Henry Oliver Rinnan
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| Born | May 14, 1915 in Levanger, Norway | ||
| Died | Executed on February 1, 1947 by shooting. | ||
| Occupation | Salesman, truckdriver, Gestapo agent | ||
Henry Oliver Rinnan (May 14, 1915 – February 1, 1947) was a notorious Gestapo agent in areas around Trondheim, Norway during World War II.
He led a group called Sonderabteilung Lola. This group, called Rinnanbanden in Norwegian had 50 members. Among them were Karl Dolmen, Arild Hjulstad-Østby, Ivar and Kitty Grande. While several members of his family were in his group, one of his brothers was active in the Norwegian resistance movement.
Rinnan was from born in Levanger on May 14, 1915 as the oldest of eight children in an impoverished family. He was unusually short (1.61 meters - 5 ft 3 in) and was a loner during his childhood. He worked briefly for his uncle, but was fired for stealing. When the war started he was a truckdriver for the Norwegian army. According to Rinnan himself he was recruited by Gestapo in June 1940. Their headquarters from September 1943 was in Jonsvannsveien 46 in Trondheim, known as Bandeklosteret which can be translated to something like the gang monastry.
He worked closely with the German security police in Trondheim, where his main contacts were Gerhard Flesch and Walter Gemmecke.
The members of Sonderabteilung Lola infiltrated the resistance movement by engaging people in buses, trains, cafes, etc., in talking about their feelings about the Nazi occupation. Having identified people who they thought were in the resistance, they would work to build their trust and penetrate their network. Their efforts resulted in more than a thousand arrests, compromised several hundred resistance groups, and in some cases lured people to do missions for the Nazis, when they thought it was for the Norwegian resistance. Rinnan operated with impunity and little interference from their Nazi taskmasters, often using murder and torture as sanctioned means.
Henry_Rinnan_on_trial.jpg
In the course of two trials after the war, 41 members of the Rinnan band were tried and sentenced. Eleven were sentenced to execution by firing squad by Frostating Lagmannsrett on September 20, 1946. Seven of the death sentences were carried out. Eleven were sentenced to lifelong forced labour (later pardoned) while the rest were given long prison sentences. The Rinnan band was responsible for the death of at least a hundred people in the Norwegian resistance and the British Special Operations Executive, while several hundred were tortured and more than a thousand resistance members were arrested. Rinnan was sentenced for personally murdering 13 people, but the real number is probably higher.
So notorious was Rinnanbanden that 40 percent of the people executed in the trials in Norway after WWII were connected to Sonderabteilung Lola.
Four hours after midnight on February 1, 1947, Rinnan was taken from his cell in Kristiansten festning. A guard blind-folded him and led him outside, where was tied to a pole. At 04:05 the shots were fired.nn:Henry Rinnan no:Henry Rinnan