Roald Dysthe

Roald Rachlew Dysthe (born 16 April 1903) was a Norwegian businessperson and acquitted Nazi collaborator.

He was born in Kristiania as a son of alcohol importer Carl Schøyen Dysthe and Alfhild Dorothea Rachlew Dysthe. He had one older brother, Sven, and the younger siblings Gunnar, Ingeborg and Helge. He finished his secondary education in 1921, and took his education abroad, in commerce, wine and liquor production. He started a business career together with his brother Sven.

From 1928 to 1930 they were involved in a major public case. On 4 May 1928 they wrote a letter to the government, complaining that the state semi-monopoly Vinmonopolet disfavorized their father's wine importing agency Dysthe & Co. A scrutiny commission was set up to review Vinmonopolet's business practice. Vinmonopolet, on the other hand, sued the Dysthe brothers to have the complaints declared null and void, but a year later, in April 1930, Vinmonopolet lost the legal case. The Dysthe brothers' defender was Ole Røed. The case became a major scandal in the media as Vinmonopolet's role was unveiled. The board chairman Hans Halvorsen, who was a brother-in-law of the Prime Minister Johan Ludwig Mowinckel, had to resign together with board member Trygve Wettre and three employees.

From the 1930s the brothers were active in the Norwegian-Third Reich friendship society Norsk-Tysk Selskap. He worked in McKesson & Robbins. and was a board member of Dysthe & Co.

After Nazi Germany invaded Norway on 9 April 1940, and Vidkun Quisling's party Nasjonal Samling (NS) became the only legal party, Dysthe sided with the German occupiers. He intrigued in order to weaken NS, and had contacts in the Reichskommissariat Norwegen. At the same time he was a member of NS, although he claimed the reason for his membership was to inform the Germans about party affairs. Among others, he contributed to the downfall of Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie as president of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). Christie was a Norwegian nationalist and Quisling supporter, and as Dysthe was a special supervisor in the NRK from September 1941 he reported Christie to the Reichskommissariat, who fired him. NRK had earlier been scrutinized by police inspector Gard Holtskog; however he advised to keep Christie and to limit the German influence.

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