It is interesting to read and hear how different nationalities coped during times of occupation and essentially how they dealt with it at the end. The Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 and the subsequent squabbling over South Ossetia has blazed a fever of patriotism in the small Caucus state. Compare that to the recent publications in France naming those who collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War, some families are still burdened with belated guilt of what their families did in historical conflicts.
We need to identify that war is not black and white; there are a few heroes and villains. War forces ordinary people into impossible positions not of their making, forcing upon them choices or compromises they could never have anticipated. Generations in the future now venerate the work of resistance fighters in France and Holland but we cannot ultimately conceive an idea that if you weren’t part of the network you were on the other side. The German policy of ‘Schrecklichkeit’ which literally translates to ‘terror’ was a policy adopted in both WW1 and WW2 that was designed to inflict horrific repression on the civilian population so it would never resist. This is why we can never simply judge ‘sympathisers’ or people who told of where Jews lived because life in war goes day by day.
The silent resistance of the Norwegians is particularly notable in its stiff heroism and determination. Germany invaded Norway in 1940, despite its declaration of neutrality. There were acts of armed resistance, many people will have heard of the ‘Heroes of Telemark’ where trained Norwegian commandoes destroyed Hitler’s attempted to create an atomic bomb. Most Norwegians, aware of potential reprisals, resisted in an unorthodox, psychological way. They attached paperclips to their collars as an act of defiance; they crossed the road when a German approached, they only spoke Norwegian in public and would leave a bus if a German sat next to them. This approach eventually led German administrators forcing natives to stay in their seats.
War is callous and bloody, but it reflects well that countries with proud heritages like Norway acted with civilitly but with ultimate defiance.
We need to identify that war is not black and white; there are a few heroes and villains. War forces ordinary people into impossible positions not of their making, forcing upon them choices or compromises they could never have anticipated. Generations in the future now venerate the work of resistance fighters in France and Holland but we cannot ultimately conceive an idea that if you weren’t part of the network you were on the other side. The German policy of ‘Schrecklichkeit’ which literally translates to ‘terror’ was a policy adopted in both WW1 and WW2 that was designed to inflict horrific repression on the civilian population so it would never resist. This is why we can never simply judge ‘sympathisers’ or people who told of where Jews lived because life in war goes day by day.
The silent resistance of the Norwegians is particularly notable in its stiff heroism and determination. Germany invaded Norway in 1940, despite its declaration of neutrality. There were acts of armed resistance, many people will have heard of the ‘Heroes of Telemark’ where trained Norwegian commandoes destroyed Hitler’s attempted to create an atomic bomb. Most Norwegians, aware of potential reprisals, resisted in an unorthodox, psychological way. They attached paperclips to their collars as an act of defiance; they crossed the road when a German approached, they only spoke Norwegian in public and would leave a bus if a German sat next to them. This approach eventually led German administrators forcing natives to stay in their seats.
War is callous and bloody, but it reflects well that countries with proud heritages like Norway acted with civilitly but with ultimate defiance.
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