Hans Engnestangen

World War II

Along with fellow speed skater Finn Hodt, Engnestangen had been one of the few leading Norwegian athletes not to follow a nationwide boycott of sports events (the "sports strike") during the occupation. In particular, in 1942 he skated in a Norway-Germany meet in Klagenfurt in Austria. The boycott had been launched by the Norwegian sports leadership in response to attempts from 1940 onwards by the collaborationist Quisling regime at nazification of all sports events in Norway. After the war Engnestangen was sentenced to two years for collaborating with the Nazi Germany, though contrary to other involved sportsmen he had no personal connection to Nazis.