October 24, 1945: The Execution of Vidkun Quisling

October 24, 1945: Vidkun Quisling is executed by firing squad in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. He was 58 years old. The only man ever to be leader of the National Union Party, in 1931 he was named Norway's Minister of Defense, serving until 1933. On February 1, 1942, after the Nazis conquered Norway, he was appointed Minister President.

He held the office until May 9, 1945, a day after V-E Day, when, knowing the game was up, he turned himself in. On V-E Day, he had written:

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. 

Olaf II was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028, and was known as Olaf the Holy. He is his country's patron saint, and deserves to be remembered as more than just the namesake of the fictional hometown of the Golden Girls character Rose Nylund.

Quisling was wrong. Even while still in power, "quisling" became a word synonymous with "traitor." He is remembered as a traitor, and a willing sender of Norwegian Jews to die in the Holocaust.

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October 24, 1945 was a Wednesday. Also on this day, the Charter of the United Nations was ratified by the original 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: America, Britain, France, China and the Soviet Union, and by a majority of the other signatories. I have a separate entry for this event. And Gene Monahan, trainer for the New York Yankees from 1973 to 2011, was born.

The baseball season had ended 14 days before, when the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs in Game 7 of the World Series. Football was in midweek. The NBA wasn't founded until the next year.  

The National Hockey League played its 1st peacetime game since April 16, 1939, with World War II beginning for Canada, as part of the British Empire, the following September 3. Although it had continued to operate for the duration, Canada's membership in the Empire had led to a serious manpower drain in the League.

Some teams were affected more than others. The New York Americans had to suspend operations after the 1941-42 season, and never started up again. The New York Rangers had won the Stanley Cup in 1940 and finished 1st overall in 1942, but went into a tailspin, and only reached the Stanley Cup Finals once in the next 30 years.

The Boston Bruins' entire "Kraut Line" -- Milt Schmidt centering Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart -- all Canadians of German descent, helped them win the Cup in 1939 and 1941, and losing the Finals in 1943, dropped off after that, not winning another Cup until 1970, going 0-5 in Finals from 1941 to 1970.

The Bruins were the hosts in this peacetime puck-dropper, but lost to the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-4 at the Boston Garden. The Bruins would make the Finals in 1945-46, but lose to the Montreal Canadiens.