Together with farmer and author Hans Seland and farmer union leader Hans Haga he was among the main agrarian party leaders to prevent the party from joining the fascist movement Nasjonal Samling, led by Vidkun Quisling.
During the German occupation of Norway during World War II (1940–45), Nasjonal Samling (NS) and the German authorities took control over NRK.
The exiled Norwegian government claimed these ships as its property, which was contested by the collaborationist Nasjonal Samling government in occupied Norway.
Tolga was a stronghold for the Norwegian Nazi party Nasjonal Samling during the World War II, though the party was never represented in the town council.
The camp at Berg was founded upon an initiative in the fall of 1941 from the Norwegian fascist Nasjonal Samling party, and with some opposition from the German occupying authorities, Wilhelm Rediess in particular.
Hans Seland, together with Hans Haga and Nils Trædal, were among the most influential politicians in the Agrarian Party (Norges Bondelag) to prevent this group from joining the fascist Nasjonal Samling of Vidkun Quisling.
After the German occupation of Norway in 1940, he was a member of the new governing body of the Norwegian Students' Society, which included students from all political groups, except the National Socialists.
Then, in November 1943, he was among the students who were arrested by the German occupying forces in Norway as part of a general imprisonment of all male, non-NS students at the University of Oslo.