Norway - Nazis
What we do to ourselves is far worse than what others can do to us
Take the case of Norway, for example. They have two Nobel Laureates in Literature. One, a huge fan of Hitler, a man who gave his Nobel prize to Joseph Goebbels as a gift, the other a writer who fled the Nazis and tried to save European Jews.
Norway is honoring the Nazi. (Aside: have you ever noticed how many peace-type folks just adore fascists? I’m thinking of the Quakers, but the nation of Norway has similar pretentions.)
Norway recently assumed the chairmanship of an international task force on Holocaust education. Yet the Norwegian government also recently launched a year-long celebration of the life and work of a supporter of the Nazis. The object of this adoration is Knut Hamsun (1859-1952), author of such acclaimed novels as Hunger, Pan and Growth of the Soil, which won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920. Among the latter book’s most ardent fans was Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, who had it translated and published in a special edition for German soldiers during World War II.
The feeling was mutual. Hamsun welcomed the Nazi occupation of Norway, met personally with both Goebbels and Adolf Hitler, and in 1943 sent his Nobel Prize to Goebbels as a gift.
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NONE OF THAT has stopped the government of Norway from undertaking “Hamsun 2009,” commemorating Hamsun’s 150th birthday with a year of public events, exhibits, commemorative coins, a new 27-volume collection of his writings and, on August 4 (Hamsun’s birthday), the opening of a $20-million, six-story Hamsun Center in his home town of Hamaroy, complete with the unveiling of a huge bronze statue of the honoree.
Queen Sonja personally kicked off the festivities, joining members of the Hamsun family for a viewing of the National Library’s exhibit of Hamsun’s handwritten manuscripts. The exhibit included an article Hamsun wrote hailing Hitler as “a warrior for mankind, and a prophet of the gospel of justice for all nations.” Afterward, the queen would say only, “I think we’ll have to keep two thoughts in our head at the same time.”
Evidently she meant thoughts about both Hamsun the writer, on the one hand, and Hamsun the Nazi supporter, on the other. A third thought might be in order - a thought about the fact that the royal family was forced to flee Norway when the Nazis, so admired by Hamsun, occupied their country.
THE CONTRAST between the experience of the royal family in the
1940s and the behavior of the Norwegian royalty today is not the only irony in this story. Consider the fact that the only other Norwegian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in the past 100 years was Sigrid Undset, a fervent anti-Nazi - in other words, Hamsun’s moral opposite.Undset (1882-1949) won the Nobel Prize in 1928 for her novels about life in medieval Scandinavia, including the trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter. Joseph Goebbels had no interest in Undset’s works; the accolades of her countrymen, and her readers around the world, had to suffice. Undset fled Norway in 1940 to escape the Nazis. Taking up residence in New York City, she soon became cochair of the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe (better known as the Bergson Group), which pressed the Roosevelt administration to rescue Jews from the Nazis.
While the Nazis, cheered on by Hamsun, were deporting more than 700 Norwegian Jews to Auschwitz in the autumn of 1942, Undset was a leading activist in the Bergson Group’s campaign of rallies, newspaper ads and Washington lobbying for US action to save the Jews. Yet there is no word from Oslo about any plans by the Norwegian government to hold any year-long celebration of her life and work, nor to erect a statue of her, nor even to sponsor an exhibit acknowledging her literary and moral achievements.
ALL OF WHICH would be bad enough, but to make matters worse, Norway recently assumed the chairmanship of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education Remembrance and Research, a group of 26 European countries organized in Stockholm in 1998 to promote awareness of the Nazi genocide. In an essay published last week, Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, challenged Norway’s chairmanship of the task force. “This country is unfit to hold such a position when in the same year it has held major memorial activities for the Nazi-admirer Hamsun,” Gerstenfeld wrote.
Europe is very, very sick.
- Aggie
Bloodthirsty Liberal said,
June 30, 2009 @ 6:36 pm
Hey Aggie,
It ain’t just Norway. Their neighbors are no picnic either.
Maybe it’s the lack of sunlight. They are more to be pitied.
Carol said,
June 30, 2009 @ 6:37 pm
Politico-economically speaking, the peace types ARE fascists. Deep calleth unto deep. Or, like must marry like or there will be no happiness. Or lots of other common sense. They got married a long time ago.
I’d tell all European Jews to get the hell out but do they go to Israel and constant danger, or the US where the danger may just be on simmer?
Bloodthirsty Liberal said,
June 30, 2009 @ 7:10 pm
Europe is deeply sick. That’s the truth. There are pockets that are ok, probably parts of Italy, but the bulk of Europe is an ethical sewer.
- Aggie
Yerushalimey said,
July 1, 2009 @ 7:19 am
Carol,
I guess you think Israel is a dangerous place to live because you continually read about terrorist attacks and threats. But Israelis don’t generally spend their time cowering. Yes, for years we have had security guards at the entrances of many stores, restaurants, etc. - but this makes us feel safer. Daily I see little children in Jerusalem walking to and from school unaccompanied; whereas I remember always seeing parents in America standing, waiting with their children for the school bus. I don’t think Americans are better parents than Israelis; I think Americans fear that danger is everywhere. Israeli-Americans who visit the US are often shocked at how unsafe the streets there now seem. Guns are more visible in Israel than in most parts of the US, but in Israel we never read about drive-by shootings or people “going postal” and we seldom hear about armed hold-ups. Yes, there are child molesters and other threats to public safety in Israel, but I suspect you’d feel safer living in Jerusalem than in much smaller cities and towns in the US - except for the dreadful drivers!
Bloodthirsty Liberal said,
July 1, 2009 @ 8:43 am
Yerushalimey,
Do you mind if I take it a step further? On top of all that, Israel is an educated, friendly country with great food and awesome beaches. It would take more than a lifetime to absorb the history that is available there. And, getting back to the educated part, the population seems to be educated top to bottom. I’ve had wonderful conversations with plumbers, drivers, waiters, etc. at the level of any conversation anywhere, including US college towns - or better. It is a wonderful, welcoming place. I didn’t find the suburban thing where people can’t think past their own curb. Whether you are in relatively remote areas or in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or Haifa, the conversation happens at a high level. All of the country is close by car or public transportation, and the scenery is extremely varied. Haifa is as hilly as San Francisco, just awesome. Outside of Jerusalem is desert, but blooming desert in some parts. The Dead Sea and Masada are places that everyone should visit at least once in their lives - especially Masada. The Golan in the cold months reminds me of Iceland in the summer - weird rocky beautiful landscape.
It is also multi-racial and the different groups make the food and culture more fun. If there wasn’t anti-Semitism in this world, I probably couldn’t afford to visit there. It is at least as entertaining as Rome, I would say more so. And because of Jew hatred, it is affordable.
And I haven’t even touched on the religious experience, because it is almost overwhelming.
- Aggie
Martino said,
July 1, 2009 @ 9:39 am
Yerushalimey:
It is precisely because guns are more visible and plentiful (per capita) in Israel that the parents feel safer there. Here, we have been disarmed while the criminal element is heavily armed.
Peace, brother.