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4. Pure-Blooded Vikings and Peasants
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4 Pure-Blooded Vikings and Peasants Norwegians in the Racial Ideology of the ss T E R J E E M B E R L A N D This chapter examines perceptions of Norwegians within the racial ideology oftheSchutzstaffel(ss),asshapedbythe“Nordicidea”ofHansFriedrichKarl Günther and Richard Walther Darré. The collective image of the “Norwegian tribe” as purebred, primeval farmers and fierce, bellicose Vikings, it argues, influenced ss policies vis-à-vis Norwegians, both before and during the German occupation of Norway. During the war this racial mythology prompted the establishment of the Lebensborn institutions in Norway, the recruitment of Norwegians into the Waffen-ss, and plans for Norwegian participation in the Germanization of the occupied East. TheexistingliteratureontherecruitmentofNorwegianvolunteersintothe Waffen-ss rarelyposedthebasicquestionastowhyHeinrichHimmlerandthe ss leadership decided to recruit them in the first place. Most historians have assumedthatitwasmerelyamatterofsecuringenoughmilitarymanpowerfor the anti-Bolshevik crusade. Indeed, the need for manpower is one of the main explanations typically given for the decision to expand the Waffen-ss—the combat troops of the ss—into a pan-Germanic army. According to this line of argumentation, enlisting foreign volunteers was a way of overcoming the Pure-Blooded Vikings and Peasants 109 restrictionsonrecruitmentimposedonthess bytheWehrmacht.Byincluding ethnicGermans(Volksdeutsche)andraciallykindredGermanicsintheirranks, the Waffen-ss could tap into a human resource that was out of reach of the Wehrmacht.1However,thereareseveralreasonswhythisparticularhypothesis does not provide a sufficient explanation in the case of Norway. When launching a recruitment campaign in Norway, ss officials expected only a small contingent of volunteers.2 What they were seeking was a select group of racially and politically superior young men who would automatically qualify for General ss (Allgemeine-ss) membership and would serve as ideological standard-bearers upon returning home. This select group was to become what the ss called the Staatsschutzkorps (corps for the protection of the state) in the new, Nazified, Norway, modeled according to the principles of the ss.3 That is how Head of the ss and German Police Heinrich Himmler putitinaconversationwiththeOslobishopEivindBerggravimmediatelyafter swearinginthefirstNorwegianvolunteerstoDivisionWikinginJanuary1941: “TaketheregimentNordlandasanexample.Doyoubelievethatweneedthese men as soldiers? We can do without them! But we mustn’t block these men from freely pursuing their desires. I can assure you that they will return as free and committed supporters of our system.”4 Althoughtheneedformilitarymanpowerdidindeedincreaseoverthecourse ofthewar,thess hadindicatedthattherecruitmenteffortinNorwaywasnever primarilymotivatedbymilitaryexpedience.Infact,Norwegianswerenoteven expectedtocontributesignificantlytothecombatoperationsoftheWaffen-ss. Even assuming the most modest of expectations as to the number of potential Norwegian ss volunteers, it soon became evident that the recruitment drive in Norway was a failure. After a temporary boost following the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the numbers soon went down. In spite of renewedefforts in 1942, including the reorganization and centralization of the recruitment apparatus and improved conditions and terms for volunteers, the momentumhadbeenlost.AftervisitingNorwayinApril1942theleaderofthe ss MainOffice,GottlobBerger,complainedthat“thess ideaisdead”inNorway. Yet Berger did not intend to abandon the project: the ss idea “must now be reawakened,” he demanded.5 Consequently, the ss continued its recruitment drive throughout the war, obviously regarding it to be of vital importance. In anyevent,theendresultwasmeagerindeed.Whereasthess managedtorecruit closetothirtythousandDutchandtenthousandFlemishvolunteers,nomore [3.141.35.60] Project MUSE (2024-04-19 12:54 GMT) 110 T E R J E E M B E R L A N D than five thousand Norwegians joined the ranks—the lowest number for any of the occupied countries.6 This disappointing result was in spite of the fact thattherecruitmenteffortinNorwaywasjustasintensiveasitwasinFlanders and the Netherlands. This observation prompts the question as to why the ss leadership did not eventually give up. This chapter contends that the answer has to do with the racial ideas of the ss, the place Norwegians occupied within the ss worldview, and the connection between those ideas and ss policies toward Norwegians, both before and during the war. The Nordic Idea Evidence shows that Norwegians held the position at the pinnacle of racial superiorityinss racialideology,supersedingtheGermansthemselves.According tomanualsusedintheideologicaleducation(WeltanschaulicheErziehung)ofthe ss, the ratio of pure Nordic blood in the German population was somewhere between 50 and 60 percent.7 In Norway and Sweden this percentage was supposedlymuchhigher ,inexcessof70or80percent.8Theseestimatescamefrom the race researcher Hans F. K. Günther, as did many of the basic racial ideas of the ss. In fact, Günther’s writings served as one of the main sources of inspirationfortheracialthoughtofthess .Ina1935readinglistofessentialideological literature required of the ss man, Günther’s Der nordische Gedanke unter den Deutschen (The Nordic idea among the Germans) was listed as number four, surpassed only by Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Alfred Rosenberg’s Der Mythos des 20. Jahrhunderts, and the Nazi Party program.9 Günther idealized Norwegians...