Josef Terboven

Josef Terboven
Terboven in 1942.
Gauleiter of Essen
In office 1928 – 8 May 1945
Succeeded by	Fritz Schlessmann (acting, 1940–1945)
Reichskommissar for the Occupied Norwegian Territories
In office 24 April 1940 – 8 May 1945
Prime Minister	Vidkun Quisling (1942–1945)
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Franz Böhme (acting, 1945)
Oberpräsident of Rhine Province
In office 1940 – 8 May 1945
Preceded by	Hermann Freiherr von Lünick
Succeeded by	None
Personal details
Born	23 May 1898 Essen, Rhine Province, Germany
Died	8 May 1945 (aged 46) Asker, Akershus, Norway
Political party	National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)

Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven (23 May 1898 – 8 May 1945) was a Nazi leader, best known as the Reichskommissar for Norway during the German occupation of Norway.

Terboven (from the Dutch ter Boven) was born in Essen, Germany, as the son of minor landed gentry of Dutch descent. He served in the German field artillery and nascent air force in World War I and was awarded the Iron Cross, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He studied law and political science at the universities of Munich and Freiburg, where he first got involved in politics.

Dropping out of the university in 1923, Terboven joined the NSDAP with member number 25247 and participated in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. When the NSDAP was subsequently outlawed, he found work at a bank for a few years before he was laid off in 1925.

He then went to work full-time for the Nazi party. Terboven helped establish the party in Essen and became Gauleiter there in 1928. From 1925 on he was part of the Sturmabteilung, in which he reached the rank of Obergruppenführer by 1936. On 29 June 1934, Terboven married Ilse Stahl, Joseph Goebbels' former secretary and mistress. Adolf Hitler was the guest of honour at the wedding. Terboven was made Oberpräsident der Rheinprovinz in 1935 and developed a reputation as a petty and ruthless tyrant.