is best known as director of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation for some time during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Mogens</span> Norwegian journalist, editor and politician

Victor Andreas Emanuel Mogens was a Norwegian journalist, editor and politician for the Fatherland League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alf Whist</span>

Alf Larsen Whist was a Norwegian businessperson and politician for Nasjonal Samling.

Finn Thrana was a Norwegian barrister and civil servant for Nasjonal Samling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirden</span> Paramilitary organization

Hirden was a uniformed paramilitary organisation during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, modelled the same way as the German Sturmabteilungen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Øyvor Hansson</span> Norwegian politician

Øyvor Hansson, née Styren was a Norwegian politician for Nasjonal Samling.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.