Scandinavian American. [volume], September 01, 1945, Page 3, Image 3

About Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
THE SCANDINAVIAN AMERICAN
News from Norway
Issued by the Royal Norwegian Information
Service, Washington, D. C.
Flood of New Students Swamps
Norway's Universifies
On September 1, Oslo University opened its doors to the
largest throng of new and returning students in Norway’s
history. For the first time in over two years the classical
grey stone buildings surrounding University Square resound
ed with familiar voices discussing courses, text books, pro
fessors, and the thousand other things which concern stu
dents on the first day of a new college year. Never before
had such a significant body of learning-starved young men
and women gathered on University registration day. Here,
for the first time since the invasion of Norway, were gather-
ed the students who for five years
had fought the Nazi wherever
found. and had given Reichskom
missar Terboven good reason to
label the University a hot-bed of
revolt.
Closed by Nazi decree in No
vember, 1943, Oslo University
stood cold and silent while stu
dents and teachers were scattered
to the four winds. Over 1,000 were
deported to concentration camps
in Germany, many slipped past the
Gestapo and crossed into Sweden
while others stayed in Norway to
disappear into the anonymous hin
terland of the underground. Now
they were returning from the far
corners of the earth, many newly
discharged from Norway's armed
forces and others just relieved by
merchant marine replacements.
They. together with the other
thousands whose educational plans
had been blasted by the war and
for whom a University education
had been long 'delayed, were now
putting aside the weapons of war
for the tools of peace.
ONE FIGHTER TO ANOTHER
University Rector Didrik A. Seip
greeted the new and returning stu
dents not only as the President
of their University. but as one
who for over four years had taken
the worst the Nazi had to offer
and had lived to see Oslo Uni
versity reopen in a free Norway.
Arrested by the Germans in 1941.
he like hundreds of his students
had survived the bleak years in a
German concentration camp.
II t It
Bread From White Flour
Again For Sale
September 3, 1945. was a his
toric date for Norway's children.;
for on that day bread, buns, and
cakes made of white flour could
be purchased on an ordinary bread
ration card. Long lines of jubilant
housewives waited in lines outside
Oslo‘s bakeries while bakers work-1
ed at full blast to satisfy all cus-‘
tomers. Children who tasted the
almost forgotten “delicacy" for the
first time in their lives lost no
time in appropriately labeling the
new wonder “peace bread." ‘
Only a few days before, Oslo
housewives were able. for the first
time in many years, to turn the
handle of their kitchen ranges and
watch the familiar blue flame light
up beneath the coffee pot. For
many of them the disheartening
struggle with raw. half-dried fire
wood was over. Gas had returned
to Oslo. There was more good news
when two ships arrived in Norway
from distant lands, one bearing
800 tons of oranges and the other
loaded with 700 tons of raw to
bacco.
I it s ‘
King Haakon On
Inspection Tour
On August 21 King Haakon'
boarded the Norwegian destroyerI
"Stord" for a ten-day inspection
tour of southern and central Nor
way. As he and his party moved
out from the pier a large and en
thusiastic crowd wished him God
speed.
This peaceful mission. to be
carried out on safe. mine-free wat-,
ers. was a new task for the1
"Stord." One of Norway's most;
famous fighting ships. she was.
built during this war and was;
largely instrumental in the sink-l
in; of the German battleship:
“Scharnhorst” during the well-re
membered North Atlantic battle of
1943.
Reconstruction At Narvik
From all parts of Norway come
reports describing a rising tempo
in industrial activities. Narvik re
ports that several NorWegian firms
have already set to work rebuild
ing the iron ore docks and ship
ping facilities in that port. The
Jernbetong Corporation of Trond
heim is already building new ore
crushing machinery, the first unit
of which was completed by the end
of July. Boyer and Ellefsen and
the Selmer Company of Oslo have
contracted for the reconstruction
of workshops. buildings, and fa
cilities at Narvik.
Ill :3 )3
Early Harvest
‘ Adverse weather conditions in
‘dicate that Norway's harvest this
‘year will be lighter than usual. In
tense summer temperatures. which
soared to the 100 mark in several
districts. account for one of the
;driest growing seasons since 1901.
