Nasjonal Samling

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Key events
Norway and World War II
Norwegian Campaign · Weserübung Elverum Authorization Midtskogen · Vinjesvingen Occupation and Resistance Camps · Telavåg Festung Norwegen Heavy water sabotage Post-war purge
People
Haakon VII · Nygaardsvold · CJ Hambro CG Fleischer · Otto Ruge · Max Manus Jens Chr. Hauge · Gunnar Sønsteby
Quisling · Jonas Lie · Henry Rinnan Josef Terboven · Wilhelm Rediess
Organizations
Milorg · XU · Linge · Nortraship
Nasjonal Samling

Symbol of the Hirden, the stormtroopers or paramilitary organization of the Nasjonal Samling. The symbol of the party itself was similar, but without the swords.

Nasjonal Samling (Norwegian for "National Gathering" or "National Unification") was a fascist party in Norway before and during World War II, founded on May 17, 1933 by Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort. The strongholds of the party were among people with a "national attitude" in the inner parts of the country, specifically in Telemark, and in the area around the capital Oslo.

In the 1930s it cooperated closely with the Norwegian Centre Party (then known as the Agrarian Party) against expropriations of farms among other things. In addition the party played an important role in the development of both National romanticism and anticommunism in Norway, and the party was generally sympathetic to Germany and Italy. It was the fastest growing party before the war, though it never had larger support than 2.5 percent. By the end of the war it had 45,000 members. Famous members included former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Hundseid and opera singer and Minister of Domestic Affairs Albert Viljam Hagelin. Novelist Knut Hamsun, though sympathetic to the party's policies, was however never a member.

The legitimate Norwegian government in exile made it a crime of treason to be a member of Nasjonal Samling after April 9, 1940. The legal purge in Norway after World War II resulted in thousands of convictions for NS members.