SCHOOL FRONT
HOW NORWEGIAN CHILDREN FIGHT NAZIS
TEACHER'S MOVING STORY. DETERMINATION AND COURAGE. “We soon found out that if Nazism was allowed to penetrate to our people it would rob us of all that made life worth living,” a Norwegian teacher stated in a recent 8.8. C. broadcast, regarding the children’s front in Norway. “And we realised how much we had to lose. This united the whole Norwegian people. “The school front is a part of this front” he said. “It not only concerns Norway’s cause, but it is a part of the Allied fight for our common rights. . . . And how uncomfortable this children’s front has been to the Nazis may be understood since the Germans have now established prison camps for children. The Gestapo made many attempts at frightening the children to keep quiet, but without any result. I have seen, with my own eyes, boys of 10 years sneaking into German headquarters in order to find out if there were any Norwegians giving the Germans information. The children feel that such people will one day stand to account, and they have found it safest to obtain accurate lists. “After America came into the war, I one day heard singing and marching in the road nearby. I felt like sinking into the earth when I saw all the pupils of my school marching along with an American flag, while they sang prohibited Norwegian national songs. When I met them again at school, I told them as strongly as I could that they must never again expose us all to such danger. They made no reply. But on the following day they had placed a Norwegian flag on my desk. And I knew what it meant. It is impossible to try and keep the children outside. They demand to take part. Especially those who regard it as their duty to remove German propaganda posters. “At our school we received a picture of Quisling, which was to be hung in the school hall. The children tore it to pieces. A new picture was sent us, accompanied by threats. We then hung it up in an empty locked-up class room. The pupils also managed to get in there, but as they were afraid that one of the teachers might be arrested, they dared not tear it down. They merely covered it with a picture from the Bible which showed Cain in flight after having killed his brother. If we were forced to listen to Nazi speeches, it happened that the pupils arrived with their ears full of cotton wool. We had received strict orders that any anti-Nazi propaganda must in no way be shewn in the schools. But it was impossible to prevent the children from constantly expressing their national attitude. Essays were generally finished off with ‘Long Live the King.’ .... “It is rare to see children who belong to the Nazi party. Even the children of Nazi, parents take a completely national attitude. And quite often they fight to the best of their ability against their own parents. One little girl—the daughter of the best-known Nazi in our town—once said to her father: ‘You, too, Daddy, are a traitor.’ Where possible the Germans do not interfere directly with the work of the schools. They prefer to use Quisling as a puppet. But we know that the German Nazis are always at the back pulling the strings. This struggle between the Nazis and the schools has .been very hard. Today about ten per cent of the Norwegian teachers are in concentration camps. “On February 6 this year we were informed that all children between the ages of 10 and 18 were to join the Quisling storm troopers, and that the schools were now to embark upon their Nazi task. The children arrived; at school with clenched fists, prepared to take up the fight. ‘We will never agree to this,’ they said. ‘What shall we do?’ We replied that as long as Quisling was not able to make use of us, ho would not have people to carry out his task.
“Each teacher then wrote his own personal letter of protest. We all knew that these letters would, remove all personal and economic security for ourselves and our families. One of my colleagues wrote me a letter. It read: ‘I have sent in my protest. I had to do so for the sake of my conscience, come what may.’ This is not only the attitude of one single teacher, but the attitude of the entire teaching profession. I shall never forget those last days at home. I had been told that the Gestapo was looking for me. All the streets had been barred, and one car after another full of prisoners roared through the streets. On the corners stood people white with anger. When the captured teachers were taken away, the children did what we others could not do. They arrived on
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 October 1942, Page 4
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819SCHOOL FRONT Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 October 1942, Page 4
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