Quisling’s SS Longship
Sterling silver longship commissioned by Vidkun Quisling for SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans-Hendrik Neumann, awarded for his services as the chief liaison officer between Norway’s collaborationist Quisling regime and the de facto administration: Germany’s Reichskommissariat Norwegen (Reich Commissariat of Norway). Inscribed on its inner hull says: SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans-Hendrik Neumann. Oslo, 1-2-1944. Vidkun Quisling.
Hans-Hendrik Neumann was a committed National Socialist who originally studied to become an electrical engineer, yet came to serve as adjutant to the infamous SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, headed the operational staff in occupied Norway and commanded 1. SS Panzergrenadier Regiment “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler” towards the end of the war. He joined the Sturmabteilung (SA) in 1930 at the age of 19, before being referred to the Schutzstaffel (SS). He graduated from the SS-Junkerschule in Bad Tölz after which he served as Heydrich’s senior adjutant in the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), enjoying a close working relationship with his boss, according to unclassified US Army documents. In October 1944, 9 months after receiving this award, Neumann was entrusted with the evacuation of all civilians from Norway’s northernmost provinces, as well as to enact a scorched earth policy in anticipation of the Red Army’s advance.
Neumann’s role in Norway was to act as advisor to the Nasjonal Samling (Quisling’s collaborationist fascist party), and instill within their ranks National Socialist principles and reinforce loyalty to Germany. In this function, he was second only in importance to Reichskommissar Josef Terboven. Quisling’s Nasjonal Samling came to power by collaborating with occupying German forces. Despite losing all its major trading partners, Norway’s production capacity remained largely intact, with historians attributing this to efficient German economic management.
While Quisling was nominally appointed as head of state by the Germans, real power in occupied Norway rest in the hands of Reichskommissar Josef Terboven. Following Quisling’s deposition in 1945, the very term ‘Quisling’ would later become synonymous with ‘traitor’ in the Scandinavian languages.
As with other notable fascists such as Oswald Mosley or Benito Mussolini, Quisling was an altruist who began his political career as a socialist, drawn to its idealistic principles and believing in the betterment of humanity. Alongside his English and Italian compatriots, it is likely Quisling realized through his travels the futility of the internationalist sentiment behind traditional socialism, and that in order for socialism to succeed it must pertain to sociocultural realities by remaining within national bounds and allowed to flourish separately.
After the war, Neumann had a successful electrical engineering career in Philips GmbH where he served as director for the Hanover branch. He went on to marry Helga Daitz, daughter of Nazi ideologist Werner Daitz, with whom he had three children.
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Sterling silver longship commissioned by Vidkun Quisling for SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans-Hendrik Neumann, awarded for his services as the chief liaison officer between Norway’s collaborationist Quisling regime and the de facto administration: Germany’s Reichskommissariat Norwegen (Reich Commissariat of Norway). Inscribed on its inner hull says: SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans-Hendrik Neumann. Oslo, 1-2-1944. Vidkun Quisling.
Hans-Hendrik Neumann was a committed National Socialist who originally studied to become an electrical engineer, yet came to serve as adjutant to the infamous SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, headed the operational staff in occupied Norway and commanded 1. SS Panzergrenadier Regiment “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler” towards the end of the war. He joined the Sturmabteilung (SA) in 1930 at the age of 19, before being referred to the Schutzstaffel (SS). He graduated from the SS-Junkerschule in Bad Tölz after which he served as Heydrich’s senior adjutant in the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), enjoying a close working relationship with his boss, according to unclassified US Army documents. In October 1944, 9 months after receiving this award, Neumann was entrusted with the evacuation of all civilians from Norway’s northernmost provinces, as well as to enact a scorched earth policy in anticipation of the Red Army’s advance.
Neumann’s role in Norway was to act as advisor to the Nasjonal Samling (Quisling’s collaborationist fascist party), and instill within their ranks National Socialist principles and reinforce loyalty to Germany. In this function, he was second only in importance to Reichskommissar Josef Terboven. Quisling’s Nasjonal Samling came to power by collaborating with occupying German forces. Despite losing all its major trading partners, Norway’s production capacity remained largely intact, with historians attributing this to efficient German economic management.
While Quisling was nominally appointed as head of state by the Germans, real power in occupied Norway rest in the hands of Reichskommissar Josef Terboven. Following Quisling’s deposition in 1945, the very term ‘Quisling’ would later become synonymous with ‘traitor’ in the Scandinavian languages.
As with other notable fascists such as Oswald Mosley or Benito Mussolini, Quisling was an altruist who began his political career as a socialist, drawn to its idealistic principles and believing in the betterment of humanity. Alongside his English and Italian compatriots, it is likely Quisling realized through his travels the futility of the internationalist sentiment behind traditional socialism, and that in order for socialism to succeed it must pertain to sociocultural realities by remaining within national bounds and allowed to flourish separately.
After the war, Neumann had a successful electrical engineering career in Philips GmbH where he served as director for the Hanover branch. He went on to marry Helga Daitz, daughter of Nazi ideologist Werner Daitz, with whom he had three children.
