Bjørn Østring: SS-Untersturmführer der Reserve and National Leader of NSUF

• Speech in Oslo, September 1942: Germanic unity

NS membership

Østring became a member of NSUF in 1933, and distributed the magazine NS in Gjøvik on 17 May 1933. He became a member of NS in 1935, and participated in several of NS's labor service projects before the war. He became the national leader of NS Youth Federation (NSUF) in November 1940 and joined the Norwegian Legion when it was established in the summer of 1941.

Frontline fighter

Østring soon signed up for service as a front-line fighter on the Eastern Front in the Norwegian Legion, which the Germans called Freiwilligen-Legion Norwegen and was a division within the Waffen-SS with Norwegian soldiers. They were originally supposed to be deployed in Finland, but were instead sent to the siege of Leningrad in the Soviet Union, a siege which in October 2022 was found to be genocidal by the St Petersburg District Court. Østring was a troop commander in the legion, originally with the rank of Legions-Hauptscharführer (also called "sergeant major"), but was appointed SS-Untersturmführer der Reserve in 1942 when he returned to Norway. He was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, the Eastern Front Medal and the Frontkjempermarket for his war efforts.

When he returned to Norway in 1942, he was allocated an apartment in Kirkeveien.

Østring was part of Quisling's inner guard corps called "Gjestene", in collaboration with the Førergarde, which guarded NS leader Quisling's residence Gimle (originally called Villa Grande) in Oslo. In addition, he was a youth leader in FO 2 Stor-Oslo. From 1944 he became head of "Gjestene" and developed a close relationship with Maria Quisling. In May 1945, it was Østring who assigned Gimle to the home front.

After the war

Bjørn Østring was sentenced to seven years in prison in the treason settlement after the war, but served only two years. The family was now seven people in a two-room flat, and Østring set about making baby braces for the sale of a batch of colored ribbons he got at a reasonable price. The seals were named "Villbass" and sold well. In the first post-war period, Østring was on the move selling baby harnesses, produced by 7–8 families in Oslo. He was pardoned in 1949, took a journeyman's certificate as a painter and worked in this profession ever since. He became Østring's spokesman for the front fighter and NS milieu and built up a rich archive of NS history. Large parts of these collections have been transferred to the National Archives.

In 2005, Aftenposten wrote that Østring "has for several decades been the contact person between the former NS milieu and writers and researchers". He was among the front fighters and "old Nazis" who were most often interviewed by the Norwegian media.

He is mentioned in several books, including in Lars Borgersrud's book Unngå å irritere fienden (1981), Per Hansson and Jan O. Jensen's The Dangerous Spring (1983), and Chr. Christensen's Den andre siden (1988). In Christensen's book, Østring is referred to as Knut Knutsen.

In 1972 he came into contact with Milorgmann Svein Blindheim from Kompani Linge. They later became neighbors at Høvik outside Oslo. The journalist Arvid Bryne used this as a backdrop when he published the book Vi sloss for Norge in 2007. There he interviewed Østring and Blindheim about their roles as enemies during the war and later reconciled war veterans. It caused some debate that the author referred to Østring as a "war hero" in the book.

"Is there anything you're sorry for?" asks Arvid Bryne in the book. Bjørn Østring answers:

"No, I am proud of my own efforts during and after the war. I feel no urge to regret anything. I don't think I've done anything wrong in my terms. I have played and still play with open cards. I have told and am happy to tell about what I have been involved in."

Østring expressed his lifelong admiration for Vidkun Quisling in several contexts, including in the radio interview "Vidkun Quisling - the noblest man I have known" which was broadcast on NRK in 2006. 

Bjørn Østring died in 2012