The German occupation and its consequences for the composition and changes of Norwegian business elites

Abstract The German occupation had dramatic consequences on the pre-war political and military elites in Norway, due to the ways in which they behaved during German rule. These elites were almost completely replaced by a younger generation of men. The occupation had no comparable effect on prewar business elites. In light of the pre-war economic elites’ extensive economic collaboration with the Germans starting immediately after the occupation, a different outcome might have been expected. One of the reasons for the lack of purges of the pre-war business elites was that very few of them were members of the Norwegian Nazi Party. Another important explanation is that a number of the leading men advocating and practising economic collaboration in the first phases of the occupation later became leading figures in the resistance movement. A third factor was that a purge of business leaders for economic collaboration could have undermined the economic recovery and growth of the nation state after the liberation.