Henry Rinnan Henry Oliver Rinnan ( 14 May 1915 – 1 February 1947 ) was a notorious Gestapo agent in the area around Trondheim , Norway during World War II . He led a group called " Sonderabteilung Lola " . This group , known as " Rinnanbanden " among Norwegians , had fifty known members . Among them were Karl Dolmen , Arild Hjulstad - Østby , and Ivar and Kitty Grande . Biography . Born in Levanger on 14 May 1915 , Rinnan was the oldest of eight children in an impoverished family . Unusually short ( 1 . 61 meters – 5 ft 3 in ) , he was a loner during his childhood . He worked briefly for his uncle , but was fired for theft . During the Winter War , Rinnan tried to enlist with the Finns to fight against the Soviet Union , but was rejected due to his poor physique . During the Norwegian Campaign in 1940 , he drove a truck for the Norwegian Army . According to Rinnan , he was recruited by the Gestapo in June 1940 . His parents were members of Nasjonal Samling , but it is uncertain if he ever was a member himself . The after - war ex NS - members have always tried to make a clear distance to this group , which was seen as a pre German unit . Beginning in September 1943 , the " Rinnanbanden " had its headquarters in Jonsvannsveien 46 in Trondheim , known as " Bandeklosteret " ( " gang monastery " ) . Rinnan worked closely with the German Sicherheitspolizei in Trondheim , where his main contacts were Gerhard Flesch and Walter Gemmecke . During this decade the private residence of the Rinnan - family was in the captured house of Landstads Vei 1 , located approximately one kilometer from the gang monastery . The members of the independed Gestapo unit " Sonderabteilung Lola " infiltrated the resistance movement by engaging people in conversation in buses , trains , cafés , etc . , encouraging them to talk about their attitudes toward the Nazi occupation . Having identified people who they thought were in the resistance , Rinnan ' s agents worked to build trust with them and 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 , for torturing hundreds of prisoners , for more than a thousand arrests , for compromising several hundred resistance groups , and in some cases , for luring people to perform missions for the Germans . Rinnan operated with impunity and little interference from his German taskmasters , often using murder and torture as sanctioned means . After Germany ' s capitulation in May 1945 , Rinnan and a band of followers tried to escape into Sweden , but were caught . On December 24 , he escaped from prison again , gathered some followers , but they were again apprehended after a few days . In the course of two trials after the war , forty - one members of the Rinnan group were convicted and sentenced . Twelve received sentences of execution by firing squad from the court of Frostating on 20 September 1946 . Ten of those death sentences were carried out . Eleven other defendants were sentenced to lifelong forced labour ( later pardoned ) , while the rest were given long prison sentences . Rinnan was sentenced for personally murdering thirteen people , but the real number may be higher . Four hours after midnight on 1 February 1947 , Rinnan was taken from his cell in Kristiansten Fortress . A guard blindfolded him and led him outside , where he was tied to a pole . He showed no fear at his fate . At 04 : 05 , Rinnan was executed by firing squad . He was cremated , and later unofficially buried at the Levanger Cemetery in an unmarked grave . Rinnan during the war was appointed " SS - Untersturmführer der Reserve " , and received the Iron Cross 2nd grade in 1944 . Rinnanbanden was so notorious that forty percent of the people executed as a result of Norwegian war crimes trials after World War II were connected to Sonderabteilung Lola .