Nasjonal Samling (Norwegian pronunciation: [nɑʃuˈnɑːl ˈsɑmlɪŋ], National Gathering, National Unification, or informally National Socialist Party), abbreviated NS, was a fascist party in Norway and was active during 1933 to 1945. Founded by former minister of defense Vidkun Quisling and a group of supporters such as Johan Bernhard Hjort – who did lead the party's paramilitary wing (the Hird) for a short time before leaving the party in 1937 after various internal conflicts. The party claimed to have been founded on May 17, Norway's national holiday, but was in fact founded on May 13, 1933.

While the party failed to gain considerable support in the national and local elections before the war, it made its mark on Norwegian politics nonetheless. Despite the fact that it never managed to get more than 2.5% of the votes, it became a factor by polarizing the political scene. All of the established parties in Norway viewed it as a Norwegian version of the Nazis, and generally refused to cooperate with it in any way. Several of its marches and rallies before the war were either banned, or, as in Germany, marred by violence as working-class activists (Communists and socialists) clashed with the Hird.

Jonas Lauritz Idemil Lie (6 November 1833 – 5 June 1908) was a Norwegian novelist, poet, and playwright who is considered to have been one of the Four Greats of 19th century Norwegian literature, together with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Alexander Kielland.

Jonas Lie was born at Hokksund in Øvre Eiker, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Five years after his son's birth, Lie's father was appointed sheriff of Tromsø, which lies within the Arctic Circle, and young Jonas Lie spent six of the most impressionable years of his life at that remote port.

He was sent to the naval school at Fredriksværn; but his defective eyesight caused him to give up a life at sea. He transferred to the Bergen Cathedral School (Bergen katedralskole) in Bergen, and in 1851 entered the University of Christiania, where he made the acquaintance of Ibsen and Bjørnson. He graduated in law in 1857, and shortly afterwards began to practice at Kongsvinger, a town located between Lake Mjøsa and the border with Sweden.

Axel Heiberg Stang (born February 21, 1904 - November 11, 1974) was a Norwegian landowner and forester who served as councillor of state in the Nasjonal Samling government of Vidkun Quisling, and later as minister.

Born in Kristiania into two of Norway's most wealthy and politically influential families with large estates. His father Ole A. Stang was a businessman and landowner, while his mother Emma Heiberg was Queen Mauds most trusted confidante and mistress. His brother was Thomas Stang, and thus brother-in-law to actress Wenche Foss and uncle to the current mayor of Oslo Fabian Stang.

Stang first joined the Nasjonal Samling in 1933 and served as district leader in Glåmdal, although he was largely a minor figure before World War II. After the invasion of Norway in April 1940 he was put in joint charge of the NS political staff with Ragnar Skancke. The Germans thought it wise to include him due to his family's close ties to the royal court and recommended that he be apart of the new government despite his lack of experience and commitment. In September he was appointed to Vidkun Quisling's collaborationist government as Minister of Labour and Sports, a heavily ideological department. In this role he passed a law making service in the Arbeidstjenesten (modeled after the German Reichsarbeitsdienst) compulsory in 1941. He also made service of all children in the "NSUF" (modeled after the Hitlerjugend) compulsory, this proved a disaster as it infuriated the population and was later scrapped altogether. Also his attempts to force all sports club to join the Nasjonal Samling Sports Organisation proved a failure, leading to an almost total boycott of organised sport for the duration of the occupation. Whilst continuing as a minister he also enrolled in the SS Division Nordland and won the Iron Cross Second Class after seeing action in the Balkans. He also served 8 weeks at the eastern front in Finland during the summer of 1941.

Axel Heiberg (16 March 1848 – 4 September 1932) was a Norwegian diplomat, financier and patron.

He was married to Ragnhild Meyer, daughter of Thorvald Meyer; they had one child, Ingeborg. Heiberg studied abroad and, after a period as Norwegian consul in China, returned to Norway, where he financed the creation of the Ringnes brewery in 1876 together with the brothers Amund Ringnes (brewer) and Ellef Ringnes (administrator and salesman).

Together with the shipowner Thomas Fearnley, the brewery sponsored the polar expeditions of Fridtjof Nansen and Otto Sverdrup, and funded the construction of the exploration vessel Fram. This led to Heiberg's name being given to Axel Heiberg Island in Canada, the Axel Heiberg Glacier in Antarctica, and the Geiberg Islands in Siberia.

In 1878 Heiberg was one of the founders of the rowing club Christiania RK. Later he founded the "Consul Axel Heiberg and Manufacturer Hans B. Fasmer Fund" (in 1915 transferred to the Fridtjof Nansen Fund). In 1898 he was one of the founders of the Norwegian Forestry Society, and was chairman until 1923. He also funded the statues of Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson outside the National Theater in Oslo.

Jørn Holme (born 16 August 1959) is a Norwegian judge and civil servant.

He grew up at Nordberg, and originally wanted to become a priest. He was active in the Norwegian Christian Student Association while studying. He graduated with the cand.jur. degree from the University of Oslo in 1986. He left a job as research assistant there to do his compulsory military service, then work in the police. In 1988 he was hired as a police inspector in Senja, and from 1990 to 1991 he was an acting judge at Trondenes and Oslo District Courts. From 1991 to 2001 he was a public prosecutor in the Norwegian National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim). His work mainly concerned environmental crime. He edited and wrote books during this period, and launched the periodical Miljøkrim. He had short interruptions from this position to be acting presiding judge in Eidsivating in 1993, acting assisting director in the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage in 1997 and acting general prosecutor in the Norwegian Army in 2001.