Henry Oliver Rinnan(1915-1947)

Henry Oliver Rinnan, born May 14, 1915, in Levanger, Norway, was a Norwegian Gestapo agent during the Nazi occupation of Norway 1940-1945). Rinnan was a truckdriver in the Norwegian Army when he was recruited by the Gestapo in June 1940. He worked closely with the Nazi Sicherheitspolizei SiPo. In January 1942 Henry Rinnan formed the "Sonderabteilung Lola". This group, known as Rinnanbanden among Norwegians, had sixty known members. Among them were Karl Dolmen, Arild Hjulstad-Østby and Ivar and Kitty Grande. The members of the independent Gestapo unit infiltrated the resistance movement, by building trust in order to penetrate their networks. The Rinnan gang was responsible for the death of at least a hundred people in the Norwegian resistance and the British Special Operations Executive. In 1944 Henry Rinnan was appointed SS-Untersturmführer der Reserve, and received the Iron Cross of the 2nd grade. After Germany's capitulation in May 1945, Rinnan and a band of followers tried to escape into Sweden, but were caught. Henry Rinnan was sentenced for personally murdering at least thirteen people, aiding a hundred other murders and involvement in a thousand Norwegians unlawful imprisonment. He was executed by a firing squad on February 1, 1947, at Kristiansen Fortress, Trondheim. He showed no fear at meeting his fate. 40 % of the people executed in Norway as a result of war crimes trials after the Second World War were connected to Henry Rinnan and the "Sonderabteilung Lola".