Norwegian Quislings (Nazi collaborators) of the collaborationist group “Sonderabteilung Lola” stand trial for treason. They were responsible for torturing, killing, and systematically informing on resistance fighters, 1946 [1358 × 933].
Norwegian Quislings (Nazi collaborators) of the collaborationist group “Sonderabteilung Lola” stand trial for treason. They were responsible for torturing, killing, and systematically informing on resistance fighters, 1946 [1358 × 933].
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[A site with a list of names for those present in this photo](https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/wiki/Fil:Rinnanbanden_rettsalen.png)
>Sonderabteilung Lola (in Norway also known as Rinnanbanden (Rinnan gang) was an independent group under the German Sicherheitsdienst in Trondheim, KDS Drontheim Referat IV. The Sonderabteilung (“Special Unit”) consisted of around known 50-60 Norwegian informants who worked for [Henry Rinnan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Rinnan), many of whom were former frontline soldiers in the Waffen SS. This group was not known to the vast majority of Norwegians, including the members of the Nasjonal Samling, Norway’s equivalent of the Nazi Party, until after the war.
[A Norwegian articles with a list of members of Sonderabteilung Lola](https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/wiki/Sonderabteilung_Lola) (use Google Translate)
Sonderabteilung Lola would contact resistance fighters, through whom they infiltrated the Norwegian resistance movement. After a period of active work in the resistance group, both to gather information and build trust, the network was rolled up and the participants arrested and interrogated.
These kinds of infiltration operations were called “provocation business”, to expedite action and subsequently arrest the suspects. Rinnan even called this a “game in the negative sector”. The group worked towards the entirety of Central Norway, i.e. Trøndelag, Møre and Romsdal, even Nordland. Rinnan wanted to expand operations to Oslo, but this was possibly stopped by the Germans.
Sonderabteilung Lola formally became a part of the Sicherheitsdienst in 1943, when Rinnan received a formal position within the occupation.
Rinnan used these powers to enable interrogation by harsher means. Before this, he had reported resistance people to contact German officers, so they were arrested, tortured and possibly killed, or put in concentration camps.
From September 1943, the group had a base at Jonsvannsveien 46 in Trondheim, after the war known as Bande-Klosteret (Gang cloister), which was equipped with cells and torture chambers in the basement, where several were killed under torture. Several hundred Norwegians were tortured, and it is believed that the group killed more than 80 people.