Quisling - a study in treachery
Quisling. En norsk tragedie
The word “Quisling” is used world-wide as a synonym for traitor or treachery. But who was the original Quisling – the Norwegian army officer who collaborated with the German enemy during the Second World War? And with what justification does his name carry the heavy burden of its infamy? We follow the dramatic fate of one of the last century’s most legendary and talked-about individuals, from his childhood years in Telemark to the last moments before his execution. The combination of Dahl’s extensive historical knowledge, his nuanced view of Quisling the man and his exquisite stylistic form make this book a joy to read.
This book is unique in drawing on such a comprehensive body of source material from Scandinavian, German, Italian and Russian archives, and from family archives now in the United States. Dahl has also been able to draw extensively on the so far unknown Quisling archives, discovered in Oslo a decade ago, and on the complete Quisling papers made available after the death of Quisling’s wife.
’Dahl’s work constitutes a welcome climax to the Quisling studies, and has given us by far the fullest understanding of its subject, becoming in fact, one of the outstanding biographies of the Second World War era’.
Times Literary Supplement
‘This is a detailed, patient and very fair study and unlikely to be superseded.’
Daily Telegraph
