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Haakon VII · Nygaardsvold |
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Sverre Parelius Riisnæs was a Norwegian jurist and public prosecutor who was born 6 November 1897 in Vik, Sogn county and died 21 June 1988 in Oslo. He was a member of the collaborationist government in occupied Norway during World War II.
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Pre-war career
Riisnæs was an important public prosecutor in interwar Norway, and had contacts in the international policing community. He is credited with introducing new investigative techniques, such as the use of police dogs, to Norway. Riisnæs was the public prosecutor in the famous case against Per Imerslund and other Norwegian Nazis who had broken into the home where Leon Trotsky had been staying before his deportation from Norway to Mexico.
He was a supporter of Adolf Hitler, but broke all contact with his German friends when he was appointed by Parliament in January 1940 to investigate German espionage in Norway.
Wartime minister
He was appointed councillor of state in the Nasjonal Samling (NS) government of Vidkun Quisling 1940–1941, and was one of nine Norwegians signing the declaraton on January 31, 1942 which disbanded the Storting and directed Quisling to formally take over the powers of government. He served as the Minister of Justice from 1941–1945. As Minster of Justice, Riisnæs was responsible for changing the Norwegian legal system to legitimise the Nazi actions, and authorized the persecution of those who would not cooperate with the German occupiers.1
After World War II
After collapse of the Quisling government at the end of the war, Jonas Lie, Henrik Rogstad and Riisnæs retreated to an NS gathering place outside of Oslo. Surrounded by the Home Front guard forces, Lie and Rogstad committed suicide. Riisnæs surrendered without a struggle.12
After the war he was charged with treason, but his trial was suspended based on the defense that he was mentally ill. Riisnæs was hospitalized for this illness in the Reitgjerdet sykehus (Reitgjerdet hospital) from 1948 to 1960. In 1974 he emigrated to Sicily, Italy, but returned to Oslo in 1985, where he lived for three years until his death. To this day, there are questions whether he feigned mental weakness.1
See also
- Jonas Lie, Police Minister 1941–1945.
Literature
- N.J. Ringdal, Gal mann til rett tid: NS-minister Sverre Riisnæs, en psykobiografi (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1989) ISBN 8203161103 (Norwegian)
References and notes
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- This page was last modified on 22 November 2008, at 17:50.
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