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To the Reader What qualifies the jokes in this book as folklore? The fact, mentioned in the first preface, that they have circulated in numerous international variants, both before World War II and since, suggests that they contain the same infectious appeal we associate with folk songs, legends, and tales. To demonstrate this facet of the humor, the book contains a few joke cognates, i.e., jokes that are identical except for slight modifications which make it seem as though a particular witticism originated in the country where it circulated . The book's examples show how the same jokes could ridicule Nazi oppression in Norway, then move on to mock subjugation in Soviet and Romanian Communist regimes (see page 123, page 235, note 14, and page 249, note 7). So far, though, we have said little about the relationship of Norway's anti-Nazi jokes to those that simultaneously spread through the other occupied countries. A few specific examples of these can tell us much about how occupation humor "worked" in general and why it qualifies as folklore. All of the countries invaded by Hitler's forces could provide jokes similar to the ones presented in this book. The humor traveled in many ways: by word of mouth, via refugees and occupying soldiers; in print, via leaflets dropped by Allied planes, underground newspapers, and related prohibited publications; and over the BBC and other "illegal" radio broadcasts. Danish examples (all from the archives of Copenhagen's Frihedsmuseet Resistance Museum) have been chosen for the present discussion because of the additional light they can shed upon another issue the book briefly raises, namely the equal importance of that which is not joked about. The similarities and differences in Danish and Norwegian occupation humor actually invite a far more detailed analysis than space permits here. Despite the countries' remarkable social, political, and linguistic similarities, the kings of each countrywho were brothers-chose seemingly opposite ways of responding to the 9 April 1940 ultimatum that they collaborate with the Nazi regime. While Norway's Haakon VII protested by exiling himself 3 4 FOLKLORE FIGHTS THE NAZIS along with the Norwegian government to London, tImmg and topography prompted Denmark's Christian X to initially adopt a policy of negotiation in an effort to avoid the casualties of open resistance. The similarities in background and differences in response have fascinating implications for the occupation humor that developed in each country. Though currently engaged in studying these, I will confine my remarks here to just a few examples that highlight resemblances in the two countries' occupation humor, before concluding with a striking and highly significant difference between them. From the vast array ofcognate jokes that made the rounds in Denmark and Norway, we might select the example of the witticism quoted on pages 161-62 which in Norway invokes the professed success of Oslo's Viking ships in invading England to deride Hitler's repeated failures to invade England during the fall of 1940. When told in Denmark, this joke featured instead of the Gokstad and Oseberg ships in Oslo, the Ladby ship, excavated in 1934 from a Viking burial mound in the Danish province of Funen; otherwise the jokes are identical: Engang i Begyndelsen af Besrettelsen kom et Par tyske Officerer for at se Ladbyskibet. Opsynsmanden viste dem rundt og forklarede, hvad de r,bnskede at se og hr,bre. Da de var frerdige, sagde den ene af dem, at han rerlig talt ikke syntes, at der var noget srerligt ved saadan et Skib, hvortil Opsynsmanden svarede: "Det kan jeg ikke forstaa, for med den Slags Skibe har vi da to Gange erobret England." (Early in the occupation a couple of German officers came to see the Ladby ship. The man in charge showed them around, explaining everything they wanted to see and hear. When they were finished, one of them said that he honestly didn't think there was anything special about such a ship. To this the man in charge answered, "That's hard to understand since it was with such a ship we twice managed to conquer England. ") Some joke cognates reflect lifestyle differences between the two countries. Denmark is a land of bicycles so it is not surprising that the daring role oftaunting the Nazis with smart-alect replies, which in the Norwegian humor is played by Bergen's tjuagutter (street urchins, see pages 33 and 104), in the Danish humor consistently falls to cheeky bicycle messengers: En liUe tysk Marine Soldat...

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