Persecution, Collaboration, Resistance
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Münsteraner Schriften zur zeitgenössischen Musik 5 Ina Rupprecht (ed.) Persecution, Collaboration, Resistance Music in the ›Reichskommissariat Norwegen‹ (1940–45) Münsteraner Schrift en zur zeitgenössischen Musik Edited by Michael Custodis Volume 5 Ina Rupprecht (ed.) Persecution, Collaboration, Resistance Music in the ‘Reichskommissariat Norwegen’ (1940–45) Waxmann 2020 Münster x New York The publication was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft , the Grieg Research Centre and the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster as well as the Open Access Publication Fund of the University of Münster. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Th e Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografi e; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de Münsteraner Schrift en zur zeitgenössischen Musik, Volume 5 Print-ISBN 978-3-8309-4130-9 E-Book-ISBN 978-3-8309-9130-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31244/9783830991304 CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Waxmann Verlag GmbH, 2020 Steinfurter Straße 555, 48159 Münster www.waxmann.com [email protected] Cover design: Pleßmann Design, Ascheberg Cover pictures: © Hjemmefrontarkivet, HA HHI DK DECA_0001_44, saddle of sources regarding the Norwegian resistance; Riksarkivet, Oslo, RA/RAFA-3309/U 39A/ 4/4-7, img 197, Atlantic Presse- bilderdienst 12. February 1942: Th e newly appointed Norwegian NS prime minister Vidkun Quisling (on the right) and Reichskomissar Josef Terboven (on the left ) walking along the front of an honorary company of the Wehrmacht during their state visit in Berlin 1942; Grinimuseum, without signature, drawing of the prisoners’ orchestra in Grini; Hjemmefrontmuseum, 782.42 NS Boks (Nasjonal Sam- ling/Hird (eds.), Det Nye Norges Sangbok, in commission Centralforlaget 1943), title of the song book published by Nasjonal Samling with a stylised clef with the partyfl ag of Nasjonal Samling Typesetting: Stoddart Satz- und Layoutservice, Münster Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................11 Andreas Bußmann Music Censorship in the Reichskommissariat Norwegen .......................................................17 Manfred Heidler ‘Music in Uniform’. Th e German Apparatus of Repression and its Acoustic Symbolism .....................................................................................31 Ina Rupprecht Art versus Leisure. German Troop Entertainment in Occupied Norway ..............................57 Michael Custodis Solace, Compulsion, Resistance Music in Prison and Concentration Camps in Norway 1940–45 ...........................................69 Arvid O. Vollsnes ‘Speak low’. Th e Norwegian Society of Composers’ 25th Anniversary in 1942 – Some Aspects on their Music Competition ...............................................................................93 Arnulf Christian Mattes Nordic, Female, Composer. On Anne-Marie Ørbeck’s War-Time Compositions ............................................................................................................115 Michael Custodis Remote Resistance. Norwegian Musicians in Swedish Exile .................................................135 Sjur Haga Bringeland Sources Revisited. Th e Case of Geirr Tveitt ............................................................................153 Index of Names ............................................................................................................................175 Music Register ..............................................................................................................................181 Preface When dealing with the complex matters of music and politics, including questions of persecution, propaganda, collaboration and resistance, one should not forget that we are still dealing with people, with individual fates and collective opinions, nor forget about music itself amidst all the political issues. A second lesson to learn is to be pre- cise about facts and the sources one is generating interpretation from. How much do we know, how far can our assumptions reach, and what do we have to leave open, maybe to fi nd an answer some other day? Norway and Germany can look back on centuries of friendship, interaction and the exchange of goods, thoughts and mutual admiration. But also, in the fi eld of music, it took only fi ve years from 1940 to 1945, for relations to change fundamentally. Besides the political, military, social and personal consequences the megalomania of Adolf Hit- ler’s regime and Vidkun Quisling’s followers also contaminated language and memo- ry. In