THE SCANDINAVIAN AMERICAN
"I CAN NOT ACCEDE:"
When King Haakon Took His Stand
OSLO —— Evidence forming thm
'basis of a. first report issued by!
the Parliament-appointed commis-i
sion named to probe the actions of
Norwegian officials proceeding and :
following the German invasion was
released to the public on Wednes
day. May 28th.
Popular interest in this 3-
VOlume. 854-page appendix has
centered on King Haakon's already
historic statement threatening ab
dication should the government
find it necessary to accede to
German demands —— here publish
ed‘verbatim for the first time. At
noon on May 10. 1940. the day af
ter the landing of the first Nazi
forces. the German Minister. Dr.
Brauer. had tried unsuccessfully to
force the. King's acceptance of a
Norwegian government to be head
ed by Vidkun Quisling. Meeting
later with his cabinet in the Nor
wegian village of Nybergsund.
King Haakon placed the matter in
the hands of his ministers with the
following statement:
"I am powerfully impressed by
the fact that responsibility for the
misfortunes which will descend up
on our land and people if this de
mand is refused will rest upon my
self. And it is a heavy responsibil
ity—so heavy that I dread to bear
it. The decision will be up to the
government. but my position is
clear. I can not accede to the Ger
man demands. It would conflict
with everything which I have re
garded as my duty as Norway's
king since I came to this country
almost 35 years ago. I have essay
ed to create a tradition in the new
Norwegian kingdom. a tradition in
accordance with Norwegian spirit
and Norwegian thought. I have
tried to form a constitutional mon
archy in loyalty to the people
whose call I received in 1905.
“I can not deviate from that‘
course. It is not my desire thatl
this be a deciding factor for thel
government; I do not wish this to1
influence nor to be appealed to as
the basis for the government's res
ignation. But I have carefully
searched my own self and have
deliberated my position. and I can
not appoint Quisling~ who I knowi
has neither the confidence of our"
people as a whole nor their par-l
liamentary representatives — as:
prime minister. Therefore. should!
the government decide to complyl
with the German demands —~~ and'
I fully understand the considera-~
tions which advise such action
considering the impending danger,
so many young Norwegians will be
forced to lose their lives in battlel
——in such event, I have no other'
recourse than to abdieate.
“I have taken this stand after
severe inward struggle and self
trial. It was my desire to reportI
this in order that you be clear rel
garding my position; but I pray:
that it might not be misunderstood’
as an attempt on my part to,
place the government under pres
sure. I do not wish that this m3,"|
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stand. which I have not been able
to conceal, shall be docisivo for
the government. It must take its
stand regardless of my personal
views. But it is my opnion that it
is correct of me to give the Gov
ernment a clear indication of how
I regard the matter."
Although little of the material
included in the 9 divisions of the;
now-published appendix is regard-E
ed as either new or sensationalf
’its importance as the basis for the“
icommission's earlier report has
lmade it the center of public inter-1
iest. The compilation of sifted facts ‘
inns in areas hitherto sketchily
Icovered in the earlier report and
Istamps this first publication of the
{commission's findings as a worthy
[docunn-ntary study.
l Section 1, covering Nazi pre
iinvasion plans. is based primarily
,on private and official documents
ifound in Geri‘nany following the
ivrar and confirms that Quisling‘s
friends. German Admiral Raeder
{and Alfred Rosenberg, supported
fian attack on Norway. Though Hit
iler's earlier plans included no at~
tack on Norway. pressure from
these two top Nazi loaders plus
a personal interview with Quisling
,in Berlin Dec. 1. 1939 changed the
,picture. and on the night of April
13‘ 1940 (6 days before the inva
sion» the first Norway-bound ships
'left German ports on “Operation
I Weserubung.“
i In Section 7. which deals with"
‘the day of the invasion and the
’period immediately following, the'
,commission has established that:
Esome. of the confusion regarding}
lmobilization of troops stemmedl
lfrom the fact that it was decided'
fto mobilize no more than 4;
‘brigades or 24.000 men. The com-§
lmission does not doubt. howe\'er.;
that members of the government
‘themselves were under the im
‘pression that general mobilization
iwas under way. The eXplanationi
{is probably that they were not‘
‘well enough acquainted with mobil- l1
ization procedure, concludes the;
commission.
In a lengthy and well-written
study of great historical value.
Section 9 deals with the Norwegian
parliament's succumbing to Nazi
demands for the establishment of
an interim governing body. Prof.
Sverre Steen. author of this par
ticular section, has succeeded in
sifting the facts from a mass of
controversial material, and has
given ample support to the com
mission's strong criticism of the
Norwegian parliament and its.
leaders contained in that body‘s
earlier report. .
A new member to the Swedish
Academy. which awards the No
bel Literary Prizes. has been ap
pointed. He is Professor Elias
Wessén. who succeeds the late
Bishop _Tor Andrae. Professor
\Vessen, who was born in 1839. is
one of Sweden's leading phiiol
ogists. being an expert in both
the runic and the Icelandic lan
guages. He is Professor of Sean
dinavian Languages at the Uni
versity of Stockholm.
A. G. NUS" I: 80!!
BLACKSMITHING
WELDING
STOKERS
O
419 N. Main Ellenshurg
Depicts Scandinavia In Color Film
Olle (‘omstodh Director of Photography. A.S.C., l'('('l‘ntl_\' loft on tho
"Drottningholm" for the Scandinavian countrirs, “here- lu' uill slwml
the summer making motion picture-s in color.
