Sonderabteilung Lola

File:Mitglieder der norwegischen Sonderabteilung Lola vor Gericht. Die 10 norwegischen Männer erhielten die Todesstrafe und wurden erschossen, die Frauen erhielten lange Haftstrafen..jpg

Members of the Sonderabteilung Lola in court (1946) as part of the legal purge in Norway

Sonderabteilung Lola (Norwegian: ; also known as Rinnanbanden ["Rinnan gang"]) was an independent group under the German Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in Trondheim, KDS Drontheim Referat IV.

History

After the Operation Weserübung, the Special Branch “Lola” (Sonderabteilung „Lola“) was founded. It consisted of around 50–60 Norwegians who infiltrated and fought the terrorist groups of the Norwegian “resistance” and their handlers from the British Special Operations Executive for Henry Rinnan on behalf of the German security police (Sicherheitsdienst).

Forty-one members were convicted and sentenced. Rinnan, Bjarne Jenshus, Aksel Mære, Harry Rønning, Harry Hofstad, Olaus Hamrun, Per Bergeen, Kristian Randal, Harald Grøtte and Hans Egeberg were executed after the war, but many of the members were hunted down and murdered. The women of “Lola” received long prison sentences, mostly life imprisonment, but were later pardoned.

See also

• Germanic SS
• The Norwegian treason settlement