Lee, Yunas (politician)

He grew up in a family that had strong ties with Germany. During World War I, he worked as a war correspondent on the Western and Eastern fronts . In the 1930s he made a successful career in the police. It was he who accompanied Leo Trotsky on his way from Norway to Mexico. His political beliefs, apparently, were formed under the influence of Uncle Niels Quier, who was an ardent anti-Semite .

It is likely that Lee was introduced to Heinrich Himmler back in 1935; in any case, they maintained close personal relationships throughout the Nazi period. Lee was in opposition to Vidkun Quisling during the occupation of Norway .

Despite further collaboration, Lee took part in the defense of Norway from the German invasion , fought at Foldal . After being wounded in the leg, he was captured by the Germans and spent some time in captivity ^[2] .

Yunas Lee was one of the first to voluntarily enlist in the Norwegian SS , in the Balkan campaign of 1940 he served as a war correspondent for the Leibstandart SS Adolf Hitler together with the Minister of Justice Sverre Riisnes. Later, he headed the 1st police company of the Norwegian Waffen SS legion on the Leningrad Front in 1942-1943.

Lee was also the official leader of the Nor ( Norwegian Germanske SS Norge ). This organization, known by various names and founded in 1941, was the Norwegian equivalent of the German SS Algemein .

At the end of 1944, under pressure from Joseph Terboven , Quisling appointed ministers Younas Lee and Juhan Andreas Lippestad as district governors of Finnmark in northern Norway. Lee, Lippestad and other officials left for Kirkenes in mid-October 1944 to order the evacuation of the civilian population in order to assist the Germans in using scorched earth tactics during the Soviet offensive ^[3] .

Lee died in Scallum on May 11, 1945, thereby escaping imminent arrest. The cause of death was not established, since the autopsy could not find any evidence of suicide. It was widely believed that Lee was killed by a combination of stress, alcohol and lack of sleep. It is also a fact that he suffered from heart disease, was a heavy smoker and had several other health problems.

By family tradition, Yunas Lee was also a writer. In the 1930s, he published a number of popular detective novels under the pseudonym Max Mauser. In 1942, he wrote the memoirs Over Balkans syv blåner , in which he described the service at the Leibstandart SS Adolf Hitler in the Balkans.