Due to the unusual heat wave,
grain crops are ripening many
weeks earlier than usual, and it isi
feared that the barley crop will be
of an inferior quality. I
The grain harvest is already un
der way in many districts, with
rye and barley already harvested
and wheat and oats nearly ripe for
cutting. Despite recent showers the‘
unusually light rainfall has dried3
up large areas of pasture land and
heavy rains will be needed to save
potato and root crops.
The Danes Are
Great Travelers
So small a country as Denmark
would go stale if its people did
not get out. But to escape from it
to larger and more varied coun
tries is a rule of its being. Over
to Sweden or Norway. down to
Germany. to Italy, out to Asia——
the Danes keep on the move. and
this is no longer the exclusive;
privilege of the well-off, The
workers of Denmark. no less than
the salaried people and the em
ployers. crave the stimulus and
joy of travel. It is this mobility
that makes them seem so frivol
ous when contrasted with the
more immobile Norwegians or the
more stately Swedes . . .
I don‘t know. I have no statist
ics on my person about the num
ber of Danes who go abroad in
normal times. It is only my guess
that they are a much-traveled
people. and certainly those who
stay at home are aVld to hear and
read and know about 'the world . ..
Few books sell so well in Den
mark as books of adventurous
traVel. The enormous vogue of
Kipling depended. to some extent.
on this appetite for a wildness out
and beyond. an outre-mer. a rav
ishing strangeness . . . The magic
flute for :- Dane tells of far lands
and glancing leaves and birds of
paradise.
But it is not just bookish cur
iosity. One evening in Copenhaga
an we met a very polite and agree- i
Five Norwegian
Newspapermen
Visit Northwest
5 NEW YORK. September .5--'
Five Norwegian journalists. who
worked underground in their
homeland during the enemy occu
pation, have arrived here for a
seven-week tour of the United
‘States as guests of the United
States Government. The trip was,
originally arranged some months
ago by Overseas Branch of OWI.
The pgrpose of their visit is to
catch up on a story they missed
while working for liberation-—
what happened in the United
States during the war years. 1
The visitors, whose itineraryl
will take them to places within
the United States where they will
find the story they seek, are Olav
Brunvand of the leading Norwe
gian labor newspaper BERGENS
ARVEIDERBLAD: M. C. Kirke
boe, an editor of the Norwegian
Christian Press Agency serving
eighty newspapers; Miss Jorun
Johnsen of Norway's largest
newspaper AFTENPOSTEN; 0s
kar Hasselknippe of the new Nor
wegian newspaper VERDENS
GANG; and Per Thomsen of the
newspaper STAVANGER AF
TENBLAD.
The journalists will stay in New
York City for six days visiting
such places as Columbia Presby
terian Medical Center, Radio City.
I the Metropolitan Museum and new
Idlewild Airport. From there they‘
will go to Detroit, center of the
nation‘s automobile industry, tour
ing factories and viewing at first
hand reconversion from war pro
duction to manufacture of civilian
goods. After three days in and
lable man at dinner who taught
music as a profession, We lost
‘sight of him for a while but ran
into him at a concert and were
rhappy to be invited to have tea
Wlth him . . . _
‘ “And where have you been 7" .
“In Italy.” he said. beaming“
“and Sicily. and back through Dal
matia and Venice." ‘
We had not left Hellerup, 1
“Good Lord," I said. “you have‘
_an easy time, Did you go alone or{
with friends 1’"
“I worked hard every minute."|}
he replied. “I took a batch ofi
working people." i
“For fun?" l
“Yes and no." he said. “I hap—
pen to be- good at languages. four
or five of them, and I was asked
to conduct a party of thirty. I
hadn't an instant's rest except on:
one short sea journey, but I en-r
joyed every second of it. I was}
courier, doctor. father. I .arrang-i
ed for the hotels, the boats. the‘r
trains. the buses. I didn't lose a‘
soul on the whole trip. and I new;
er liked people so much as thesei
It was glorious." ‘
Here was this rather reticent?
