Vidkun Quisling, Heinrich Himmler, Josef Terboven, and Nikolausvon Falkenhorst seated in front of officers of the Waffen-SS, GermanArmy and Air Force in 1941

QuislingFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A quisling (/ˈkwɪzlɪŋ/; Norwegianpronunciation: [ˈkʋɪsˈlɪŋ]), in Norwegian andother Scandinavian languages, as well as inEnglish, is a person who collaborates withan enemy occupying force.[1][2][3] Theword originates from the Norwegian war-time leader Vidkun Quisling, who headed adomestic Nazi collaborationist regimeduring the Second World War.

Contents

1 Origin

2 Contemporary usage3 Use in various media

3.1 Literature

3.2 Television

3.3 Music

4 See also

5 References

OriginThe first use of the term quisling in reference to followers of Vidkun Quisling was made by Norwegian LabourParty politician Oscar Torp, in a 2 January 1933 newspaper interview. Further uses of the term were made byAksel Sandemose, in a Dagbladet article in 1934, and by the newspaper Vestfold Arbeiderblad, in 1936.[4]

J.R.R Tolkien used the term in English in "On Fairy-Stories", a presentation given in 1939 and first printed in1947.[5] The term was widely introduced to an English-speaking audience by the British newspaper The Times.It published an editorial on 19 April 1940 titled "Quislings everywhere", after the Norwegian Vidkun Quisling,who assisted Nazi Germany as it conquered his own country so that he could rule the collaborationist

Norwegian government himself. The Daily Mail picked up the term four days after The Times editorial waspublished, by May The War Illustrated wrote of "potential Quislings" among the Dutch during the Germaninvasion of the Netherlands, and the BBC brought the word into common use internationally.[6][7]

The Times' editorial asserted: "To writers, the word Quisling is a gift from the gods. If they had been ordered toinvent a new word for traitor... they could hardly have hit upon a more brilliant combination of letters. Aurally itcontrives to suggest something at once slippery and tortuous."

The then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill used the term during an address to theAllied Delegates at St. James's Palace on 21 June 1941, when he said:[8] "A vile race of Quislings—to use anew word which will carry the scorn of mankind down the centuries—is hired to fawn upon the conqueror, tocollaborate in his designs and to enforce his rule upon their fellow countrymen while grovelling lowthemselves." He used the term again in an address to both houses of Congress in the United States of Americaon 26 December 1941.[9] Commenting upon the effect of a number of Allied victories against Axis forces, andmoreover the United States’ decision to enter the war, Churchill opined that; "Hope has returned to the hearts ofscores of millions of men and women, and with that hope there burns the flame of anger against the brutal,corrupt invader. And still more fiercely burn the fires of hatred and contempt for the filthy Quislings whom hehas suborned."[10] It subsequently entered the language, and became a target for political cartoonists.[11]

In the United States it was used often. Some examples: in the Warner Bros. film Edge of Darkness (1943) inreference to a traitorous villager, and in the Warner Bros. cartoon Tom Turk and Daffy (1944), uttered by aThanksgiving turkey whose presence is betrayed to Porky Pig by Daffy Duck. Also, in a 1966 Peanuts comicstrip, Linus tries to hide in Snoopy's doghouse only to have the beagle rat him out. "Traitor! Quisling!Squealer!" Linus shouts at Snoopy as his sister Lucy drags him away.

The word has also been applied to Communist figures who participated in the establishment of Communistrėgimes. As an illustration, the renegade socialist Zdenek Fierlinger of Czechoslovakia was frequently deridedas "Quislinger" for his collaboration with the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.[12]

Contemporary usageThe noun has survived and is still in current use. It appeared during 2008 and 2009 in articles in The New YorkTimes,[13] Die Zeit[14] and The Times.[15] In contrast, the back-formed verb to quisle (/ˈkwɪzəl/), has largelydisappeared from contemporary usage.[16] The verb seems to have fallen out of use comparatively quickly,since by early 1944 there was evidence that H.L. Mencken—generally considered to be a leading authority onthe common English usage in the United States—was not aware that it already existed.[17] The back-formedverb to quisle also gave rise to a much less common version of the noun: quisler.[18]

In contemporary usage, quisling is synonymous with traitor, and particularly applied to politicians who appearto favour the interests of other nations or cultures over their own. In American English, the term is slightly lesswell known than the equivalent phrase Benedict Arnold.

When one removes the ⟨q⟩ and the ⟨i⟩ in quisling, the result is usling, Norwegian for wretch. "Vidkjent Usling"(widely-known wretch) was used more or less humorously during World War II in Norway.[19] Another jokewas nicknaming the two-krone banknote Quisling, and the one-krone note an usling, hence there were two

uslings to one Quisling.[20]

Use in various mediaIn addition to the speeches, writings, political cartoons and animated cartoons mentioned in earlier sections, thefollowing are examples of the term's use in various media to describe traitors and collaborators.

Literature

In Kim Stanley Robinson's Green Mars (1994), the term is used to describe those early colonists whojoined the side of Earth and the transnationals opposing the Martian faction in the conflict of 2061.Terms of Endearment, Emma's husband accused her of being a quisling where her mother was concerned.In the novel World War Z (2006) by Max Brooks, quislings are humans who, after having a nervousbreakdown, have started behaving similarly to zombies, often fooling fellow survivors, but never theundead they imitate.In Robert A. Heinlein's novel, Farnham's Freehold, at the very end, after the main characters survive anuclear attack, their sign reads:

"Farnham's Freehold Trading Post and Restaurant Bar"

(and among the items listed for sale:)

"Steak & Fried Potatoes / Butter & some days Bread / Smoked Bear Meat / Jerked Quisling (by the neck)/ Crepe Suzettes to order."

