Second World War

How Norwegian war refugees changed Swedish politics

February 6, 2019 in Society & Culture

When Norwegian refugees first sought sanctuary in neighbouring Sweden, they were sent back. But in the last years of the war, Sweden opened its arms to refugees. What happened?

How the Nazis abused the history of runes

October 13, 2018 in Society & Culture

A brooch inscribed with runes was found in a field in Denmark during the Second World War and tells a story of the use and abuse of runic writing during some of the darkest moments in our history.

How Hitler decided to launch the largest bike theft in Denmark’s history

October 23, 2016 in Society & Culture

Hitler personally approved the decision to confiscate bikes in occupied Denmark during the war, revealing the internal power struggles among the Nazi occupiers.

Nazis used own laws on German-Norwegian homosexuals

October 20, 2015 in Society & Culture

Norwegian homosexual men were punished harder during the Second World War if their sexual partners were Germans.

Punished without trial for sleeping with the Germans

July 9, 2015 in Society & Culture

While Norway officially flaunted itself by bringing war criminals before court in the trials succeeding World War II, the so-called German whores were punished without trial although no crime had been committed.

The hidden companies

August 20, 2014 in Society & Culture

They are the companies you’ve never heard of, but they help grease the wheels of international trade.

Butchery law with anti-Semitic roots

November 6, 2013 in Society & Culture

The kosher method of butchery, called shechita, was fiercely debated in Norway and the rest of Europe before WWII, often with anti-Semitic undertones. Norway is one of three European countries that still forbids the practice.

Norwegian industry complied with German war efforts

April 11, 2013 in Society & Culture

Seventy-three years ago, on 9 April 1940, Nazi Germany attacked and occupied Norway. The Germans needed aluminium to win the war. But rather than resist their German occupiers, Norwegian industry leaders chose to cooperate instead.

A name on a war monument

May 17, 2012 in Society & Culture

Einar Engedahl is one of 34 names on a memorial stone for a school’s alumni who fell in battle during WWII. His story has now been revealed through collaboration among pupils, a teacher and a researcher.