Josef Terboven - Rule of Norway

Rule of Norway

Terboven was made Reichskommissar for Norway on 24 April 1940, even before the military invasion was completed on 7 June 1940. He moved into the Norwegian crown prince's residence at Skaugum in September 1940 and made his headquarters in Stortinget (the Norwegian parliament buildings).

Terboven ruled Norway as a dictator. He did not have authority over the 400,000 regular German Army forces stationed in Norway which were the command of General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, but he did command a personal force of around 6,000 men, of whom 800 were part of the secret police. Among his most brutal actions were his declaration of martial law in Trondheim in 1942, and ordering the destruction of Telavåg. Terboven was hated by the Norwegians and not much esteemed even by fellow Germans. Goebbels expressed annoyance in his diary about what he called Terboven's "bullying tactics" against the Norwegians, as they alienated the population against the Germans. Terboven nevertheless remained in ultimate charge of Norway until the end of the war in 1945, even after the proclamation of a Norwegian puppet regime under Vidkun Quisling, the Quisling government.

As the tide of the war turned against Germany, Terboven's personal aspiration was to organise a "Fortress Norway" (Festung Norwegen) for the Nazi regime's last stand. He also planned concentration camps in Norway, establishing Falstad concentration camp near Levanger and Bredtvet concentration camp in Oslo in late 1941.