In the novel Hyperion by Dan Simmons, the Consul refers to himself as a quisling when telling his tale tothe group of pilgrims.In the series Vampire Earth by E. E. Knight, quislings are humans who work for the occupying vampireoverlords, helping them to maintain their police state and harvest others.In Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger (1983), the term is used by the protagonist Jon-Tom to describe the"revolutionary" group of humans who have captured him, humans convinced by Hanniwuz (a Plated Folkinfiltrator among warmlanders) to assist the Plated Folk in conquering the world.[21] "I don't think yourvictory is assured just yet... despite all the quislings you can recruit, and I don't think there'll be all thatmany."In Patriots by James Wesley Rawles, quislings are Americans who ally with the foreign occupiers.

Television

In the pilot episode of Foyle's War (2002), apropos of DCS Foyle's having shared the facts that amurdered German ex-pat, living in England, had two brothers still in Germany, one who served inNorway, and the other a ranking officer in the Abwehr in Berlin. Foyle's MTC driver, Samantha "Sam"Stewart, replies by repeating the Mail 's reportage that "Norway would never have fallen except for theGermans and their friends inside the country; Quisling. People like that".In Season 1, Episode 18 "Babies & Bathwater" of the television series House, the lead character Dr.Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) when speaking to Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) makes the followingdirect reference:

House: You know, there’s a new biography of Quisling, I think you might like it.Cuddy: Sure. No idea who that is.

House: Uh, Norwegian guy, World War II, traitor. The fact that I have to explain this kind of takesthe edge off my flow.

In the first scene of the season three finale of Steven Van Zandt's Lilyhammer television series, actorTrond Fausa Aurvåg's Norwegian character, Torgeir Lien, calls another, traitorous character a quisling.In the Doctor Who serial "Day of the Daleks", The Doctor refers to another character, the Controller,whose family has collaborated with the Dalek invasion of Earth in an alternate timeline of the 20thcentury and consequently enslaved the human race, as being a family of quislings.In the Billions serial on Showtime (season 1, episode 8, "Boasts and Rails"), Bobby Axelrod is searchingout a mole in his company, referring to the person as a quisling.

Music

The word features in the last line of the Irish ballad "The Patriot Game", one of the best known songs toemerge from the Irish nationalist struggle. However, the word was originally “traitors”.The line "Cause somewhere in the 'Quisling Clinic'" appears in "Green Shirt", a song from Armed Forcesby Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

See alsoCollaborationismEponym vs. NamesakeFifth columnTreasonThe Heroes of Telemark

References1. "Quisling". Retrieved 14 December 2013.2. "quisling". Collins English Dictionary (10th ed.). Retrieved 18 January 2014.3. "quisling". Princeton Wordnet dictionary. wordfind.com.4. Godal, Anne Marit (ed.). "Quisling". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Norsk nettleksikon. Retrieved

4 October 2014.5. Tolkien, J.R.R (2006). The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. London: HarperCollins. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-261-

10263-7.6. Dahl, Hans Fredrik (1995). "quisling". In Dahl; Hjeltnes; Nøkleby; Ringdal; Sørensen. Norsk krigsleksikon 1940–45 (in

Norwegian). Oslo: Cappelen. p. 334. ISBN 82-02-14138-9.7. "First Days of 'Total War' on the Western Front". The War Illustrated. 1940-05-24. p. 540. Retrieved 19 April 2015.8. Prime Minister Winston Churchill's Speech to the Allied Delegates (http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1941/410612b.ht

ml) British Library of Information, Retrieved- January 26, 20149. Say Quislings Back Winnie (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AiI_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=vE8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=3

190,4642406&dq=quisling+winston+churchill&hl=en), The Windsor Daily Star, Nov 26, 1946, Retrieved- December14, 2013

10. "Prime Minister Winston Churchill's address to the Congress of the United States". December 26, 1941.11. Tangenes, Gisle (19 September 2006). "The World According to Quisling". Bits of News.12. Gunther, John (1961). Inside Europe Today. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 334. LCCN 61-970613. Cohen, Roger (22 February 2009). "What Iran's Jews say". The New York Times.14. "Die unerhörten Tage der Freiheit" (in German). Zeit Online. 21 August 2008.15. "Béla Király: Hungarian nationalist". Times Online. July 10, 2009. Archived from the original on May 24, 2010.16. Bolinger, Dwight L. "Among New Words" American Speech, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Apr., 1941), p. 147.

17. "Will there be a verb, to quisle?" Mencken, H.L. American Speech, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Feb., 1944), p. 13.18. http://archives.timesunion.com/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=632120619. "jøssinghumor". Norsk krigsleksikon (in Norwegian). Retrieved 23 August 2010.20. "Krigshumor". Quislingutstillinga. p. 2. Retrieved 23 August 2010.21. : Warner Books 1983 printing, soft cover, page 329

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Categories: English words Finnish words and phrases Norwegian words and phrasesPejorative terms for people Treason Vidkun Quisling

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