Iceland, Ireland and Scandinavian Countries in WW2

[Ezboard]

Apollo
Visitor
(3/23/01 5:03:40 pm)
Reply Iceland, Ireland and Scandinavian Countries in WW2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hallo,
I need more informations about the role played bu these countries in the WW2. I know just something about Norwegian and Swedish collaborationism with Nazis but I ain't completely sure about it neither I think the sources of these informations were completely impartial.

yankeedog
Member
Posts: 13
(3/23/01 8:18:09 pm)
Reply Re: Iceland, Ireland and Scandinavian Countries in WW2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iceland spent the war under British,and,later,American occupation...

LEVE
Member
Posts: 11
(3/24/01 2:45:19 am)
Reply Re: Iceland, Ireland and Scandinavian Countries in WW2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at this site for some good information on Ireland:

indigo.ie/~kfinlay/General/vc.html

One little known fact is that President Valera of Ireland sent his condolences to the German ambassador in Dublin the day after Hitler's death was announced.

I don't think the German Govermnet received too many diplomatic condolence letters. If any one knows if others were sent/received, I would like to know of them.

Also, there were Sweedish recruits in the Waffen-SS.




yankeedog
Member
Posts: 14
(3/26/01 2:15:33 pm)
Reply Re: Iceland, Ireland and Scandinavian Countries in WW2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suppose this was DeValera's way of counteracting the rumors that he was Jewish...

h
Visitor
(7/19/01 1:00:34 am)
Reply h
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
h

Paul
Visitor
(7/19/01 1:07:10 am)
Reply Iceland
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Grandfather served in Iceland during WW2 as part of the Pioneer corps, where he was stationed in Rekyovick(?) and helped build an airstrip. There was a lot of bad feeling towards the allies and graffiti would appear such as "German soldier Good, English Soldier Bad" This was because we had walked into Iceland uninvited, to prevent the Nazi,s doing the same. US soldiers were also stationed there, but as far as I am aware did not run the show. My grandfather is 90 and still going strong, I would love to be able to find news of his old associates. If anyone has any info please mail me at [email protected] thanks.

tyskaorden
Member
Posts: 25
(7/19/01 10:30:14 am)
Reply Norway and Denmark
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Both countries was occupied by the Germans in 1940. In Norway the local nazis of Nasjonal Samling led by Vidkund Quisling did form a Goverment after a while. The Germans first didn´t want Quisling but did change thier mind. The real power however was held by the Germans led by Terboven. The majority of the Norwegian people didn´t support Quisling and there was a resistance movement who did sabotage. A Great many Norwegian served with the Allies, notably the huge Norwegian Merchant Marine. After the war Quisling was executed for treason.

The Situation in Denmark was somewhat different. The Country was occupied but in a sense not. The Danish Goverment was allowed to run the Country´s internal affairs but the Foregin affairs was in the hands of the Germans. This continued until about 1943, when the Germans grew tierd of the growing Danish resistance and took over.

