comments expresses the writer’s opinions.
Today is 84 years since the invasion of Norway.
A fascist, expansionist, totalitarian dictatorship launched an unprovoked attack on two less democratic countries that posed no threat whatsoever to Nazi Germany.
An obvious parallel to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Read also: We should remember our common history
“Never again April 9”
Although more than 80 years have passed and it is nicer to celebrate May 8, I think it is even more important to remember April 9. The attack on Norway, the defeat and the occupation are part of our national history. But as the witnesses of the time are dying out, it is less and less part of our collective memory.
Jens Stoltenberg has said in several interviews that his father Thorvald has time and again described the experience of the war so figuratively that he almost felt he had experienced it himself.
In the series “Makta” on NRK, the character Reiulf Steen explains to the young people on Utøya that his generation probably looks at this with NATO differently because of the experience of the war.
It is clear that the massive trauma of a five-year occupation under Nazi Germany marks people for the rest of their lives. It affects society for the rest of their lives.
“Never again April 9” is today a phrase used in party speeches, almost as a philosophical consideration. If we could talk to Trygve Bratteli, he would probably have a very direct and concrete meaning in those words.
Jørn Sund-Henriksen
Jørn Sund-Henriksen was an election observer in Kyiv during the Orange Revolution in 2004 and has served in the Coast Guard Command. He has engaged in independent intelligence (OSINT) for over 10 years in several conflicts and is a leader in the Norwegian-Ukrainian Friends Association. His contributions are based on open-source research, and are thus an accumulation and analysis of currently available information, with the dangers of wrong sources it entails.
The peace gains that went too far
Last week the government presented the Long-Term Plan for the Armed Forces and Prime Minister Støre admitted that after the Cold War the “peace gains” had gone too far. The peace gains were an expression of what we as a society could get back for collective disarmament and a reduced defense budget, due to the end of the Cold War and thus a stable peace. Expanded welfare states, increased civilian investment and tax breaks are among the things the “peace gains” have been used for.
Read also: A solid sign that we have woken up from the slumber in the deep peace
The downsizing of the Norwegian defense was part of a European trend for 20 years after the end of the Cold War. But particularly accelerated after the turn of the millennium.
This happened to be at the same time that working life and politics were emptied of people who had experienced the Second World War.
Read also: Nine days of advance warning of a German attack: The mistakes Norway made (+)
If Bratteli was at the helm in 2004
If Bratteli had been Prime Minister in 2004, would the Armed Forces have been reduced as much as they were?
A hypothetical thought exercise, but I might not believe it.
The Second World War is something my generation has heard about from grandparents and read about in books. But for those who lived then, the war must have come as an enormous shock.
Despite war in Europe 25 years earlier, Norway’s policy of neutrality had worked. When Norway was invaded on 9 April 1940, we had lived in peace for 126 years. Since 1814.
They had been caught up in a “deep peace” mindset. They also wanted to extract the “peace gains” after the First World War.
During the industrialization of Norway, there were enough social problems to deal with. But the state’s investments in welfare receive little return if the country is invaded and ceases to exist.
They realized too late that the war could reach Norway and that they had to strengthen the Armed Forces.
Had the war come half a year later, we might have had a greater opportunity to avoid occupation.
Read also: Former defense chief: Putin and Trump have made Støre realize the seriousness
War is incomprehensibly extreme
It is a challenge to get society at large to invest in security and defence.
Even with a full-scale industrial war in Europe raging for over two years, the thought that we ourselves could end up at war is almost incomprehensible.
It will be such an extreme situation that it is difficult to imagine that it could become reality.
But it can. Just ask Johan Nygaardsvold, Halvdan Koht and Carl Joachim Hambro.
With two films now being made about the sinking of the Blücher, there is an ongoing debate about how many times we need to tell the stories of World War II. There are many relevant and good points in that debate about roles for female actors, and that it stifles funding for other types of films.
But regardless of that debate, it is especially important right now to tell the stories of World War II as closely and faithfully as possible.
The parallels between what is happening in Europe now and the run-up to the Second World War are so many that it makes me lose sleep at night.
Birger Eriksen: Saved the King and the government
In the chaotic and surprising attack that night, individuals across the country had to make inhumanly difficult decisions with very limited information.
Colonel Birger Eriksen was one of them. He couldn’t be sure who came sailing with swallowed lanterns. He still chose to open fire. He chose to fight. A brave choice that should be remembered in our nation as long as it exists.
His choice saved the government and the King.
The lowering of Blücher made it possible for Norway to continue the match. We held out longer than any other country invaded by Nazi Germany, apart from the Soviet Union. We inflicted their first military defeat on Nazi Germany in Narvik (where many Ukrainians fought in the Polish army on our side) and although it ended in defeat, the government made it to London and continued the fight by, among other things, managing our massive merchant fleet.
Read also: The forgotten day in Norwegian history
Important to understand
Now that we are losing our contemporary witnesses to these events, we are even more dependent on film, books and other artistic expressions to remember and understand how extremely defining an invasion and occupation is.
That is what is crucially important for us to understand.
Only by understanding the consequences of a fascist superpower wiping out our nation can we sufficiently mobilize society to fight back a threat should it arise.
And only through understanding these consequences can we achieve an empathy and understanding with what Ukraine is going through now, to mobilize the financial and military aid they need to win their freedom.
Here you can read more by Jørn Sund-Henriksen
Realized the danger too late
How big would the Nansen program have been if Oscar Torp had been prime minister?
An interesting thought exercise.
Not to disparage Jonas Gahr Støre. None of us under 80 have a personal experience of the war. That is why it is extra important to remember 9 April.
To really think through and understand what April 9th was.
That time they realized the danger too late.
We have realized the danger. Let’s hope we’ve done it in time.
Never again April 9th.