Sverre Parelius Riisnæs (6 November 1897 - 21 June 1988) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and

public prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

. He was a member of the

collaborationist Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to t ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

Nasjonal Samling Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) 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 a ...

'' in

occupied Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and a ''

Standartenführer __NOTOC__ ''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...

'' (Colonel) in the

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...

Pre-war career

Riisnæs was an important public prosecutor in inter-war 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 Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

had been staying before his deportation from Norway to Mexico. He was a supporter of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, but broke all contact with his German friends when he was appointed by Parliament in January 1940 to investigate

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

in Norway.

Wartime collaborationist minister

He was appointed councillor of state in the

(NS) government 1940–1941, and was one of nine Norwegians signing the declaration on 31 January 1942 which disbanded the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

and directed Quisling to formally take over the powers of government. He served as the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

from 1941 to 1945. As Minister 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. Riisnæs held public speeches against

Norwegian Jews The history of Jews in Norway dates back to the 1400s. Although there were very likely Jewish merchants, sailors and others who entered Norway during the Middle Ages, no efforts were made to establish a Jewish community. Through the early mod ...

After World War II

After collapse of the Quisling government at the end of the war, Jonas Lie,

Henrik Rogstad Henrik Rogstad (13 April 1916, in Trondheim – 10 May 1945) was a politician for the Norwegian fascist party ''Nasjonal Samling''. During the Second World War he was a ''fylkesfører'' (''Gauleiter'') in the county of Sør-Trøndelag. Rogstad wa ...

and Riisnæs retreated to an NS gathering place outside of Oslo. Surrounded by the Home Front guard forces, Lie died probably of natural causes and Rogstad committed suicide. Riisnæs surrendered without a struggle.There are conflicting reports on the cause of death for Lie; the cited reference indicates suicide as the cause. After the war he was charged with

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, but his trial was suspended based on the defence that he was mentally ill. Riisnæs was hospitalized for this illness in the Reitgjerdet Hospital from 1948 to 1960. In 1974 he emigrated to

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and later to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, but returned to Oslo in 1985, where he lived for three years in a nursing home until his death. To this day, there are questions whether he feigned mental weakness.

Literature

* N.J. Ringdal, ''Gal mann til rett tid: NS-minister Sverre Riisnæs, en psykobiografi'' (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1989)

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riisnaes, Sverre 1897 births 1988 deaths Members of Nasjonal Samling SS-Standartenführer Norwegian Waffen-SS personnel Norwegian emigrants to Italy Norwegian emigrants to Austria Norwegian prisoners and detainees Ministers of Justice of Norway People from Vik Prisoners and detainees of Norway