Konrad Sundlo (born in 1881 in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, died 25 May 1965 on Nesøya, Asker, Norway) was a Norwegian officer and politician in Nasjonal Samling before and during

Second World War 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 ...

. He was sentenced to life imprisonment during the post-war legal purge in Norway.

Background

Sundlo was educated as an officer and graduated from the

Norwegian Military Academy The Norwegian Military Academy (), in Oslo, educates officers of the Norwegian Army and serves as the King's Royal Guard. The academy was established in 1750, and is the oldest institution for higher education in Norway. History The Commander- ...

in 1902. He joined Nasjonal Samling in 1933, and was appointed commander of Infantry Regiment 15 the same year.

Second World War

When the Germans invaded Norway 9 April 1940, Sundlo held the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

and was commander-in-chief for

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

area. When the Norwegian fascist leader Vidkun Quisling visited

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 ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in the autumn of 1939, he had shown the German ''

Führer ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the Umlaut (diacritic), umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi Germany, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany ...

'' a letter sent to him by Sundlo, and described the latter as pro-German. This gave the Germans the impression that Sundlo would not oppose a German landing at Narvik. It is not known whether or not Sundlo was aware that Quisling had passed on his letter to the Germans. During the German occupation Sundlo was '' Rikshirdsjef'' (paramilitary collaborationist commander) from the autumn of 1940. After that he served as 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 ...

county governor 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 of ...

and

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

from 1943 to 1944 and lastly in Sogn og Fjordane until

the end of the war ''The End of the War'' ( sr, Kraj rata, Крај рата) is a 1984 Yugoslav war film directed by Dragan Kresoja. The film was selected as the Yugoslav entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 57th Academy Awards, but was not accepted a ...

. After the surrender of Narvik on 9 April 1940, Sundlo was accused of treason by his divisional commander, General Carl Gustav Fleischer. However, the post-war trials only found that Sundlo had committed "negligent offences" at Narvik in 1940. He was still found guilty for a number of other acts during the occupation, and sentenced to life in prison. A minority of three of the eight judges at his trial voted for a death sentence. Konrad Sundlo was pardoned in 1952 and died in 1965.Konrad Sundlo
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundlo, Konrad 1881 births 1965 deaths People from Kristiansand County governors of Norway Members of Nasjonal Samling Norwegian Military Academy alumni Norwegian Army personnel of World War II Norwegian prisoners of war in World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Norwegian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Norway People convicted of treason for Nazi Germany against Norway