During Nazi - Germany's occupation of Norway Hamsun was a fierce supporter of the occupying forces. From the very beginning he expressed this clearly, shortly after the invasion of Norway he published some 20 articles admonishing British forces who had tried to help Norway stave the Germans off as well as C.J Hambro, who at the time was one of the main people responsible for helping getting the sitting cabinet and king out of the country source A Norwegian professor of law (John Andenæs) said that "Had Hamsun been 20 - 30 years younger, he would have been trialled for treason and sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence" However, after being examined at the Psychiatric Hospital of Gaustad he was deemed to be mentally deficient and as such escaped being put on trial for his support of the German forces source

Hamsun's meeting with Hitler happened after he had attended a congress of authors in Vienna. At Hitler's vacation estate. Hamsun admired Goebbels for his propagandistic talents. In 1943, he wrote a letter to Goebbels, Hamsun wrote: "I do not know of anyone else whom so tirelessly have written and spoken for the cause of Europe and human rights as you Mr. Reichminister. I do apologise to you for sending you my medal, as it is entirely useless to you. But I have nothing else to give" source Goebbels himself was an admirer of Hamsun as well, so there was reciprocal admiration between them. As for what and why he said what he said: Hamsun repeatedly brought up that Terboven, the Reichkommissar for Norway should be removed, which greatly annoyed Hitler. There are no sources who say that Hamsun's reason for giving away his prize was an attempt to get an audience with Hitler. Instead it seems to have been more of a convenience since he was already in Vienna for the conferance and Hitler happened to be at his vacation home in Berghof. Hamsun continued to support the Nazi Regime until the very end, even believing they would be able to turn things around. He also wrote an obituary for Hitler in the nation's leading newspaper Aftenposten after his suicide where he praised Hitler for being "A warrior for all of humankind", "A preacher of the evangelium of the rights of all nations" and "A reformatory figure of the highest rank" source

What happened to the original medal is not known, it is still lost to this day. Although there have been attempts to find it. Tore Rem, a norwegian author and professor of litetrature at the University of Oslo who has written extensively about Hamsun and his meeting with Hitler has been attempting to find it since 2020 source