Maria Quisling

Maria Quisling
Vidkun and Maria Quisling; unknown date
Born	Maria Vasilyevna Pasek or Pasetchnikova (1900-10-10)10 October 1900 Kharkiv, Russian Empire
Died	17 January 1980(1980-01-17) (aged 79) Uranienborg, Oslo, Norway
Resting place	Gjerpen, Telemark, Norway
Nationality	Russian/Soviet Norwegian (from 1923)
Known for	Wife of Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling
Spouse(s)	Vidkun Quisling (m. 1923; d. 1945)

Maria Quisling, born Maria Vasilyevna Pasek or Pasetchnikova (10 October 1900 – 17 January 1980), was known as the wife of Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling, though historians have doubts about whether the couple were legally married. The couple met in Kharkiv in 1923 and they were formally and informally married in September that year. The next few years she lived in Norway and France, often separated from Vidkun due to his work and travels. They settled permanently in Norway in 1929 where Vidkun was one of the founders of the fascist party Nasjonal Samling. During the German occupation of Norway, Vidkun led a pro-Nazi puppet regime. Maria lived with him in the Villa Grande from 1941 to 1945 and served as hostess for social gatherings there and at the Royal Palace.

After Vidkun was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death, she made several appeals to authorities on his behalf, though unsuccessfully. She was briefly arrested in 1946 for her actions during the occupation, but all charges were dropped. She fought for many years to get back the apartment and other properties she and Vidkun had owned. A final settlement was reached in 1955, giving her the apartment, many paintings and furniture and a sum of money. In 1959, she also got an urn with her husband's ashes, which she buried at Gjerpen church yard in a small ceremony. After having lived a secluded life in Oslo after the war, she died in 1980, leaving her assets to a charity fund bearing her and Vidkun's name which each year gives a small sum of money to a limited number of elderly persons.

Maria Quisling's birth was probably in November 1900 in Kharkiv in the then Russian Empire in Ukraine. A student's card says she was born in 1899. Information about her family is uncertain. She told her family-in-law that her father had been a higher civil servant.

She finished high school in 1918 and obtained a degree from Kharkov Economic Institute in 1922. The same year she started working for a Ukrainian organization which co-ordinated the work of various foreign aid organizations in the area, including the Nansen aid. She met Vidkun for the first time in March 1923 and a romantic relationship developed during the summer that year. Vidkun had formally or informally married Alexandra Voronin a short time before. Historian Hans Fredrik Dahl believes Maria knew about the relationship with Alexandra and accepted his explanation that it was a pro-forma marriage to help Alexandra out of Russia.