The Germans claimed they came as friends to protect Norway from British aggression. However, Norwegian society would come under tight control. The occupiers installed a Nazi-German civilian administration through the so-called Reich Commissariat. The only legal political party was the Norwegian National Socialist Party, Nasjonal Samling, led by Vidkun Quisling, who was installed as a puppet government to nazify Norwegian society.

Hitler considered Norway a “zone of destiny” where the outcome of war would be decided. He ordered the construction of hundreds of coastal fortresses, of airports, naval bases, railways, and roads to fortify the country. Furthermore, more than 450,000 soldiers were sent to Norway, a country with a population of ca. 3 million.

To build fortifications and infrastructure, almost 140,000 prisoners of war and forced laborers were sent to Norway from across Europe. Nearly 100,000 of these were Soviet prisoners of war. Other forced labourers came from Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Western Europe. The Soviets and Yugoslavs suffered the worst conditions. Approximately 10% of the Soviet prisoners died.

At the Trondheimsfjord, Hitler planned to build a new city that would become the most important navy base in Northern Europe. Three hundred thousand Germans were supposed to move here in what was to become a German enclave. However, the plans were put on hold, as the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union eventually took most of the attention.