1933-1939 Norway 1945-1949









Stamps issued by Quisling Government; the surcharge was intended to indirectly support the war effort.


Norway during World War II

In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, Norway declared neutrality. Public opinion, however, sympathized with the Allies, for the Norwegians were convinced parliamentary democrats, and had strong economic ties with Britain. As late as 1935, the Norwegian Storting had awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to German pacifist CARL VON OSSIETZKY (who died in 1936 from the treatment received in a Nazi concentration camp). Norway also was host to many German exiles, such as future chancellor WILLY BRANDT.
On April 9th 1940, German troops invaded Denmark and Norway, without a previous declaration of war (OPERATION WESERUEBUNG). Vidkun Quisling, head of the fascist NASJONAL SAMLING, called on Norway's troops, over the radio, not to resist. They did not listen; resistance continued into June. However, neither the Norwegians nor British troops who had landed were able to stop the Germans. The royal family, as well as the country's leading democratic politicians, left the country for England, where a GOVERNMENT-IN-EXILE was established. Occupied Norway was of importance for Germany's nuclear bomb project, because Norway had a Heavy Water Plant at Ryukan.

Norwegian Official Stamp. As King Hakon VII. had fled to Britain, the traditional (royal) Norwegian emblem, the standing lion, had been replaced by the eagle holding the wheel, the emblem of the Nasjonal Samling.


There was little fighting in Norway. The active resistance engaged in sabotage, in targetting collaborators. Only in the final days of the war did the Soviet army advance into FINNMARK, Norway's far north. The retreating Germans pursued a SCORCHED EARTH POLICY, which was very harmful to the environment. At the time of Germany's surrender, most of Norway was still under German occupation. After the war, Quisling was convicted of treason and hanged, his name having become synonymous with that of a traitor.


Stamps issued by Exile Government. They were used by the sailors of Norway's merchant fleet; the surcharge was to benefit the families of the victims of the war.


Norwegian Stamp overprinted "V" for Victory.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Norway after 1905, in : The History of Norway, by Thor Dagre, from Norway Info (scroll down)
The Second World War, in : The History of Norway, by Thor Dagre, from Norway Info (scroll down)
Katrya Louise Layton , Quisling's Intellectual Betrayal of Norway - a Naive Insecure Intellectual ? from Nordic Notes; Greg Hurrrel : Quisling's Betrayal of Norway - Psychopathology and the Race Question in Norway, from Nordic Notes
Timeline, from Norway during WW II
Norway in World War II, from World War II Multimedia Database
DOCUMENTS Images from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, of Occupation of Norway (3), of Occupied Norway
Documents petaining to the Deportation of Jews from Norway to Auschwitz, from Institute of Documentation (Israel), 126 documents in German
Hvor star du idag ? (Where do you stand today ?, Nazi occupation propaganda poster, promoting the Norw. legion against bolzhevism, posted at Politische Plakate in Deutschland : 2. Weltkrieg, by Ziko Marcus Sikosek, in German; scroll down
Political Propaganda in Occupied Norway, Exhibition from the Norwegian Nat'l Library, search engine in Norwegian, click Send Soek,; has 660 posters of both occupation force and resistance
Hitler's Directive for the Occupation of Denmark and Norway, March 1st, 1940, from WW II Primary Source Homepage
Images from Chronik 2000 Bilddatenbank : Airborne Unit in Norway, April 1940; Ack-ack position in Norway, 1940; Gen. Paget commands British troops in Norway, April 1940; Street Fighting in Norway, April 1940; StuKa in a Norwegian Fjord; Admiral Raeder has command of the invasion of Denmark and Norway, April 1940; Cruiser "Hipper" lands infantry at Norwegian Coast, April 1940; Wrecks of merchant ships and warships, sunk by the British navy in the harbour of Narvik, April 13th 1940; The British "Hood"; Battleship "Bismarck"; Spotted by the RAF, the "Bismarck" in a Norw. Fjord, May 1941; The "Bismarck" takes a direct hit, May 27th 1941; The "Bismarck" and the "Hood" fight it out, May 1941; The "Tirpitz" was torpedoed and has capsized; crew trapped, Nov. 12th 1944; The "Tirpitz; The "Tirpitz", secured by nets, in a Norwegian Fjord, 1944; Trygve Lie, Min. of Foreign Affairs, Norw. Exile Govt., London
With the German Army in Norway, Andreas Hubel's grandfather's story , from Stories from the 1940es
Noway's Flag during WW II, from FOTW, Flag of the Norwegian Nazi Party, from FOTW
Letter containing secret message, occupied Norway, 1944, from EuArchiv Bergen
Norwegian banknotes, from Ron Wise's Worls Paper Money
1940 - Norway, from World War II Database
REFERENCE Article : Norway, in : Statesman's Year Book 1943 pp.1135-1146 [G]
Article : Norway, in : Americana Annual 1940 pp.589-591, 1943 pp.554-556, 1944 pp.530-532, 1945 pp.541-543, 1946 pp.556-559 [G]
Article : Norway, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1944 pp.510-512, 1945 pp.511-512 [G]
Article : Norway, in : New International Year Book, Events of 1940 pp.563-567, 1941 pp.481-485, 1942 pp.508-512, 1943 pp.452-456, 1944 pp.451-454, 1945 pp.434-436 [G]
Article : Norway, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1940 pp.496-498, 1941 pp.362-364, 1942 pp.326-328, 1943 pp.334-336, 1944 pp.244-248 [G]
Llewellyn Woodward, British Foreign Policy in the Second World War, London : HMSO 1962 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on November 3rd 2008

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