man whom I had supposed to be“
one of those bachelors who come
to dinner at a moment‘s notice1
and can be counted on to see a‘
lady home. It had never occurred:
to me that he éould be just as po-‘
lite. agreeable and helpful with}
‘the wives and sistersot‘ trade un—t
‘ionists. Our afternoon was spent:
in hearing about this thrilling \‘0y- i
age. for which the workers paid'
a reasonable co-operativo price}
and had a glimpse of Florence:
Rome. Naples. Venice. and the:
rest. the Petti, the Sistine Chapel.§
the Villa Medici. St. Peters. 'I‘ivoli. :
What most delighted our friends
was the stonemason who examin-i
ed Roman antiquities with the eye
of a craftsman. At every turn his;
own spirit was refreshed by thef
good sense, the seriousness. and;
especially the novel approach of!
‘men and women who were willing
lto put up with any small mean-3
venience tor the sake of a vision,
for which their schools had long
prepared them. He came back cag
er to go again and yet again.
From “I Chose Denmark.“ by‘
Francis Hackett. copyright 1940
by Doubleday. Doran & Company.‘l
Inc.
near Detroit they will proceed to
Chicago. to see the city‘s printing
plants and the famous stovkyartls.
After a three-day stay in Chi
cago the viwitors will spend twu
days in Minneapolis. and will meet
many Americans of Norwegian
descent. They will stay two days
in Fargo, North Dakota, in the
region settled by many Scandina
vians. This will be followed by a
two-day visit to Yellowstone Na
tional Park in Wyoming.
From Yellowstone the visitors
will go to Seattle for a five-day
stay, arriving Sept. 27th. Then
they will journey down the West
Coast to San Francisco where they
will visit the Kaiser shipyards and
talk with Henry Kaiser. After
two days in San Francisco they
will spend a day in Los Angeles
and Hollywood.
The rest of the trip will take
the journalists on a two-day visit
to Wichita. Kansas. large war pro
duction city which is reconverting
to peacetime production. especially
the manufacture of small private
planes. They will fly over the
Grand Canyon in Colorado and
then ‘on to New Orelans. They are
scheduled for a visit to Knoxville.
Tennessee. and an extensive tour
of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Later they will stop in Washing
ton, meet President Truman. mem—
bers of Congress and other na
tional figures, and view the work
ings of government at first hand.
The journalists will spend the
final week of their trip visiting
Wilmington. Delaware. Baltimore.
COMPLIMENTS OF
FORKNER'S '
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SEATTLE
OF ALL KlNDS
We Do Printing In All The
‘ Scandinavian Languages
Largest and best equipped
trade newspaper ptant in
the Northwest
v
Consolidated Press
PRINTING COMPANY
(5 Blocks North of Pike)
2228 First Ave" Seattle (1)
EL. 5211- 5212
3
Prominent Passengers
U. S.-Sweden;
STOCKHOLM. Sept. 5 (By
wireless). rThe Wangai‘atta, one
of the Transatlantic Line's now
ost vessels. left Gothenburg Sep
tember 4 for New York carrying
passengers, including Lt. Colonel
Arvid Eriksson. recently appoint
ed military attache at the Swedish
Legation in Washington. In the
dark days at the beginning of the
war, Colonel Eriksson was popu
larly known as "the radio major."
on account of his remarkable work
of public morale building. Aboard
the Sparreholm. which sailed for
the United 'States at the end of
August. are Tor E. Brostrom and
Eric Christiansson. directors of
the Swedish American Line.
Captain Jim Miller, who is to
head the Stockholm office of the
American Export Lines, said in an
interview appearing in the Stock
holm press after his arrival in
Sweden September 3. that his
company would probably take
over the air route via Reykjavik,
Iceland, to Sweden, now being
flown by the ATC. towards the
end of the year. .
Ah! Those were the days. When
you could kiss a girl and taste
nothing but girl!
~-—Jacksonville Guardsman.
Philadelphia. Boston, and Hart
ford. Before returning to Norway
they will probably spend several
days in New York City.