BTW, been to Norway. Some think like you, but most are honorable people who are embarrassed and ashamed of how quickly the Nazis overran Norway during WWII, and they are not racists. Do you know your Norwegian traffic tunnels are already pre-bored to receive dynamite charges? And your bridges are just waiting for explosives to be attached when necessary? “Never again” is a by-word not only for Jews, but Norwegians as well.
Originally Posted by I B Hankering
The reason why there were mines [don't think they're still there] on the bridges and tunnels was to defend the country against any invasion by the communists, the Soviet Union.
The Russians attacked Finland in 1939 but the Finns put up an amazing defense and the Russians were held back. However the Norwegians were alarmed that if the Finns collapsed the Russians would continue onto Norway. The Germans finally came into Norway because it was being used as a base by the British, largely unsanctioned by the Norwegian government.
When the Germans came in there was a conflict within Norway about it. The socialists, communists and monarchy were opposed, but the right wing welcomed it and collaborated. The functioning government during the war was composed of Norwegians.
After the war when the Norwegians saw the Russians enslave all the countries they "liberated" from the Germans and their allies the Norwegians became even more alarmed and became very active in NATO. The US 10th Mountain Division was there, and there was a US Marine division assigned to defend when I was there in the 1980s.
Unfortunately there are so many communists and far left socialists in Norway that NATO lost a lot of secrets to Norwegians spying for Russia at the Norwegian Foreign Service Institute. The US and NATO could never trust Norwegians to keep secrets from the Russians, and my own socialst family members were denied clearances for that reason.
I don't think anyone in Norway regards the occupation as bad, at least my relatives said it wasn't bad, and they were all socialists.
I however am not a socialist. I'm on the right wing.