Paal Olav Berg born in Hammerfest

Hammerfest

is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The municipality encompasses parts of three islands: Kvaløya, Sørøya, and Seiland. Hammerfest was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...

, was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 politician for the Liberal Party

Venstre (Norway)

The Liberal Party is a centrist liberal political party in Norway. The party is the oldest in the country, and has enacted reforms such as parliamentarism, freedom of religion, universal suffrage and free education. Since 2010, the leader of the party is Trine Skei Grande...

. He was Minister of Social Affairs 1919-1920, and Minister of Justice 1924-1926. He was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway is the judicial leader of the Supreme Court of Norway.The following is a chronological list of chief justices since the court was established:...

 from 1929 to 1946.

Paal Berg was instrumental in the German Dismissal of pro-Nazi puppet regime of Vidkun Quisling

Vidkun Quisling

Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian politician. On 9 April 1940, with the German invasion of Norway in progress, he seized power in a Nazi-backed coup d'etat that garnered him international infamy. From 1942 to 1945 he served as Minister-President, working with the occupying...

 to be replaced by a council of Norwegian citizens, including himself on April 15, 1940. This was
overseen after April 24 by Hitler's appointee Josef Terboven

Josef Terboven

Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven was a Nazi leader, best known as the Reichskommissar during the German occupation of Norway.-Early life:...

. Despite holding this position in the occupied government, Berg was far from a collaborator

Collaborationism

Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...

. Indeed, William L. Shirer

William L. Shirer

William Lawrence Shirer was an American journalist, war correspondent, and historian, who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history of Nazi Germany read and cited in scholarly works for more than 50 years...

 names him the secret leader of the Norwegian Resistance. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

 in 1947.

Literature

• William L. Shirer
  William L. Shirer
  William Lawrence Shirer was an American journalist, war correspondent, and historian, who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history of Nazi Germany read and cited in scholarly works for more than 50 years...
  
  : "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
  The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
  The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a 1960 non-fiction book by William L. Shirer chronicling the general history of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945...
  
  ", Simon & Schuster
  Simon & Schuster
  Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
  
  , New York 1990 ISBN 0-671-72868-7