Abstract
At the time when German troops occupied Norway in April 1940, the fishing sector had experienced two decades of serious economic turmoil. The problems had started already at the end of the First World War. From a situation with growing prices and high demand for Norwegian fish products from both Great Britain and Germany during the war, the 1920s and 1930s represented a period of almost constant crisis in the fishing industry, due to both internal and external causes. In the late 1930s, however, the outlook was a little better. This chapter investigates the changes in the fishing sector during the Second World War from a change and continuity perspective. Most emphasis is put on the on the cod fisheries in North Norway, because this region experienced the most profound changes. The three research questions relate to intention and impact of German intervention. Firstly, what were the main goals of the German authorities for the Norwegian fishing resources? Secondly, what kind of changes did the war conditions lead to regarding catch volumes, processing and production, fish prices, and labor? The third question deals with the economic and institutional changes in the sector after five years of German occupation, and whether these changes point backwards to the mid-war period or forwards to the era of modernization after 1945. However, to put this story in its correct context, it is necessary to briefly look at the period prior to the German attack.
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Notes
- 1.
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- 2.
Edgar Hovland and Anders Haaland, “I verdenskrigens malstrøm” in Norges fiskeri- og kysthistorie, En næring i omforming 1880–1970, Vol. III, ed. Nils Kolle (Bergen: Fagbokforlaget, 2014), 191–209.
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Hersoug, Finstad and Christensen, “Fish Sales Union”.
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- 15.
Finstad, “Spiskammer,” 358.
- 16.
For a discussion of the role of die Groβraumwirtschaft and the long-term German objectives, see Ole Sparenberg’s chapter in this publication.
- 17.
Finstad, “Spiskammer,” 360–365.
- 18.
Robert Bohn, Reichskommissariat Norwegen. “Nationalsozialistische Neuordnung” und Kriegswirtschaft (München: Oldenbourg Verlag, 2000), 167.
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Finstad, “Spiskammer,” 366.
- 20.
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- 22.
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- 23.
The new members of the Norwegian Fisher’s Association were nick-named “denim members.” The concept derives from the fact that one of the tasks of the organization during the occupation was to distribute working clothes and other attractive goods among their members in order to stimulate the fishing activity. See Abraham Hallenstvedt and Bjørn Dynna, Fra skårunge, 170–171.
- 24.
Estimate made by Dick Kobro (2012) based on figures from the Erstatningsdirektorat (Direktorate of Restitution).
- 25.
Bjørn-Petter Finstad, Finotro. Statseid fiskeindustri i Finnmark og Nord-Troms – fra plan til avvikling (Unpublished PhD. thesis, University of Tromsø, 2005), 68.
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Grytås, Motmakt og samfunnsbygger, 46–49.
- 28.
Finstad, “Spiskammer,” 370.
- 29.
Finstad, “Fiskerinæringen i Finnmark”, 58–62.
- 30.
Finstad, “Spiskammer,” 372.
- 31.
Finstad,Fiskerinæringen i Finnmark, 108.
- 32.
Inge Strand, “Næringsliv og økonomisk utvikling i Nordland 1940–60”, in Banken, folket og fylket. Nordlandsbanken og Nordlands næringsliv gjennom 100 år 1893–1993, in ed. Svein Fygle et al. (Bodø: Nordlandsbankenø, 1993), 214.
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Olav Notevarp, “Fisketilvirkning og fiskeindustri” in Norsk fiskeri- og fangsthåndbok, ed. Jan Strøm (Oslo: Alb. Cammermeyers forlag, 1949), 209.
- 34.
Alan S. Milward, The fascist Economy in Norway (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972), 243.
- 35.
Reichskommissariat, Hauptabteilung Volkswirtschaft, “Deutsche Wirtschaftsinteressen in Norwegen”, 21 March 1941, RA, RAFA-2200 Document Section, E, L0016, Serial No. 1114.
- 36.
Strand, “Næringsliv i Nordland,” 216.
- 37.
Finstad, “Spiskammer,” 377; Finstad, Fiskerinæringen i Finnmark, 36–38.
- 38.
Bjørn-Petter Finstad, “Hanna Anny from the Ukraine—a pioneer in the fishing industry of northern Norway”, in Global Coasts: life changes, gender challenges,eds. Siri Gerrard and Randi Rønning Balsvik (Kvinnforsk Occasional Papers: University of Tromsø, 1999), 30–38.
- 39.
Strand, “Næringsliv i Nordland”, 216.
- 40.
Finstad, “Spiskammer,” 378–380.
- 41.
Finstad, “Spiskammer”, 180–181.
- 42.
Fiskeridepartementet. Brev fra Handelsdepartementet til Reichskommissariat für die besetzen norwegische Gebiete, Abt. Fischwirtschaft. Verordnung über Erwerbungsgenehmigung von Eigentumsrecht auf Fischereifahrzeuge, 17 December 1941. Riksarkivet, Fiskeridepartementet, See also: Norsk Lovtidend, Forordning om konsesjon for ervervelse av rett til fiskefartøyer, 20. desember 1941: 6–17.
- 43.
Øystein Sørensen, Hitler eller Quisling? Ideologiske brytninger in Nasjonal Samling 1940–1945, (Oslo: Cappelen, 1989), 174.
- 44.
Finstad, Finotro,, 59–69.
- 45.
Paulsen, “Tysk økonomisk politikk”, 86.
- 46.
Beretning om Den Norske Stats Fiskeribanks virksomhet for regnskapsåret 1. juli 1943 til 30. juni 1944, Riksarkivet, S-1372, Fiskeridepartementet, Fiskerikontoret, Statens Fiskarbank, Regnskaper 1937–45, boks 30.
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Finstad, BP. (2016). The Norwegian Fishing Sector During the German Occupation: Continuity or Change?. In: Frøland, H., Ingulstad, M., Scherner, J. (eds) Industrial Collaboration in Nazi-Occupied Europe. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53423-1_15
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