Josef Terboven was Hitler's ruthless Reichskommissar in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. Appointed in April 1940, he became the country's de facto dictator, ruling through terror, brutal reprisals, executions and the persecution of civilians.

Under his authority, concentration camps were established, hundreds of prisoners were murdered, and entire communities were punished for resisting Nazi occupation. Among his most notorious crimes were the Beisfjord killings, the destruction of Telavåg and the persecution and deportation of Norway's Jewish population.

As Nazi Germany approached defeat in May 1945, Terboven refused to abandon his fanatical loyalty to Hitler. Rather than face the consequences of his crimes, he took his own life.