Marcus Karlsson

konrad
Visitor
(7/19/01 3:29:43 pm)
Reply iceland nationalsocialism
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Icelanders differed on political issues as much as other democratic nations. Iceland's largest party, the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) was comprised of liberal and conservative elements, which had merged in 1929. Its members published two of the largest newspapers in Iceland, the Morgunblaðið and Vísir. The second in rank was the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn), which consisted of farmers and conservative nationalists. This party enjoyed the benefits of the outdated electoral system in Iceland, and once had a solid majority in the Althing, only backed up by some 30% of the votes. Both these parties found many similarities with Nazism. The Independence Party was anti-Communist to a large extent and found in the Nazi Party (NSDAP) a common ground in that matter. On the other hand, the Progressive Party had several policies in common with the NSDAP. In fact, the only significant difference was the totalitarian and repressive nature of the Nazis, which was unacceptable to its Icelandic counterpart. It was in many ways similar to the Swedish Farmers' Party, which was under the leadership of the antisemite K. G. Westman.
These two parties, especially the latter one, rallied under the slogan of Ísland fyrir Íslendinga - Iceland for Icelanders,39which does in fact have similarities to the Nazi Deutschland über alles. The main difference was probably the lack of Juden raus in Iceland, since there were no Jews to expel anyway. Also, there is nothing that can even suggest that such a policy would have been adopted in Iceland in the 1920s. From 1904-1930, expulsions from Iceland were rare and those deported had usually been unemployed for a long time or were physically or mentally sick. Even in such circumstances, the Icelandic government refrained from expelling foreigners until all other means had been exploited.40
On the opposite to the Independence and Progressive Parties were the Socialist Parties. The Labour Party (Alþýðuflokkurinn) was the political organ of the National Union of Workers (ASÍ), founded in 1916. Although having a large number of supporters in the towns it had not the relative power in the Althing, due to the electoral laws. On the other hand, the power of labour disputes was in the hands of this party's leadership. With the emerge of the Communist Party in 1930 that power became crucial, especially due to the effects of the Great Depression on Icelandic society.
The Communist "Nathan Friedmann's civil guard", under the leadership of Hendrik Ottósson and Ólafur Friðriksson, had been formed during the disturbances in 1921-1922. This growing group of radical Socialists received its instructions from Moscow and in 1930 the Comintern permitted them to establish their own Communist party. They, however, never enjoyed any substantial success in general elections, but their influence in Reykjavík was growing. In 1932 they organised strikes which led to the Gúttó-fight, when workers successfully took on Reykjavík's Police Force. According to reports and historical researches, the Communist Party could most likely have overthrown the Government if they wanted to.
In 1938 the Labour Party split into two factions, Democrats and Socialists. The latter, under the leadership of MA Héðinn Valdimarsson, joined the Communists and established the Socialist Party in 1938. By then, both Hendrik Ottósson and Ólafur Friðriksson had been expelled, since they were considered advocates of non-Stalinistic policies. The Communists were considered harmless until 1932, when the Gúttó-fight alerted supporters of democracy to the imminent danger. Soon had all political parties established their own semi-militaries, armed with clubs and sticks. Even members of the Youth Men Christian Association (YMCA) marched around Reykjavík wearing military-like uniforms.
The first Icelandic imitation of the Nazi party was the National Movement of Iceland (Þjóðernishreyfing Íslands - NMI) founded in 1933 by several nationalists, including former students in Germany. Its policy was very similar in most cases to the policy enforced by Adolf Hitler. Concerning racial matters this movement proclaimed the revival of Icelandic culture and the protection of the pure Nordic race, without mentioning Jews or other non-Aryans especially. It is notable that most members of this movement were also members of the Independence Party (IP), who did not approve of its participation in the Progressive government of Ásgeir Ásgeirsson (PM 1932-1934, President 1952-1968). Iceland had suffered deeply during the Depression and fear of Communist take-over was mounting, especially after the Gúttó-fight.
In 1934 the young radicals in the nationalists' movement formed their own party, the Nationalists' Party (Flokk Þjóðernissinna). The IP members departed and left behind a group of young Nazis, determined to follow in the footsteps of the great Führer in Germany. The tender age of its leaders made it impossible to elevate the Party into the adult level of politics and very soon this Icelandic imitation of the Hitler Jugend had disappeared.41

notendur.centrum.is/~snor...ewicel.htm





konrad
Visitor
(7/19/01 3:34:35 pm)
Reply sweden nationalsocialism
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In sweden the biggest nazi party was NSAP (nationalsocialistiska arbetarpartiet) and was run by the leader Sven Olov Lindholm. The party existed between 1933-1950. The party changed its name 1938 to SSS(Svensk Socialistisk Samling)

tovarich2
Veteran Member
Posts: 282
(7/19/01 9:31:49 pm)
Reply Iceland Report
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Konrad - thanks for the detailed history lesson.

Leve - Being at a Nazi embassy in Dublin sounds like pretty soft duty. I've often wondered how many other Nazi embassies operated up to the end of the war and what became of their diplomatic corps when the final blow was struck. Did they just go back to Germany? Where they prosecuted in any way? Did they stay in their host country? Germany embassy Bolivia - hmm...beats the Russian front!

ChadMCrompton
Visitor
(7/24/01 9:00:52 am)
Reply Bits of Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little known interesting fact is that during the Spanish Civil War, their was an international Brigade composed of Irish volunteers that fought for the Nationalist Party.

Just a little bit of information regarding Iceland. There were various German weather stations in Iceland during WWII, and some of the stations personel saw combat during and a little bit after the war. If you go to Jason Pipes site and search the archives you will find a long thread on this.

