Commemoration and Scandinavia during WW2

Question 1

Positive impact for Denmark

Answer 1

Danish allies to be placed in line with Allies in the United Nations an idea firmly placed in Danish consciousness.

Question 2

Situation in Denmark during the occupation

Answer 2

the Danish maintained a fully backed government. No german administrative body present in Denmark and all work in Denmark by Germany was done by diplomatic services . The relation with Germany came to entail both elements of resistance and cooperation.

Question 3

Germanic expansion… but consequences

Answer 3

Germans looked to include Denmark in the Germanic country expansion- tried to deport jews after a rejection of the death penalty by the Danes and several other extremist measures that Hitler sought to introduce.

Question 4

Demands made by the German gov- relaxed

Answer 4

negotiated- i.e. they did not have to be followed with immediacy. Furthermore a fairly relaxed policy on freedom of expression was retained by the Danes.

Question 5

agricultural production in Denmark

Answer 5

Denmark was allowed to keep a large proportion of its agricultural production to such an extent that their rations were a higher proportion to those of the germans.

Question 6

Cost of occupation on Denmark

Answer 6

The occupation only cost Denmark 15% of its gross national product

Question 7

humiliating

Answer 7

Eventhough the occupation was regarded as humiliating by the Danish community- they were willing to give in to the pressure in order to achieve the goal of sparing the people from the effects of war. - this point divided the people

Question 8

Type of defence

Answer 8

There was no need for a defence against natzification rather purely an attack against the military forces. The early efforts made after 1943 saw the political cooperation between the two sides to an end

Question 9

Ilegal press

Answer 9

Danish illegal press heightened the awareness of Danish resistance- they used the strikes in copenhagen in 1944 as a tool for raising awareness.

Question 10

Crimes by Hitler in Denmark/ crimes in general

Answer 10

to kill random civilians not associated with the resistance. Crimes dictated by Nazi slogans- not german interests.

Question 11

Two goals for the Danes

Answer 11

protect the people and be recognised as an ally were achieved.

Question 12

Vidkun Quisling

Answer 12

headed the Norwegian government during the occupation of Germany

Question 13

When did it change for Denmark

Answer 13

1943 when a series of strikes informally showed the rejection of the policy of cooperation- Danish jews all had to flee to Sweden- the assistance was a genuine manifestation of the detest of antisemitism- many fisherman coming back from Sweden were prosecuted on the account that they had helped the jews escape- this was very often not strictly true.

Question 14

Quisling coup d’état

Answer 14

Quisling declared a coup d’etat in april 1939 after talks with Hitler in Berlin and Hitler was angry that they hadn’t surrendered to the German ultimatum to surrender. His coup only lasted 6 days

Question 15

Effect of the coup on the nature of the resistance in Norway

Answer 15

Changed it to a ideological struggle rather than simply a mil one

Question 16

Terboven

Answer 16

appointed from the inner circle- a man concerned with gaining political comeback more than anything else

Question 17

Norwegian politicians happy to

Answer 17

the politicians in Norway were happy to apply a collaborationist approach provided that the democratic parties could remain with the overriding influence once in power- this was overiden though

Question 18

Terboven declared

Answer 18

He declared the gov and king in exile and banned all political influence
Allowed Quisling back in after his failures in the Coup

Question 19

NS expanded

Answer 19

Rapid expansion of NS membership in 1940 along with street rallies and increased propaganda . The NS launched arms bearing initiatives for all Norwegian men but resistance was directed against these initiatives - including against forced labour

Question 20

Underground

Answer 20

army established- backed with armaments by the British

Question 21

Until when had the collaboration been considered legitimate?

Answer 21

up until the summer of 1940- much shorter period than in french and denmark

Question 22

Establishment of a Home Front

Answer 22

containing passive resistors, full time illegals and also the saboteur or spy. Took several years for this to form

Question 23

Most of the resistance was directed at

Answer 23

Most of the resistance was also directed at the NS rather than seizing power.

Question 24

Tensions existed between

Answer 24

communists and communists

Question 25

The period has come to be viewed as mythical

Answer 25

detached from the chronological time line and viewed in an eternal form

Question 26

only one view of the occupation

Answer 26

created by the resistance community itself. All activity that took place has been placed under what can be called resistance.

Question 27

The 50th anniversary

Answer 27

entailed huge street parties and all the survivors mobilising in support of what happened. No public reconciliation took place with the Germans.

Question 28

Norwegians not divided

Answer 28

but rather split - one outside the community of the nation and the nation itself.

Question 29

Haakon VII

Answer 29

became the national symbol of resistance.

Question 30

Per Albin Hansson- said

Answer 30

Swedes were egotistical about peace

Question 31

Per Albin

Answer 31

was the leader of the national coalition that governed the Swedes during the second world war. He sought to promote the idea of peace at the expense of the idea of resistance. - this was a recurring theme in his pronouncements.

