Summary Denmark
occupied
and
Denmark
liberated
in Danish
caused
history to unliker that
more
It is
be the
history. an end in May 1945 will mean to this interest historians, authors, and participants, although the among ranks of this latter group are dwindling. Nor shall we see the demise of the controversies concerning the politically correct line that arose as early as during the Occupation. Issues related to those five years constitute a component of such vital importance to our national identity that future genfrom which they obdistance erations, too, irrespective of the historical serve because, like events, will perceive of these conñicts as existential much about our are as of understanding history, they any interpretation of the present and our expectations of the future as they are about events than
written 50th
any
anniversary
other
period
Liberation
of Denmarks
in the past.
By Virtue of the political and general social positions of strength, the Movement had fought for and won in previous decades, the attitudes and actions of the Movement during the Occupation had a major inñuence on the political stance vis-á-Vis the occupying power as well as on the stance of the general public. To be sure, the line of co-operation taken by the Social Democratic with the Germans Party has been the foHans Kirchhoff in which in recent heated debate of much cal point years, In a has been the main protagonist among widely conceived historians. -“ Our with the is identical struggle of the struggle for survival synthesis, nation On the survival strategy of the Social Democratic Party during the Social Democratic the Occupation”,Kirchhoffexposes and discusses dilemmas and traumatic labour movement's experience involved in with the Germans, characterising the Social Democratic “collaborating” as the parties most willing to Party party among all the large democratic and anti-fascism reach an accommodation despite the movemenfs of of the The the 1930s. policy objective during ideological preparedness unions the trade of and the concomitant accommodation disciplining in“the welfare of the entire nation,”the preservation of democratic was LaA broken Movement. and the organisations of the Labour stitutions bour Movement would, as it was put by the deputy secretary general of Labour
-
-
Eiler Jensen, be tantain Denmark, of Trade Unions Federation these to a broken objectives as the benchmark, mount democracy. Taking the
321
the strategy was
a
chosen
by
the Social
However, there
success.
Democratic
was
a
Party and the trade unions high price to be paid: Pronounced
weakening of positions in the ongoing class-struggle during the early from the resistance moveyears of the Occupation, complete alienation in the conñrmed anti-Communism ment, deeply rooted of the movefrom the fundamental clash with Nazism that had to ment, and isolation be the raison d”etre of a social and democratic party. As Hans Kirchhoffwrites in his introduction, in Social Democratic his-
toriography the time of the Occupation was “a time between brackets, preit was “a never-to-beferably to be forgotten,”while for the Communists surpassed political and national triumph.”This asymmetry of historiography is the theme of an article by Niels Finn Christiansen and Morten and Communists Thing called, “Social Democrats looking at themselves in the mirror,”and when they do so against the backdrop of the Occupation, what they see is each other. The unbridgeable gulf between the two during the intet-war years was deepened during the Occupation, for one thing because the Danish Communist party could not, because of the Hitler-Stalin the acid test Pact, pass during the early years of occupation, and because later the party became the moving force of the resistance movement that defied the sort of responsible behaviour represented by the Social criticism
Democratic
effort
levelled
for national
Communists
is
survival.
Whereas
the line of
factor Deagainst historiography and polemic, the interpretations of the Communist Party have to some extent been governed by tactics and cyclical trends in the nuances of Communist perceptions of the Social Democratic Party as the ruling force in the Labour Movement. in Social
constant
a
mocratic
In his article
cupied by
the
“DAF
and the trade
Germans,”
the
union
German
comparative analysis of Nazi strategy corporated or occupied countries. To new
German
mammoth
source
material.
organisation
in the countries
movement
historian
vis-á-vis
Fritz
the trade
Labour
in the Third
and
with
Front
oc-
makes
unions
the article
extent
some
The German
Petrick
a
of the in-
is based
(DAF),
on
was
few variations
a
it Reich, organising the labour market in those countries that were to form part of the New Europe except Denmark. Here, like in other respects, we became a special case, in which the trade union to some extent movement, voluntarily, to some extent compulsorily, did indeed collaborate with the DAF. The crucial difference was, however, became
the model
a
for
-
German as
322
acceptance
of the continued in the labour
independent players
existence market.
of Danish
Petrick
trade
also takes
unions a
more
of
Secretary General
faceted view of Lauritz Hansen, the often censured of Trade Unions in Denmark. the Federation
during the Occupation was completely different Norway,s situation from Denmarks. Norway took up an armed struggle against being occuwent into exile in Great Britain, and the country pied. The Government of with the Quisling. In his article enriched international concept politics in the Resistance Movement,” the Norwegian Movement “The Labour allowed how a few trade union leaders Tore Pryser describes historian marto be captured by the Nazis, reorganisation of the labour themselves ket, and how in Norway, too, the trade union with the Germans, course of collaboration of 1941 when
autumn
union
the trade
sequently, the general trend was in the Resistance. Many trade work,
a
few
executed
were
for the Labour leaders
went
Sub-
to involve
itself
Movement
of
convicted
were
a
upon
until the
underground.