Regards,
Chad

oscarbear
Visitor
(10/24/01 1:19:52 am)
Reply sweden role WW2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sweden had already been neutral, along with its Scandinavian neighbors, during WW1. At the time, sympathy went more to the German side, unlike in Norway and Denmark. Germany had been a major trading partner for Sweden, and cultural ties between the two countries were strong.

Sweden's economy was untouched after WW1, so that the interwar period was a rather prosperous one. Sweden was not hit by the crisis as hardly as Germany was, and extremist political parties did not develop in an important way. The general sympathy for Germany decreased significantly during the interwar period.

In fact, Sweden's reaction to the 1929 depression was the coming to power of the Social Democrats, who gained the elections of 1932, and stayed in power until 1976...!

A nazi party did exist, but it never became a major actor in the country's political life. However, it is true that there were still many people who morally supported Germany. Many of those people were influent and belonged to the social upper class. Even the king, Gustav the Vth, was known as being pro-German.

It is also true that the Swedish Social Democrats had subtle common points with the Nazis, which was sadly illustrated by the eugenics policies. However, the 60 000 forcible sterilizations that took place were done on social rather than on racial grounds. They were in fact quite similar to what was carried on in Virginia, U.S.A, at the same time.

Also, Swedish art of the thirties reminds of Nazi art, and the Social Democrats indulged like the Nazis in parades, sports, hymns and torches. Singer Zarah Leander and actress Kristina Söderbaum, both Swedish, became stars in the Nazi regime. Göring's wife was Swedish. Several hundreds of Swedes did enrol in the Waffen SS, and several of them were directly involved in war crimes.

Despite all that, Sweden remained one of the few democratic nations in the troubled Europe of the time, and never actively participated in Nazism. Many Jews actually fled Nazi Germany and settled in Sweden in the 1930's.

Sweden did make a strong rearmament effort in the 1930's, unlike Denmark and Norway. It seeked military alliances with its neighbors who declined them. This does clearly indicate that Germany was considered as a potential agressor. Sweden was far too much of a pacifist nation to make any sort of alliance with an openly bellicist neighbor

Denmark and Norway were invaded by Hitler's armies in 1940 so that Sweden was trapped and circled by German armies. Moreover, Finland, in the East, allied itself with Germany against the Russians in 1941. Germans were never in Sweden, but all around it. Trying to fight them would have been a blindly heroic attitude. But the Swedes are a down to earth people, and they tried to cope with the situation the best they could.

Trade with Germany continued throughout the war, especially iron ore which was necessary to German industry, whereas the German coal was just as necessary to Swedish industry. Press censorship did occur. Moreover, Sweden had to let German military trains cross its territory to go to occupied Norway, which Norwegians never forgave. Had Sweden refused, it would have been attacked and most probably overpowered by the Germans.

The Swedish opinion had globally become very hostile to the Germans after the invasion of Denmark and Norway. Sweden did not collaborate with Germans otherwise than stated above, and quite reluctantly. However, no doubt that there were a number of people who supported Germany and were ready to take over in case Germany, as it happened unfortunately in Norway. No doubt that those people were ready to inflict to their fellow citizens the same torments that were carried on outside. There are evil people in Sweden as everywhere else.

Sweden gave financial support to Finland in their war against the Russians. Throughout and after the war, tens of thousands of refugees found shelter in Sweden : Finnish orphans, Baltic refugees, Jews escaping from occupied Denmark, saved by diplomat Wallenberg, or liberated from concentration camps.

Swedish neutrality has been sharply criticized, and not the least by its Nordic neighbors, as a coward attitude. This is understandable. But in the eyes of the Swedish people, the government succeeded in keeping the country out of the horrors inflicted upon the rest of Europe. Fighting the war in any camp would not have done any good to Sweden, nor to anybody else.







Dr Delomelanicon
Member
Posts: 16
(10/28/01 7:21:03 am)
Reply Re: sweden role WW2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oscarbear,

That is one thing that Sweden doesn't get enough credit for: its taking in of Finnish and other refugees during WWII.

Thank you for the reminder.

I'm tied up in a thread with some Russian sympathizers so I find the need to occasionally read a post with some reason behind it.

Thanks again, OB.

Dr. D

M
Visitor
(3/10/02 8:04:34 am)
Reply Finlands role in WW2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess the role is pretty much clear here, but I can`t help mentioning how lucky Finland actually was. Please remember that a small country like Finland had a war against USSR two times and once against Germany in WW2. Yet Finland wasn`t occupied and maintained the independency!