Work Package C: Everyday Life and Minorities in the North: Comparison and Pericentrism

The sub-projects in this WP will adopt a comparative perspective on the German occupation and its effects on Northern Norway, Northwest Russia and Northern Finland, with regard to everyday life and the position of minorities. While addressing the special features of the social history of the Northern Front, as well as the population and minority policy in this area, the work package will provide a pericentric view which will add to the huge and intensely debated international scholarship on this field.

Participants: Ruth Sindt, Jukka Nyyssönen, Marianne Neerland Solheim, Stian Bones, Gaute Lund Rønnebu,

C1: "The Experience of Enforced Cohabitation"

Dr. Ruth Sindt (Universitetsbiblioteket i Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel)

Dette delprosjektet skal redegjøre for hvordan det store antallet tyske tjenestemenn i Norge påvirket kjønnsrelasjoner, og hvordan asymmetri mellom okkupasjonsmakten og den lokale befolkningen påvirket sosiale relasjoner i nord. Den formidable tyske tilstedeværelsen i Norge gjør det fruktbart å studere okkupasjonen fra et kjønnsperspektiv. For å etablere en "tykk beskrivelse" av den sosiale historien om norske kvinner og tyske soldater, er det nødvendig å inkludere kilder fra etterkrigsperioden. Dette vil inkludere rettsdokumenter fra oppgjøret etter krigen og fra andre rettssaker, for eksempel i forbindelse med skilsmisser. Disse kildene vil utfylle dokumentene knyttet til Lebensborn-programmet, som vil utgjøre selve utgangspunktet for det empiriske arbeidet. Studien vil bli finansiert av prosjektet, for å resultere i to fagfellevurderte artikler.

C2: "Nazi-Germany and the minorities in the North"

Dr. Jukka Nyyssönen (UiT)

In recent years, research has shed new light on National Socialist racial policies in Norway and its consequences for the Jewish and Romani minorities.However, almost no research exists on the history of the northern minorities, the Saami and the Kvens. This sub-projects sets out to explore Nazi Germany’s intentions and policies toward these minority groups. By so doing, the project will add valuable insight into how Nazi Germany assessed and treated ethnic groups that were neither considered “Nordic” nor assigned a prominent place at the lower end of the Nazi racial hierarchy. The sub-project also aims to analyze the impact of the occupation on the everyday life of the Saami and the Kvens. It has been claimed that the occupation in fact relieved these groups of the harsh process of national assimilation (“Norwegianisation”), which had been pursued by Norwegian authorities up until 1940. The study will examine this prevailing view critically. The sub-project will be financed by the project, to result in two peer-reviewed articles. The work will be carried out by Dr. Jukka Nyyssönen, presently employed at UiT.

Eksternt finansierte delprosjekter

C3: "Humanitarian relief and the war in Norway"

C4: Soviet POWs in Norway

Marianne Neerland Solheim,

will focus on the history of the around 100,000 Soviet POWs who were used as slave labour in Norway during the occupation

C5: The silence of the kvens and Finlands special relation to Germany

Førsteamanuensis Stian Bones, finansiert av eksterne midler

Delprosjektet vil resultere i en fagfellevurdert artikkel som diskuterer om den vedvarende mistanken, assimilasjonen og "stillheten" som ble forbundet med kvenene i etterkrigstiden var et resultat av Finlands spesielle forhold til Tyskland under Den andre verdenskrig.