QUISLING: Prophet Without Honor

by Ralph Hewins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 1965

When the stench first began to rise from Nazi crematoriums and then the odor of Axis defeat, nervous Nazi sympathizers began to seek refuge in the alibi that Hitler had seemed like the only answer to the threat of international communism. Now, just as if this most unsanitary and worn out crying towel had never been used before, the author offers it up as a defense for Norway's Quisling. It is a disgustingly simple-minded thesis and Quisling as a candidate for historical rehabilitation is as laughable as a re-interpretation of Bluebeard as just another old huggy bear. Into the whitewash go some amazing ingredients. We are exhorted to remember that Quisling had done humanitarian work in Russia after WWI. Quisling's diatribes on Jews and racial purity are to be taken as evidence of a naive confusion, not anti-Semitism; Hysterical claims are made for the Quisling intellect -- all those nutty uniforms and mob rituals were just ""forced"" on him. Quisling only wanted to save his people from the Bolshevik tide and knew he was the only man who could do it. Paranoia? No. A victim of the widespread ""Peer Gyntism"" abroad in Norway. It goes on like this for 372 pages with an appendix giving the platform of Quisling's party, some photographs and an index. It is difficult to imagine why the publisher imported this unless they are more sanguine about the literacy of Ku Klux Klanners and the relics of America First than we can be.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: John Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION