War and Game

In World War II Norway again declared its neutrality, but this time the country was involved in the warfare. In April 1940 Great Britain laid mines in the Norwegian waters. On April 9 German troops invaded Norway and occupied the major cities. The German attack, operation Weserübung, also included the occupation of Denmark the same day. After a month of combat, mostly around Narvik in the north where an Anglo-French expeditionary force supported the Norwegian Army, Norway had to capitulate. The court and the government fled to London where a government-in-exile was established. The Norwegian merchant fleet (4.8 million tonnage in 1939) was only outnumbered by the British and American fleets. Thanks to the government’s control of the merchant fleet, Norway could make an important contribution to the Allied cause in the war. However, the price was high. Half of the fleet was lost during the war.

In a radio broadcast the leader of the pro- Nazi National Unity (Nasjonal Samling or NS) Party, Vidkun Quisling (1887–1945), with the support of Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), proclaimed himself head of a ‘‘national government.’’ After a couple of days the Germans changed their minds. However, the reichkommissar Josef Terboven (1898–1945) failed to gain support for other forms of collaborationist governments, and Quisling was reinstated as ‘‘minister president’’ in 1942. Despite this imposing title and the nominally independent government, Quisling and his NS ministers were totally under the control of Terboven. The Nazification process was met by strong opposition from church leaders, teachers, universities, and various civic organizations. Although the German rule in Norway was milder than in other parts of Europe, many people were tortured or executed. At times innocent civilians were killed as retaliation for resistance actions. An illegal press and small groups of armed resistance were built up by the home front (‘‘hjemmefronten’’), in close cooperation with the government in London.

In 1944 Soviet troops occupied an area in the north of Norway. The rest of the country was liberated when the German troops capitulated to the home front in May 1945. A widespread settlement with the collaborationists took place. Eighteen thousand of them were sentenced to imprisonment and twenty-five executed, among them Quisling and two of his former ministers. After the liberation a coalition government was formed, but after the election in 1945 it was replaced by a Labor government with Einar Gerhardsen (1897–1987) as prime minister.