Axel Heiberg Stang (21 February 1904 – 11 November 1974) 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 ...

landowner and forester who served as a councillor of state, and later a minister, in the

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 ...

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 ...

Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (, ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally list of heads of government of Norway, headed the government of Norway during t ...

Early life and career

He was born in

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

into two of Norway's most wealthy and politically-influential families, with large estates. His father Ole A. Stang was a businessman and landowner, while his mother Emma Heiberg was a trusted confidante and mistress of Queen Maud. His brother was

Thomas Stang Thomas Stang (27 November 1897 – 5 January 1982) was a Norwegian forester and businessperson. He is known as founder of the company Maarud, and also as husband of actress Wenche Foss. Personal life He was born in Kristiania as a son of landowne ...

, and thus Axel was brother-in-law to actress

Wenche Foss Eva Wenche Steenfeldt Stang (5 December 1917 – 28 March 2011), better known as Wenche Foss (), was a leading Norwegian actress of stage, screen and television. Personal life Wenche Foss was born to engineer Christian August Steenfeldt-Foss ( ...

and uncle to the former mayor of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

Fabian Stang.

Political life

Stang first joined the

(NS) in 1933 and served as district leader in Glåmdal, although he was largely a minor figure before World War II.

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *''Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pres ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the r ...

'', 1990, p. 372 After the invasion of Norway in April 1940 he was put in joint charge of the NS political staff with Ragnar Skancke. The Germans thought it wise to include him due to his family's close ties to the royal court and recommended that he be a part of the new government despite his lack of experience and commitment. In September he was appointed to Vidkun Quisling's collaborationist government as Minister of Labour and Sports, a heavily ideological department. In this role he passed a law making service in the ''Arbeidstjenesten'' (modeled after the German

Reichsarbeitsdienst The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Nazi ...

) compulsory in 1941. He also made service of all children in the "NSUF" (modeled after the

Hitlerjugend The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926 ...

) compulsory; this proved a disaster as it infuriated the population and was later scrapped altogether. His attempts to force all sports clubs to join the

Sports Organisation similarly proved a failure, leading to an almost total boycott of organised sport for the duration of the occupation. Whilst continuing as a minister, he enrolled in the

SS Division Nordland The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland (german: 11. SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier-Division "Nordland") was a Waffen-SS division recruited from foreign volunteers and conscripts. It saw action, as part of Army Group North, i ...

, and won the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...

Second Class after seeing action in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. He also served 8 weeks at the Eastern Front in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

during the summer of 1941. He was generally considered to be moderate and amicable among contemporaries, but unable to resist either his German advisors or the Norwegian hardliners in the government.

Later life

After the war, in 1946, he was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in collaboration, which was subsequently commuted to 20 years of hard labour. At his appeal to the

Supreme Court of Norway The Supreme Court of Norway ( Norwegian Bokmål: ''(Norges) Høyesterett''; Norwegian Nynorsk: ''(Noregs) Høgsterett''; lit. ‘Highest Court’) was established in 1815 on the basis of section 88 in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway, w ...

, a minority of 3 judges voted for a

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

, among them his own cousin,

Emil Stang Emil Stang (14 June 1834 – 4 July 1912) was a Norwegian jurist and politician. He served as the 5th prime minister of Norway from 1889–1891 and again from 1893–1895. He also served as the first leader of the Conservative Party from 1884–18 ...

. He received a full pardon in 1956 and retired to his estate at

Rømskog Rømskog was a municipality in former Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Rømskog. The former municipality of Rømskog was separated from Rødenes on 1 January 1902. Rømskog was well known ...

, where he remained until his death.Rees, ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right'', p. 373

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stang, Axel Heiberg 1904 births 1974 deaths Politicians from Oslo Government ministers of Norway Members of Nasjonal Samling Norwegian Waffen-SS personnel People convicted of treason for Nazi Germany against Norway Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Norway Norwegian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Recipients of Norwegian royal pardons

Axel Heiberg Axel Heiberg (16 March 1848 – 4 September 1932) was a Norwegian diplomat and financier as well as a patron of the arts and sciences. Biography Heiberg was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Johan Fritzner Heiberg (1805– ...

Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd class