Oliver H. Langeland

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Oliver H. Langeland

Oliver H. Langeland (30 January 1887 – 9 February 1958) was a Norwegian military officer and civil servant. He had careers in both civil service and the military, and is best known as leader of Milorg District 13 from 1942 to 1944.

After the Second World War, he wrote two very critical books about, among other things, the so-called "treason settlement": Dømmer ikke (1948) ("Do Not Judge") and Forat I ikke skal dømmes (1949) ("Lest Ye Be Judged"). In his two books, Langeland directed sharp criticism against the authorities. He pointed out Norway's miserable defence preparedness in the interwar period and up to and including the invasion in 1940. He sharply criticized the sitting cabinet in the pre-war and war years (1935 to 1945), Nygaardsvold's Cabinet, for having guilt in the German occupation that befell Norway. Langeland called for impeachment of the cabinet members. He also lambasted the conviction of the several people who had held passive membership of the now-banned political party Nasjonal Samling.

For the book Dømmer ikke, the Norwegian Prosecuting Authority raised a libel case against Langeland. Langeland was acquitted of libel in 1950, but passages in the book were declared null and void and the book was confiscated.

The Norwegian Labor Party's power apparatus tried to make Langeland a non-person, which it largely succeeded in, like by making sure that Langeland was not mentioned in history books about the war. Even as late as 1995, his name was omitted from the Norsk krigsleksikon, even though Langeland was the leader of the decidedly largest and probably also the most important grouping of Milorg for most of the war.