''Fritt Folk'' ("Free People") was a Norwegian newspaper, published in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

. It was the official organ of the fascist party

Nasjonal Samling Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norwegian far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling and a group of supporters such ...

, and came to prominence during the Second World War.

History

''Fritt Folk'' had a predecessor in a party newspaper for Nasjonal Samling. The party was founded in 1933 and the party newspaper in 1934. ''Fritt Folk'' was published for the first time on 26 March 1936, and had the tagline ("national organ for Nasjonal Samling"). The first editor-in-chief was Herolf Harstad. Funded by party members and the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

's legation in

, it was published

daily Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

. However, after Nasjonal Samling suffered a large defeat in the 1936 Norwegian parliamentary election, effort dwindled and it was an obscure, weekly newspaper. Editor from 1937 to 1944 was Arnt Rishovd. From 1 April 1940 it was again published daily, this time with funding from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. On 9 April 1940 Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany, and an

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

started. Two days after the invasion, ''Fritt Folk'' was sent out as a supplement to popular newspapers such as ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...

''. This ended on 15 April when

Quisling ''Quisling'' (, ) is a term used in Scandinavian languages and in English meaning a citizen or politician of an occupied country who collaborates with an enemy occupying force – or more generally as a synonym for ''traitor''. The word ori ...

was intermittently deposed and the

Administrative Council Administrative Council () was a part of Council of State of the Congress Poland. Introduced by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815, it was composed of 5 ministers, special nominees of the King and the Namestnik of the Kingdom of Polan ...

was installed, but the newspaper continued to prosper under Nazi rule. It had certain competitors in that many existing newspapers were usurped by Nazis, including ''Aftenposten'', and they brought the same kind of news as ''Fritt Folk''. Other newspapers were stopped, and when ''

Arbeiderbladet ''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...

'' was stopped in August 1940, ''Fritt Folk'' usurped its offices and printing press. A prerogative for ''Fritt Folk'' was that Norwegian businesses and companies were forced to advertise in the newspaper, which boosted the economy. The circulation was secret, and this and some other administrative aspects of the newspaper has not yet been unveiled. Even though the newspaper was controlled by Presseabteilung, it had a certain tendency to not follow German directions in all cases. Among others, it allowed Johannes S. Andersen to respond to rumours that he was a Nazi by printing his statement "although I have done many wrong things in my life, a Nazi I am not. Yours sincerely Johs. S. Andersen". The newspaper sometimes criticized decisions made by Nasjonal Samling, especially under its last editor (1944–1945), Odd Erling Melsom. The German occupiers issued their own, German-language newspaper, '' Deutsche Zeitung in Norwegen'' with a circulation of about 40,000 copies. The last issue came on 7 May 1945.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritt Folk 1936 establishments in Norway 1945 disestablishments in Norway Defunct newspapers published in Norway Fascist newspapers and magazines Newspapers published in Oslo Nazi newspapers Nasjonal Samling Norway in World War II Norwegian-language newspapers Propaganda newspapers and magazines Newspapers established in 1936 Publications disestablished in 1945