Editing Vidkun Quisling (section)

==Trial and execution==
{{Rquote|right|I know that the Norwegian people have sentenced me to death, and that the easiest course for me would be to take my own life. But I want to let history reach its own verdict. Believe me, in ten years' time I will have become another [[Saint Olav]].|Quisling to Bjørn Foss, 8 May 1945|{{harvnb|Dahl|1999|p=367}}}}

The trial opened on 20 August 1945.<ref name="dahl380">{{harvnb|Dahl|1999|pp=380–390}}.</ref> Quisling's defence rested on downplaying his unity with Germany and stressing that he had fought for total independence, something that seemed completely contrary to the recollections of many Norwegians. From that point on, wrote biographer Dahl, Quisling had to tread a "fine line between truth and falsehood", and emerged from it "an elusive and often pitiful figure".<ref name="dahl380"/> He misrepresented the truth on several occasions and the truthful majority of his statements won him few advocates in the country at large, where he remained almost universally despised.<ref name="dahl390"/>

In the later days of the trial, Quisling's health suffered, largely as a result of the number of medical tests to which he was subjected,<ref name="dahl390"/> and his defence faltered.<ref name="dahl390"/> The prosecution's final speech placed responsibility for the Final Solution being carried out in Norway at the feet of Quisling, using the testimony of German officials. The prosecutor [[Annæus Schjødt]] called for the [[death penalty]], using laws introduced by the government-in-exile in October 1941 and January 1942.<ref name="dahl390">{{harvnb|Dahl|1999|pp=390–400}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Cohen|2000|p=274}}.</ref>

Speeches by both Bergh and Quisling himself could not change the outcome. When the verdict was announced on 10 September 1945, Quisling was convicted on all but a handful of minor charges and sentenced to death.

An October appeal to the [[Supreme Court of Norway|Supreme Court]] was rejected.<ref>{{harvnb|Dahl|1999|pp=400–407}}.</ref> The court process was judged to be "a model of fairness" in a commentary by author Maynard Cohen.<ref>{{harvnb|Cohen|2000|p=276}}.</ref> After giving testimony in a number of other trials of ''Nasjonal Samling'' members, Quisling was [[execution by firing squad|executed by firing squad]] at [[Akershus Fortress]] at 02:40 on 24 October 1945.<ref>{{cite news|title=Justice – I|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,852394,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905001857/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,852394,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 September 2008|work=Time Magazine|date=5 November 1945|access-date=28 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Dahl|1999|pp=414–415}}.</ref> His last words before being shot were, "I'm convicted unfairly and I die innocent."<ref>{{harvnb|Bratteli|Myhre|1992|p=198}}.</ref> After his death his body was cremated and the ashes interred in Fyresdal.<ref>{{harvnb|Cohen|2000|p=279}}.</ref>