2_Q9_ScanMag_78_July_2015_Text_JOE _Scan Magazine 1 07/07/2015 15:46 Page 49
Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Culture in Norway
The museum exhibits five watercolour paintings painted by Adolf Hitler. The main image of the farm house (bottom middle) had a double back, a hidden compartment, where four other images painted by Hitler were hidden.
vading Norway. “Eriksen was from Lofoten, and it is therefore particularly special to have his cap,” Hakvaag says. The Lofoten raid – the first victory against Germany It is no coincidence that the museum is located in Lofoten in northern Norway. The place played an important role during the war at the centre of Operation Claymore, often referred to as the Lofoten raid. On 4 March 1941, the allied forces, with the United Kingdom in the lead, carried out the raid on the Lofoten islands. It was soon considered the first total victory against Germany during the war, and it was a massive morale boost for British and Norwegian troops. It did however, lead to the enormous fortification of Svolvær in Lofoten, and not least did it open German eyes to the north. As a direct consequence of the
raid, the Gestapo established their regional headquarters in Svolvær, alongside a considerable increase in German soldiers in the area. Hitler behind the scenes – an artist and vegetarian Adolf Hitler is probably one of history’s most talked about men, and there is no lack of biographies. Most people are struck by his brutality, while others are also fascinated by the man behind the public appearance. It is a well-known fact that he was an eager artist, and it has been argued that the whole war might have been avoided if he had been admitted into the Vienna Academy of Art. With this in mind, Hakvaag bought a painting by Hitler for P200. What neither he nor the vendor knew was that behind the paintings there were four drawings of dwarfs from Snow White,
all signed by Hitler. “He was an artist by nature, which one could also see in his behaviour as a leader. He did not follow the rules of the game and did things that no rational leader would do: for example, sending his troops to Russia without winter clothes,” Hakvaag says. While obviously portraying Hitler as the leader of the war, the museum is also trying to show the person behind the scenes, who was a vegetarian and a non-smoker. “He was a hard-line psychopath, who may not have struck people as the dangerous person he really was at first. This is all part of our desire to make people think for themselves and gain a new insight into history.”
For more information, please visit: www.lofotenkrigmus.no
Issue 78 | July 2015 | 49