in concentration
murdered
or
that lasted
situation
movement
union
embarked
movement a
illegal But
camps.
the Lain Norway it could not be avoided that the conflict between even the tactics of the bour Party and the Communists struggle concerning to tear apart the Resistance that they threatened s0 acrimonious became Movement.
resistance
The traditional the Resistance her article
Movement
“The
underground Warring argues
tance,”Anette and
home
as
and emotional dition
for the
a
central terms
pursuit
consequently also research into from its history. In marginalised women
concept, has
and
den. The function
of
in the resistance
component of resistance
in the Resis-
including the role of women struggle. In material conwhich was an absolute reservoir,
in favour
they formed
of the home
a
in all its forms. traditional
In the accounts
role.
so
far
activities
have been given their women Sabotage visible, taking place as they did in the urban spaces, in an external If future research is to be front line, while the home front was invisible. the workbe to it is that a applied adequate, necessary gender perspective ers, struggle for freedom. The well over 125,000 Danish trips to Germany for work during the War factor on which insufficient is another light has been shed until recently. and the Workers Movement In his article “The Labour Going to GerTherkel into this researchers Stræde, of the one traffic, pioneering many,” unions trade the and workers Danish facing points out the dilemmas sent to be labour that Danish demanded Germany. when the Germans a “defensive into withdrew unions trade the war the years, early During minimumprogramme”aimed at ensuring the survival of the organisa-
made, were
323
tions
the last
as
It
treatment.
tion of
protective shield for the workers against German misimperative to increase employment to prevent the crea-
was
sub-proletariat, which might become radicalised in a Commudirection. By means of carrot-and-stick methods some unemployment could be exported into German jobs, thus simultaneously accommodating the Germans and reducing the rate of unemployment. In his article Stræde shows how, quite concretely, the trade unions and the unemployment insurance funds handled the problems involved, such as the many instances of breach of contract and emigration back to Dennist
a
Nazi
or
mark.
The Danish
who
olTabroad at the time of the Occupacompletely different labour force. In his article “The Danes had to start at rock-bottom,” Christian Tortzen presents an analysis of the exile organisation established in Great Britain during by Danish seamen the War. In keeping with Danish the seamen abroad created a traditions, strong and viable trade union, organising three quarters of the ordinary seamen, sailing out of Great Britain. The Amalgamated Danish Seamenk Unions was remarkable in that it was a uniñed organisation for seamen who back in Denmark had been organised by several different unions of divergent political persuasions. Obviously this was not a simple matter, but the DSDS, as the organisation was called, was kept together by the dynamic organiser, Børge Møller, who also made a good name for him-
tion,
were
seamen,
cut
were
a
self in the London-based
Danish
position
trivial
on
innumerable
Council.
The
DSDS
had to take
a
up
and
important issues, dictated by the war, but also by its “ungovernable” membership, and the continued political rift between Social Democrats and Communists. A few months after the Liberation, DSDS discontinued its activity, and the old unions took the members
over
trade
be
union
and
organisers
the of
problems. The dream a
permanent
unified
entertained
organisation
the exile
by
turned
out
to
impossible. The
scene.
last
four
articles
of the
yearbook
“Production
In his article
and
are
labour
tion:
dedicated market
to
the
domestic
during the OccupaShipbuilding Indu-
Normality and Abnormality in the Engine and stries,”Jan Pedersen looks at the way in which labour market institutions operated under the abnormal conditions created by the Occupation. the was a “low Generally, period intensity”one in terms of industrial acfor this being the fact that a tion, one reason statutory provision to main-
tain labour
market
peace
including shipyards, 324
has
had been enacted.
always
set
The iron and metal the standard in the Danish
industry, labour
Jan Pedersen, therefore, examines labour market and productiv& Burmeister in this sector, using the most advanced company, Wain as a case in point. Normality was largely maintained, and long-term and raw material caused by investment supshifts in productivity were efshort-term the or obstruction. However, than
market.
