Hitler's Scandinavian Legacy

by Stephenson, Jill; Gilmour, John

• ISBN13: 9781441190369
• ISBN10: 1441190368
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-08-01
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

The Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland experienced the effects of the German invasion in April 1940 in very different ways. Collaboration, resistance, and co-belligerency were only some of the short-term consequences. Each Scandinavian country's historiography has undergone enormous changes in the 70 years since the invasion, and this volume examines the immediate effects of Hitler's aggression as well as the long-term legacies to each country's self-image and national identity. The Scandinavian countries' war experience fundamentally changed how each nation functioned in the post-war world by altering political structures, the dynamics of their societies, the inter-relationships between the countries and the popular view of moral responses to totalitarian threats. Hitler was no respecter of the rights of the Scandinavian nations but he and his associates dealt surprisingly differently with each of them. In the post-war period, this has caused problems of interpretation for political and cultural historians alike. Drawing on the latest research, this volume will be a welcome addition to the comparative histories on Scandinavia and the Second World War.

Author Biography

John Gilmour is Honorary Fellow in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is the author of Sweden, the Swastika and Stalin (2010).

Jill Stephenson is Professor Emeritus of Modern German History at the University of Edinburgh, UK. She has published widely on modern German history, including Hitler's Home Front: Württemberg under the Nazis (2006), Women in Nazi Germany (2001), The Nazi Organisation of Women (1981) and Women in Nazi Society (1975).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction - Gilmour and Stephenson / 2. Scandinavia among the Great Powers in the Era of the Second World War - Overy / 3. The Scandinavian Countries in the 1930s - Salmon / 4. Cohabitation and Resistance in Denmark 1940-45 - Olesen / 5. Closing a Long Chapter: German-Norwegian Relations 1939-45 - Kristiansen / 6. The Case of Sweden - Zetterberg / 7. Janus of the North? Finland 1940-44 - Silvennoinen / 8. 'The Five Evil Years': National Self-image, Commemoration and Historiography in Denmark 1945-2010 - Christensen / 9. Hitler's Norwegian Legacy - Grimnes / 10. Realism and Idealism: Swedish Narratives of the Second World War - Ostling / 11. Two Shadows over Finland: Hitler, Stalin and the Finns facing the Second World War 1944-2010 - Aunesluoma / 12. Conclusion - Little.