Norway Building 1946 Tops 1939
OSLO—More buildings werel
constructed in the two norm-Nor-l
wegian provmces of Nord-Troms‘
and Finnmark in 1946 than were;
built in all of Norway during 1939. “
reports Norwegian Minister of
Supply and Reconstruction Oscar
Torp. .
During a recent 0510 address.
Minister Tarp further revealed
that in this huge Nazi-leveled area
half again as large as Denmark.
houses with a total of 845,500
square meters (9 million sq ft.) of
floor space had been completed by
the year's enrl. In describing the
transport tliffienlties‘ the speakcr
noted that material shipped from
eastern tn far-northern Norway
must follow a route equal to the
distance between 0510 and south
ern Italy.
Over a third of the construction
in those districts to date has been
concerned with the ecomonic re
habilitation of the area including
building; d () .1 k s, warehouses,
stoi‘cs‘ and facilities for fishing
and fish pron-axing. “Though it is
true." he stated, “that must of the
housing is provisional. it is never
tin-less wvll to note that most of
the hunscs are just as good as
those in which the populace of
thcsc districts lived befure."
Regarding building; in other soc
tions of the country, it was further
noted that a total of 10.000 apart
ments were (Ulnpk't‘d during 1946. t
with an additional 1243.000 apart
ments under construction by year‘s'
end. Though building to datt- rep-;
resents a long step toward com!
plete housing recovery, concluded
Minister anp, solution of the
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housing problem will not have
been achieved until Nurway has
met the deficit of 100,000 apart
ments created by the war.
Motor Saws Speed
Norway logging
OSLO—Introduction of 50 new
motor-driven falling saws, recent
ly purchased in Canada by the
Norwegian Ministry of Social Af
fairs, is speeding work in 'Nor—
way‘s forests, Social Affairs Mm
ister Sven Oftodal and Ministcr 02.
Agriculture Kristian Fjvld rerout
ly visited a logging" opcratim a!
Bcrgmoen near Randszjord when
fuur of the new saws were in use.
"Anyone who has used a saw
like this," confirmed logger Hans
Peterson. “will never go bark In
the old buck saw. I can now turn
out twice as much work as he
foro and it‘s a good deal cash-r on
the back'." Loggers questiom-d m
other sections where tho saws are
now in use were unanimous in
their praise of the nvw implo
monts, although several suggested
that a more powerful motor might
fit them still better for use m
Norwegian forests.
Modernization of logging (‘qlltp
ment and methods is being (are
fully studied and tested in Nur
way at the present time in viow «if
increased timber output for recon
structinn and export.
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9
Norway Social
Security Tops
Pre-war High
OSLO»»Post-war additions anti
extensions have more than re
stored Norway's Social Security
System to pie-war standards. at -
cording to statistics recently 011'.-
lined by Hans Capelen of the Non
wegian SOt‘lHl Affairs Departmeni.
To restore the allowance stand
ards established before the war.
cash payments have been increase-l
in proportion to the decline in pui
chasing power of the kroner tllll<
mg the oi-i-npation. The Social Sr
t'urity budget has. therefore. ii.-
t-i'eased from 225.000.000 Kr. year
ly to approximately 360.000 K1.
with 30 million kroner of the lat
ter amount ear-marked tor chili:-
ren‘s allowances and payments to
seamen.
‘ Adoption 01' general maint~ -
inance payments to wage—earners
iduring periods of unemyloymeii’.
, or when the bread—winner is com
:fined to a hospital, is also regard
‘ ed as a broad advance. Payments
.have been generally increased b\'
200 Kr. with additional sums avai
able for house-keepers and houSv -
i help in those instances where the
irecipient is divorced or widowed.
, and there are children in the fan:-
1ily. Under Illness Insurance prin
ivisions, the payment period has
lbeen extended to a maximum of
' two years in the case of tuber-Ct:-
ilOSiS. with no differentiation be—
; tween the paying member and sui ~
; ordinates. Both wife and children
receive exactly the same consider
ation as the member himself.
Particular attention has been
paid to increasing widows' per.-
sinns which have now been raised
from 400 Kr. to 1200 Kr. yearly
with allowances for each child up
to 2700 Kr. yearly. In cases when
both parents are dead. the first
child now receives an amount
equivalent to the widow's pension
Illness insurance coverage fl!‘
seamen in foreign traffic is in
many respects now superior t\-
that enjoyed by persons resident
in Norway. Seamen receive Ire».-
medical care. medicine. and hos
pitalization abroad as well as m:-
employment compensation payable
in certain foreign ports. Payments
to seamen rendered uneniployablw
during the war provide compensa
tmn even in those cases where dis
.ihilily can not be lraccd to any
definite accident. Strain suffered
during continuous sailing in wa‘.~
traffic is sufficent grounds for
compensation payment. Special
payments are provided for those
wounded in action as well as for
survxvors of those seamen killed in
'A'llull or who died of natural
(' {uses A pension plan for all 394-
nicn is now under consu‘leration
For their studxos of the flol 1
of the Hawaiian Islands. Profes
sors Robert E. Fries and Carl
Skottsberg recently received the
J. A. Wahlberg‘ Memnrml Gold
Medal of the Swedish Academy M."
Science. -