ity trends
by sabotage were occasionally considerable, particularly if comsuccessful sabopared to the rather modest effort required to carry out a tage operation. in the litAmong sabotage groups, BOPA has achieved a special status Commudominated as by It is perceived as the most formidable, erature. and its actions in assurance of relatively a as degree high nists, featuring of acfew casualties, a high level of professionalism and a high number memBOPA the of detailed made a Morten tions. In 1991-92, study Thing for his ñndings in the article, “Portrait of a Sabobership, and he accounts tage Group. The BOPA Survey 1992.” On the basis of a detailed questionof the naire, covering sociological ground as well as the attitudes BOPA-memlives of the of all out he aspects nearly maps respondents, shades to be added to exbers. The findings of this survey allow far more the inside organisation itself and in the isting favourite perceptions both general public. For one thing, there were relatively few Communists, although the leadership was linked to the underground leadership of the were born in CoMost of the members Communist Party in Denmark. 21 of 19 and between were age, and in years youngsters penhagen, they and workers between skilled class terms university stuthey were divided workdents. According to Morten Thing, this “clash of cultures” between was what gave BOPA its special dynamism. ers and students called for,”colwas “Great inventiveness memoirs With the childhood far away from the ”big,history and into the lected by Ove Nielsen we move outside everyday life of a girl in a working-class family in a hutment Næstved, a provincial town on Sealand. Here we are literally brought very close to the skin of a family consisting of two adults and five children ñat. Both mother and father work for a living, and the chilin a two-room after their smaller else they looked as they could, or dren, too, as soon incomes modest and supplies, siblings. What with rationing, insufficient and mouths people had to be creative and inventive to put food in the clothes on the bodies of a family. With a wealth of detail these memoirs depict a working-class family life, which was shared by tens of thousands of families in Denmark during those years. of Esbjerg, one of the hotthis yearbook with an account We conclude
plies rather
fects
of sabotage
325
spots of the Occupation years.
As Søren
us, the town
by a high
was
characterised
Federspiel and Claus Jensen tell level of activity, both in terms of
business earnings and of local resistance actions. The town was teeming with German soldiers and foreign workers. Traditionally Communists had a strong position and dominated the local Resistance, also in connection with the crucial The article
resistance From
reveals
role
played by the
the local conflict
town
between
in the Revolt
of
the collaboration
August 1943. policy and
struggle.
1995 The
Society for the Study of Working Class History will change publishing policy. The separate publications,viz. the periodical Arbejderhistorie (Labour History) and Arbog for arbejderbevægelsens historie (The Yearbook) will be published as one under the title of Arbejderhistorie. Tidskrift for politik, kultur og historie (Labour Hisfor Politics, Culture, and History), which will be tory. Periodical published four times a year. It is our intention to unify all the virtues of the old publications in the new one: Scholarly quality, debate, useñil information, reviews and being a good read all of this in an up-to-date and inviting layout. The editors of this year,s yearbook invite readers and contributors to work with us in the new periodical with the same kind of enthusiasm that we have enjoyed for so many years. its
-
The Editors
326
Forfatterfortegnelse Niels
Christiansen, for
Center
Finn, mag.
art., lektor
ved Københavns
Njalsgade 80,
Arbejderkulturstudier,
2300
Universitet, S, tlf.
København
35 328345.
Federspiel, Søren,
cand.
phil., Nybrogade 26, 4.th., ved Institut
lektor
33 135728. Ekstern
for Historie,
1203 København
Københavns
K. tlf.
Universi-
tet.
Jensen, havn
Claus, cand.
mag.
i
historie, Østerbrogade 92, 3. tv.,
2100 Køben-
Ø.
Kirchhojf Hans, dr. phil., lektor ved Københavns Historie, Njalsgade 102, 2300 København S, tlf. Nielsen,
Universitet,
Ove, museumspædagog, Lolland-Falsters
umsgade 1, 4930 Maribo,
Stiftmuseum,
Jan,
Petrick, Fritz, dr. phil. habil., Dostojewskistrasse 10 B, D-l749l
Tyskland.
tlf. 03834
for
Muse-
tlf. 53 881101.
for Historie, ved Institut ph.d. studerende 2300 København S, tlf. 35 328811. Universitet, Njalsgade 102,
Petersen,
Institut
35 328811.
/ 812831. Indtil
1992 docent
i historie
Københavns
Greifswald, i
ved universitetet
Greifswald. i samtidshistorie
Fryser; Tore, professor Postboks
1004 Skurva
,
2601 Lillehammer,
ved
Høgskolen
i Lillehammer,
Norge.
Stræde, T herkel, cand. mag., lektorvikar, Institut for historie og samfundsPostbox 260, 4000 Roskilde, tlf. 46 forhold, Roskilde Universitetscenter, 757711.
Thing, Morten,
dr.
studier, Københavns 328343.
phil., forskningsstipendiat, Center Universitet, Njalsgade 80, 2300
for
Arbejderkultur-
København
S, tlf. 35
327
Tortzen, Christian, docent, dr.phil., Institut for historie og samĂąindsteori, Universitetscenter, Postbox 260, 4000 Roskilde, tlf. 46 757711.
Roskilde
Wârring, Anette, ph.d., adjunkt, Institut for historie og samfßndsteori, Universitetscenter, Postbox 260, 4000 Roskilde, tlf. 46 757711.
Roskilde
328