Evening star., 1943-05-16
QU|SL|NG'S FEARS MOUNT
Day Of Retribution Druwinq Steadily Nearer

breakneck speed for the city, their horns
sounding madly to clear the road In one
OF these cars sits a tall, thin, spectacled
man with brutal little face who looks,
say those who know him, like an under
fed bookkeeper," In spite OF his big COL
lection OF elaborate, beribboned uni
forms and the German eagle glittering
on his chest. He is the absolute monarch
OF Norway, Reichskommisar Josef Ter
bosen. Perhaps no stranger figure, not
excepting Hitler himself, has emerged
out OF the dregS Of Europe to rule and
ruin the lives of millions than this As
year-old son of an Essen saloonkeeper
whose unscrupulous crattiness was a
major factor in the rise of the NaZi
party to power, whose ribald revelries at
Skaugum eclipse anything of the sort
since Nero. One of his first acts on COM
Ing to Norway as Hitlers plenipotentiarv
was to gather up the country's entire
supply of Scotch whisky, several thou
sand cases, which is his favorlte bever-
age. 1t is nearly exhausted now and
Terbosen's friends have to content them
selves with akkavite, Norways own car
raWay-f1avored potato brandy.
Easy to Line Pockets.
He was one of Hitler's original gang
sters. No man supposedly stands higher
in Der Fuehrer's favor and the job of
Reichskommisar of Norway is considered
the choicest position open, so far as op-
portunities for lining ones own pockets
are concerned. That, from the first,
seems to have been Terbosen's maj jor in
terest and he has maneuvered himself
into succession of choice jobs until
today he is one of the richest men in
Europe. He has been his masters ablest
extortionist, filled the Nazi Golfers in
National SocialiSms most poverty
stricken days and made sure of keeping
fair percentage of all he collected.
Nobody denies that Terbosen is a
shrewd fnancier. For a short time few
years after the last World War he was a
minor clerk in an Essen bank. Now he
likes to refer to himself as IAN old bank
err and, when he is sober enough, fall
into the role of platitudinous financial
oracle.
Prof. Jacob S. Worm Muller, one Of
Norway's greatest social scientists who
has lately escaped to London, has made
detailed study of the mans career ever
since he was barboy in his fathers
schnapps shop patronized by Krupps
laborers, and more fantastic story
hardly is imaginable. The discharged,
jobless bank clerk was an early member
of the Nazi party in Essen which was Or
ganized by Socialist trade union leader
named Kaufman who appears to have
been sincere man, primarily interested
in the cause of the workers. He and his
followers were despised by the Krupp
directors and other Essen industrialists.
When Hitler got out of Landsberg
Prison in 1925 the need of financial back
ing was paramount if Naziism was to get
anywhere. One way of getting it was
quite obvious, but the sincere Kaufman
was neither willing nor competent for
the essential procedures. He was dis
placed as the 'bezintes fuehrer" of the
Essen district and the hitherto unknown
bank clerk named in this place.
From jobless man on the streets of
the big industrial city, Josef Terbosen
came into sudden opulence. So did the
Nazi party. He began driving about in
new eight-cylinder car, renting good
restaurants for drunken brawls,. and, fol-
lowed by a gang of thugs who beat up
policemen, wrecked stores and took big
toll from all sorts of little business. His
major job was to sell out labor to con-
vince the Essen industrialists that their
best tool was this new Nazi party. He
was succeeding admirably. He\was a
man after Hitler's own heart.
Prosperity went to his head and he
began to indulge openly in his two great
weaknesses, drinking and what lenient
Judges have been willing to consider "se-
duction," although Norwegians have a
shorter word. This latter nearly got him
into trouble at the very start OF his