Question 32

Policy of concessions

Answer 32

the most controversial policy- led to a division between much of the country. The policy can be connected to humanitarianism and one that had an aim to alleviate suffering

Question 33

Their concessions can be explained based on two factors

Answer 33

previous evidence of Hitler’s madman status- Secondly Sweden had week defences and had to disarm in 1925

Question 34

King Gustaf in contrast to haakon

Answer 34

believed the concession was the best way to act in the face of war.

Question 35

Rejection of passage

Answer 35

Following the midsummer crisis in 1941- the germans accepted this

Question 36

1944 questionnaire

Answer 36

many people responded saying the war had actually impacted on Sweden very little- this shows the extent to which the Swedes maintaining their ‘Swedish way of life’ was actually well thought out and successful

Question 37

Swedish diplomat

Answer 37

A Swedish diplomat upon returning from the front line noted that those who had been to the front and then returned were not on the same wavelength as those who had remained in Sweden. For most the war was a mere protracted state of watching and waiting.

Question 38

Following the end of the War- no myth

Answer 38

Sweden was not able to sit back on a myth like Norway and Denmark had been able to- there was no unity or greater strength of identity gained from their experience during the war.

Question 39

Unusual case for those who supported antifascist movements

Answer 39

In Sweden there was an unusual case that those who had NOT supported the racist case were then threatened with expulsion for disloyalty.

Question 40

Stroke of genius

Answer 40

Hansson believed that the Swedes were involved in a stroke of genius following the war. He says that we have done our part- whether they actually knew or indeed were aware of the value of their part is something that we wont know

Question 41

Quelled resentment

Answer 41

due to the pm remaining the same

Question 42

Policy of the whitebooks-

Answer 42

not to give a rounded view of Swedish policy during the war but instead to disarm Norwegian criticism- triumphant for the image

Question 43

The danes on the whitebooks

Answer 43

having seen the report believed that there was no real grounds for criticism following what had been a life or death situation for the Swedes- for this reason it praised the Swedes for later trying to reconcile with the Norwegians.

Question 44

Decision of the Swedish press post war

Answer 44

only voice the thoughts of the papers in Norway and Denmark that had shown the swedes to be courageous perhaps highlights the lack of belief in their own courageous efforts. They maintained that because it kept the peace there was no need to criticise their policy on occupation.

Question 45

Bargaining of the policy

Answer 45

the swedish foreign minister bargained with the policy that they had led- saying that they had been in part saved by the allies but also that the policy of peace was in the interest of mankind.

Question 46

Undén seemed to maintain

Answer 46

even if Sweden had made more concessions she would still have come out of the war morally untarnished as it was with the benefit of the country and its peace in mind.

Question 47

Pride maintained

Answer 47

through keeping with a long history of modern neutrality

Question 48

Moral super power?

Answer 48

involving itself in humanitarian work. and concerning itself with the elderly and handicapped- in doing so it becomes increasingly clearer that Sweden had been the very antithesis of what Naziism had stood for- and in this sense was somewhat inconsistent with her values and left herself open to criticism.

Question 49

60s reports

Answer 49

merely described the events and gave little evidence or reason for why Sweden had been so passive - made up of 20 theses

Question 50

1991 Honor and conscience

Answer 50

writer spoke of a conspiracy of silence that had coined Swedish mentality during the war, condemning the decisions taken by the government. She described the half heartedness of Swedish policy and in the process shamed the wartime policy.

Question 51

aim of honor and conscience

Answer 51

unction as the devils advocate in the debate on Swedish policy and shook the idea of small-state realism.

Question 52

Name of the Norwegian resistance force

Answer 52

Milorg- gathered up to 42,000 troops

Question 53

The impact of the holocaust on Norway

Answer 53

not major although around 700 Jews were captured and taken to concentration camps to be killed

Question 54

Terror caused by Terboven

Answer 54

he had the power to make dramatic attacks and did so on several occassions- he imposed martial law in Trondheim for example

Question 55

How did Hitler try to rebrand the Heil salute in Norway?

Answer 55

He said that it was a tradition that dated back to the vikings

Question 56

Defiance in Norway

Answer 56

they would wear red clothing in the faces of the Nazis and would say things like happy Norwegian christmas instead of ‘happy christmas’

Question 57

how many Danes joined the SS

Answer 57

around 6000 Danes Joined the SS in Denmark

Question 58

reluctancy to reveal

Answer 58

In Denmark there was a reluctancy to talk about and reveal the identities of the collaborators until around 2005 - in 2005 the Danish Prime minister made an official apology to the Jews- it took until 1998 for many documents to be released on the matter