consequence, it took decades, that thanks to the credibility of the former resist- ance fi ghter and Norwegian citizen Willy Brandt during his years as mayor of Berlin, foreign minister and Bundeskanzler trust in Western Germany began to grow again in the 1960s. From the rivaling Eastern German point of view, where the ties towards Norway were based on mutual experiences as anti-fascist states and members of the Baltic rim, the German-Norwegian connection instead never had to witness discon- tinuity, while the continuity of a German dictatorship reaching out for an ideological capture of Norwegian culture has not been questioned as it seems. Conferences are an established instrument for academic exchange. At the same time, it was not as normal as it might seem to gather in Münster on 26 to 27 March 2019 for the conference Persecution – Collaboration – Resistance. Music in the ‘Reichs- kommissariat Norwegen’ (1940–45), to present new insights, compare examples from diff erent national and political contexts, and especially to discuss with each other. Strikingly, it was the fi rst conference ever to feature the Norwegian music life during the years of occupation by Hitler-Germany, to take into account the thematic breadth of persecution, collaboration and resistance, and to bring scholars from Norway, Ger- many and Austria, as well as from diff erent disciplinary standpoints together for de- bate and exchange. Our questions and case studies were challenging. We, as the organisers have to ad- mit that certain topics had to be left untouched for the moment, especially concerning the ideological content of folk music; unfortunately, none of the addressed experts was willing to take up this topic here. Nevertheless, we are sure to have unveiled many oth- er important issues together. Examining structures, institutions, careers, strategies and artistic works in Norway, and comparing them to similar matters in Germany, has a long tradition in itself. One only has to think of Henrik Ibsen, Edvard Grieg or Edvard Munch. Furthermore, such comparisons might help us to understand which aspects of the conference topics could be classifi ed as Nordic exceptionalism, or how strong the impact of peripheries and remoteness might have been on opinions to resist the Ger- 8 Preface man occupiers – in geographic and cultural terms, as well as relating civil to military contexts. In a list of other initiatives, this was the second major conference of our research project Nordic Music Politics and we were proud and grateful to present the proceed- ings from our fi rst conference, Th e Nordic Ingredient (held on 20 to 21 March 2018 in Bergen), only one year later in Münster. How both conferences and their proceedings are closely linked to each other can hopefully be experienced when treating them as literary siblings. While the fi rst Nordic Ingredient volume off ers historical overviews of a century of European nationalisms mirrored in Norway’s music life (so that the war time is only one chapter among others), the second Reichskommissariat Norwegen vol- ume explores the details of the decisive fi ve years that changed Norwegian-German re- lations so fundamentally. Naturally, two volumes cannot capture the dynamics of a pair of conferences, nei- ther did every contribution in Bergen and Münster fi nd its way into the books, while other essays were added to broaden and balance the topics. Accordingly, these pro- ceedings about the turbulent, diffi cult and momentous years, 1940 to 1945, are not meant to represent terminal facts, but instead are contributions to existing and lack- ing knowledge; how intermediate results can summarise a state of research, and at the same time can show what further chapters need to be written. Th erefore, our project has already undertaken the next steps, focusing on even stronger questions of perse- cution and resilience by means of the German-Norwegian network ‘Cultures of Resist- ance’ in partnership with Kristiansand’s Arkivet Peace and Human Rights Centre. Looking back at the conference we are grateful to numerous colleagues, partici- pants, helpers and guests for their support and critical remarks: Our historical advis- ors from Norway Christhard Hoff mann, Rolf Hobson and Tom Kristiansen; and Mar- tin Moll from Graz, who was one of the fi rst to examine the structures, protagonists and strategies of the ‘Reichskommissariat Norwegen’ decades ago, and even took the chance to speak to several of the involved historical fi gures. For knowledge concerning Norwegian music history we have to thank Ivar Roger Hansen, Harald Herresthal, and once more Arvid Vollsnes, as well as Sophie Fetthauer, Friedrich Geiger and Albrecht Riethmüller for