Abstract
‘This is irrefutable evidence of Nazi barbarism’, so the Norwegian newsreel Norsk Filmrevy (NF, also called Filmavisa) reported in June 1945 as the audience watched the opening of mass graves holding the remains of bodies of Norwegian patriots being dug out by prisoners. The excavation was one of a long series of events that constituted the Norwegian legal settlement after the Second World War. The Norwegian exile government in London had decided to do it thoroughly in order to prevent widespread reprisals. Even membership of the Norwegian Nazi Party (Nasjonal Samling) was made a criminal offence. The Norwegian legal settlement was among the most comprehensive conducted in post-war Europe, with nearly 50,000 Norwegians being convicted of treason. The legal settlement was a central element in the reconstruction of the country and it was important that reconstruction policies were widely accepted by the public. In order to court positive public opinion, the new government established formal contact with the Norsk Filmrevy and other media through the Enlightenment Committee for the Reconstruction.
The Norsk Filmrevy was shown as a trailer before the ordinary feature film, and was seen weekly by about 600,000 viewers. It reported frequently on wartime events and post-war reconstruction, offering numerous images of war memorials. The recurrent message was that the victims had sacrificed their lives for their fatherland, and that survivors had a moral obligation to reconstruct the country. This retrospective coverage of the war was part of what Professor Anne Eriksen has termed ‘The Grand Narrative of the War’. This chapter will argue that such live pictures gave the audience a strong visual popular memory of the war, and will examine the significant role played by the Norsk Filmrevy in these constructions. It will also argue that the reporting that uncovered torture and other atrocities legitimized a strict juridical settlement. It will tap into debates on the role played by media in the transition phase from dictatorship to democracy, in order to legitimize transitional justice policies in both the short and long term.
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Notes
- 1.
NF 06/1945/03.
- 2.
Dahl, H.F. (1999) Quisling: A Study in Treachery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 304–5.
- 3.
For the debate in the Parliament about the death penalty, see Brandal 2004.
- 4.
Aftenposten 28 September 1945.
- 5.
Helseth, T. (2000) Filmrevy som propaganda. Den norske filmrevyen 1941–45. Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, pp. 261–262. To prevent boycotting, the doors were closed and the audience refused access after the cinema show (which was started with the display of the newsreel) had begun.
- 6.
Several of the employees of the NF had been in the resistance movement: Erik Hurum, Carsten N. Wilskow and Wilhelm Bjørset was a period imprisoned during the war. Kåre Bergstrøm was jailed for illegal filming towards the end of the war. Sigurd Agnell was photographer for the home forces, Bredo Lind and Per G. Jonson were photographers for the forces overseas, and likewise Finn Bergan who was also had been a prisoner of war in Germany. Flo, I. (2016) Et ugjendrivelig bevis på nazistenes barbari. Rettsoppgjer, minneproduksjon og gjenreising i Norsk Filmrevy 1945–1949. Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, pp. 55–63.
- 7.
The Nazi regime had taken control of large parts of the Norwegian organizations, including sport. Patriotic Norwegians responded by boycotting sporting events, and Erik Hurum filmed onlookers so that the images showed low support for the Nazi party: ‘At sporting events, we focused on showing the empty stands and took close-ups of those present as evidence of their attitude’. Aftenposten magasinet 5 November 1985.
- 8.
Helseth 2000, p. 69.
- 9.
Flo 2016, pp. 31–3.
- 10.
See Entman, R. (2003) Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press and Entman, R. (2007) Framing Bias: Media in the Distribution of Power pp. 163–173 in Journal of Communication, 57 (1).
- 11.
Van Gorp, B. (2014) Culture and Protest in Media Frames pp. 75–90 in Fahlenbrach, K. et al. (eds.) Media and Revolt—Strategies and performances from the 1960s to the Present. New York: Berghahn Books.
- 12.
NF 17/1945/11.
- 13.
NF 06/1945/03.
- 14.
NF 14/1945/09.
- 15.
Rinnan got a black eye during the arrest. Aftenposten 22 May 1945.
- 16.
NF 17/1946/09.
- 17.
Most reports about Quisling included shots of his arrival to court. The authorities did not give NF permission to film from inside the court during the trial against Quisling , apart from the announcement of the verdict. Aftenposten , evening edition 15 August 1945.
- 18.
Skalpe, I.O. (2004) ‘Undersøkelsen av Quislings hjerne’ in Tidsskrift for den Norske Legeforening 124, pp. 3239–3241; Dahl 1995.
- 19.
Dahl 1999, pp. 428–9.
- 20.
Pedersen, T.A. (2012) Vi kalte dem tyskertøser. Oslo: Scandinavian Academic Press.
- 21.
Ibid., pp. 90–91.
- 22.
NF 21/1945/03.
- 23.
This may be because many of them already had received medical treatment before they came to Hovedøya. Pedersen, T.A. (2006) Tyskerjenter i Norge. Reaksjoner og klippeaksjoner, 1940–1946. Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo.
- 24.
NF 08/1945/06.
- 25.
NF 48/1946/07.
- 26.
NF 48/1946/08.
- 27.
NF 26/1945/04. With a cheerful soundtrack in the background, the report shows how a group of German pioneer soldiers removes mines. Then a new group being commanded into the same area to search to ensure ʻthat not a single mine is forgotten. That must also be a “constructive” jobʼ, said the voice-over. German military was ordered to clear mines in Norway. When this report was made, there were registered 119 dead due to demining in Norway . In August 1945, this figure had increased to 275 dead.
- 28.
NF 44/1946/01.
- 29.
NF 25/1947/01.
- 30.
NF 49/1948/08.
- 31.
NF 44/1946/01.
- 32.
Aftenposten 24 September 1945.
- 33.
ʻ… In the last days of April 1940, Kristiansund exposed to perhaps the most outrageous terror bombing the war in Norway at all can tell about. 767 buildings were completely destroyed. … This is the “German town”, Terboven’s magnificent gift to Kristiansund’s residents, a collection of miserable barracks, as Mr. Reichskommissar later sent a bloody bill on to the Norwegian Treasury.ʼ NF 9/1946/01.
- 34.
NF 23/1946/07.
- 35.
NF 23/1946/01.
- 36.
NF 33/1946/05.
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Flo, I. (2018). The Legal Settlement and Reconstruction in the Norwegian Newsreel Norsk Filmrevy, 1945–1949. In: Chambers, C., Jönsson, M., Vande Winkel, R. (eds) Researching Newsreels. Global Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91920-1_10
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