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52 Chapter 4 Forging a Front The Decisive Word From London, the Norwegian government would continue the war, but at home its military capitulation cleared the path for Adolf Hitler to resume demands for a political settlement with the appearance of legitimacy . The only way to his goal was to negotiate with the most “legitimate ” groups left in the country—party politicians, government officials, and the Oslo political milieu. These groups now entered a process that Ole Kristian Grimnes has termed “political collaboration” in the national interest. The so-called National Council Negotiations began in June, had an interlude in July and August, and ended in September.1 The June negotiations were about relentless German demands and successive Norwegian concessions. Terboven’s representative, Dr. Hans Delbr ügge, opened on 13 June by presenting the Administrative Council with a list of demands: depose the royal family and the government-in-exile, reconvene the Storting, and form a new government. He insisted on a response by Monday, 17 June. Most of the 22 Norwegian participants— the Administrative Council, political party leaders, Chief Justice Paal Berg, Berggrav—favored concessions in order to keep the national administration under Norwegian control. Berggrav was one of four who rejected the demands unconditionally. In spite of his stand, and in part because of his German fluency, the group elected Berggrav to the nonpartisan negotiating team along with Berg and Administrative Council member Ole F. Harbek. The team’s mandate was to negotiate on the condition Forging a Front · 53 that the king and government would not be deposed. When Delbrügge rejected the conditions, the team members pulled out. Most Storting representatives had not left the country for London. Those who remained included the Storting’s Presidium, which was now the appropriate political team to continue the next stage of negotiations. But the Presidium used its mandate to make a series of concessions. The critical day was Monday, 17 June, when news arrived that France had capitulated and was negotiating for peace. To the Norwegian negotiators, the news felt like “a world was collapsing and that it was a matter of saving what could be saved.”2 Sensing their despair, Delbrügge rejected the Presidium’s latest concession and made a series of proposals in the form of demands: the Presidium was to name a national council and convene a meeting to determine its jurisdiction, and the Storting was to retract the Elverum Authorization, withdraw recognition of the government-inexile , request the king to step down temporarily, and direct the national council to take over the functions of the king and the government. The Presidium accepted Delbrügge’s conditions with one proviso: King Haakon was not to be deposed. Delbrügge rejected the condition and broke off the negotiations. Delbrügge’s decision weighed heavily on Ingolf E. Christensen, chief administrator of the county of Oslo and Akershus and chair of the Administrative Council. He had no confidence in the Norwegian people’s ability to endure direct German rule. To avoid that prospect, he urged the Presidium and party leaders to take the position that King Haakon had to abdicate. Berggrav, who was also invited to the discussions, felt that the king was non-negotiable, and he pulled out of the process. Delbrügge soon pushed the Presidium and the politicians to their knees. They agreed to ask King Haakon to abdicate voluntarily; if he refused, the Presidium would initiate proceedings to depose him.3 On 29 June, the Presidium’s request reached the Norwegian government in London. Berggrav was appalled by the developments. He was ashamed at the unwillingness of the politicians to trust the people, act on principle, or accept responsibility for their decisions; not a single politician commanded his respect. As June turned to July, the public was also uneasy. During the occupation ’s first weeks, accommodation to the German invasion was surprisingly swift among some of the population. Attendance at German 54 · Invasion, Accommodation, Collaboration military band concerts was high, many women openly consorted with German soldiers, and, as invasion gave way to occupation, firms and laborers pursued lucrative contracts and high wages offered by the Wehrmacht. The public was also aware that self-appointed elites in Oslo had brought down Quisling and created the Administrative Council, but their anonymity and secrecy were disturbing. Finally, there were the rumors about Quisling lobbying in Berlin and returning to power.4 If the transition from accommodation and national collaboration to resistance had a precise...

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