Jonas Lie (government minister)

Jonas Lie (1899–1945) was a Norwegian councillor of state in the Nasjonal Samling government of Vidkun Quisling in 1940, then acting councillor of state 1940–1941, and Minister of Police between 1941 and 1945. Lie was the grandson of the novelist Jonas Lie and the son of the writer Erik Lie.

Raised in a family with close ties to Germany, Jonas Lie was a war correspondent on the Western front and Eastern front during World War I. He was a successful police officer in the 1930's. He was the police officer charged with accompanying Leon Trotsky on a freighter from Norway to Mexico. His political convictions may have been influenced by his uncle Nils Kjær, who was an ardent antisemite.

It is also possible that Lie was introduced to Heinrich Himmler as early as 1935; in any event, they maintained a close personal relationship during the entire Nazi era. Lie became a rival of Vidkun Quisling's during the occupation of Norway.

Jonas Lie became one of the first Norwegian SS volunteers when he served for a brief period of time during the Balkans Campaign of 1940 as a war correspondent in Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler together with Minister of Justice Sverre Riisnæs. He later led the 1st Police Company of the Norwegian Legion of the Waffen-SS on the Leningrad Front in 1942/43.

Lie was also the official leader of the Germanic-SS in Norway. This organisation, first known as "Norges SS" (founded 1941) and "Germanske SS Norge" (re-founded 1942) was a Norwegian equivalent to the German Allgemeine-SS.

He died on 11 May 1945, just before being arrested. The cause of death is unknown, as the autopsy was unable to find any evidence of suicide.

In the tradition of his father and grandfather, Jonas Lie was also a writer in his own right. During the 1930s, he produced a number of popular detective novels under the nom de plume Max Mauser. In 1942, he also published "Over Balkans syv blåner", an account of his service with Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler in the Balkans.

External links

* [http://www.frontkjemper.com The Norwegian SS Volunteers] A website about the Norwegian SS volunteers during World War II that includes information and photos of Jonas Lie.

References

* [http://www.aftenposten.no/kul_und/litteratur/article2082777.ece "Ny bok om nazisten Jonas Lie"] ] , in Aftenposten, retrieved November 4, 2007