Norway’s Sami population posed an enigma for the occupying Nazis
German soldiers’ accounts from Finnmark during World War II often describe the Sami as “noble savages” in a fabulous and foreign landscape.
Historian Andreas Eliassen Grini has delved into German soldiers’ descriptions of their experiences in Northern Norway. This includes their encounter with the Sami culture. He found a number of unexpected discoveries, showing that the occupying power had a two-sided view of the Sami population and culture.
On the one hand, the Sami did not fit into the Nazi racial ideology. On the other hand, the Samis’ close relationship to the natural world was something that was valued in Nazi ideology.
“What I found in the soldiers’ descriptions was that they experienced Northern Norway, and especially Finnmark, as very exotic. And by describing their surroundings and experiences as exotic, they created a distance for themselves from the actual acts of war in which they participated,” says Grini said.
The soldiers’ descriptions mainly concern male fellowship out in nature, and have almost a kind of “guys on a trip” atmosphere.
“The Sami culture is one of the elements that the soldiers experienced as exotic, which is something I’m exploring in my PhD dissertation,” he said.
The wedding of Anders Triumf and Elly Palojärvi in Kautokeino, April 1943. Photo: Otto Hans Klötzer, Finnmark County Library.
Terra nullius – nobody’s land
World War II unfolded on many fronts. The Litsa Front, which was the northernmost part of the Eastern Front, was located in the border area between the Soviet Union and Finland. And Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county, became an important base for the German troops on this front.
The Litsa front and the surrounding area were defined in the German soldiers’ descriptions as nobody’s land – terra nullius. This helps to give their stories an expedition-like feel. The authors portray themselves and their fellow soldiers as explorers and polar explorers:
“In no other area of Europe, not even in the high regions of the Alps, have the soldiers had so many difficulties to contend with due to the impenetrability of the terrain as in Lapland. The soldiers are equipped as if on expeditions.”
Along the entire coast of Finnmark and in many places in inner Finnmark, the occupying force Germany built fortifications such as torpedo batteries, field artillery, cannons and anti-aircraft defences. German soldiers operated throughout Finnmark during the war.
Grandiose beauty and the “noble savages”
The German soldiers were mainly so-called mountain hunters. These were soldiers specialized in warfare in challenging climates and terrain, such as in Finnmark.
Henrik Mudenia (far left) from Gardak and Hans Eriksen Varsi from Sirma. Photo: Alexander Deisenroth, Finnmark County Library.
In the accounts that they wrote during and after the war, they highlighted both how tough and difficult the conditions they found themselves in – and at the same time how beautiful the northern landscape was:
“I became convinced that Norway in its grandiose, often wild beauty would not be surpassed by any of the countries of Europe.”
“Barren aimlessness lies over this desolate wasteland. It is as if we are standing in front of an unfinished creation. Yet even the tundra has something uniquely beautiful to show.”
What role did the Sami population play in the German accounts?
“The Sami are often portrayed as ‘noble savages’ in an adventure-filled and foreign landscape. Their clothing, appearance and behaviour contributed the soldiers perception of the area as being wild and full of adventure,” says Eliassen Grini.
A puzzle and crazy theories
And where did the Sami fit in the German Nazis’ racial ideology? The Sami population and culture posed a kind of enigma for Nazi Germany.
“The Germans were generally focused on surveying where the different ethnic groups came from. They had an idea that the Sami were of Asian origin, and Asians did not fit into the Nazi plan for a newly ordered Europe,” Eliassen Grini said.
“At the same time, there were these crazy theories about the origins of the Sami. For example, Heinrich Himmler toyed with the idea that the Sami population had a connection with the sunken Atlantis!,” he said
According to legend, Atlantis was a rich island empire that sank into the sea.
The Sami population was thus a puzzle for the Germans, who had a two-sided relationship with the Sami.
“The Germans perceived the Sami as living at one with nature – and proximity to nature was something that was cultivated in Nazi ideology,” Eliassen Grini said. The Sami people’s ties to nature were central.
Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s right-hand man, said after a visit to Norway in 1941 that the Sami should be allowed to live more or less undisturbed on their own terms in Finnmark.
On the left is Aslak Somby. Photo: Alexander Deisenroth, Finnmark County Library. The image on the right was taken during Terboven’s trip to Northern Norway in 1942 and is part of the National Archives’ collections.
Advocated for the preservation of the Sami language
Both German and Norwegian National Socialism had diverse attitudes towards the Sami. However, German Nazis seem to have been less critical of Sami cultural practice than the Norwegian pre-war authorities,” Eliassen Grini said.
A young boy in traditional Kautokeino dress. Porsanger, 1941. Photo: Otto Hans Klötzer, Finnmark County Library.
The Norwegianization of the Sami started as early as the mid-1800s, and was a policy that promoted assimilation.
“But we can see a shift during the war which consisted of a transition from assimilation to segregation, probably inspired by German racial ideology,” Eliassen Grini said.
Eliassen Grini describes an example where the Norwegian NS authorities introduced fishing rights only for Sami in certain fishing lakes in Nord-Trøndelag. Another example is Minister of Culture Guldbrand Lunde, who wrote an article in Norwegian newspapers where he called for strengthening the Sami language in schools.
“There was a tendency in the attitudes that the Sami should be allowed to exist on their own basis,” Eliassen Grini said.
He thinks there are a two possible explanations for this. One was to preserve Sami identity and culture. The second might be avoid the mixing of Norwegian and Sami genes (ethnic groups should be kept separate).
A diversity of meeting places
How did the Sami relate to the German soldiers? Eliassen Grini describes different arenas and relationships between German soldiers and Sami:
Per Hallonen was a reindeer herder and had several pairs of mittens hanging from his belt. This was practical for keeping his hands dry and warm, and finely decorated mittens were also a status symbol. Photo: Alexander Deisenroth, Finnmark County Library.
Through reindeer herding: Reindeer herding quickly proved to be an invaluable resource for the occupying power. The German army was to use reindeer in its daily operations, as well as in hostilities, as a source of food, for clothing and as a means of transport. This led to both trade related to reindeer herding, as well as conflicts through German requisitions.
One of the more dramatic stories about reindeer during the evacuation of Finnmark was when a handful of Sami reindeer herders managed to evade Police Minister Jonas Lie’s order to evacuate. They thus saved a large percentage of the Finnmark reindeer population by staying home to take care of the herd.
Through love affairs: Early in the occupation, German soldiers were explicitly forbidden to marry Sami women. Nevertheless, several children were born through love affairs between German soldiers and Sami women.
However, many of the sources are still undisputed, and there are stories that can still be painful for descendants.
Through German soldiers’ photography and documentation of Sami life: It seems that the fascination for Sami life and culture persisted throughout the war years. As a result, the Sami were frequently photographed by and with German soldiers. These photo sources can be found in German private albums and in letters and postcards sent to Germany with motifs from Sápmi.
Image: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011014212868/soldater-gevaer-samer-uthus
Resistance, collaboration and grey areas
There were also Sami soldiers who participated in Norwegian military units, especially in the Norwegian Alta battalion that fought against the Germans in Narvik. And it was the Sami who made a major contribution to the resistance movement, often as guards on the Swedish border
“But there were also Sami who collaborated with the Germans, and Sami who joined the NS, a topic that hasn’t been studied very much. It seems that the Sami population, like the Norwegian population in general, cannot be said to have formed a closed front against the occupying power,” he said.
This is sensitive material that Eliassen Grini is in the process of studying in more detail. The Treason Archive has been an important source.
Elisassen Grini has regular contact and collaboration with Sami institutions such as Karasjok University College as well as Saemien Sitje in Snåsa and Sitji Jarnge in Hattfjelldal, both of which are museums and centres for Sami language and culture.
“I’ve gotten a wide range of reactions to the project. At times, and understandably, it is probably perceived as challenging that I bring up material related to treason cases and war children,” he says.
“On the other hand, I have received positive reactions where people express a desire for a complete Sami war history to be written, which also includes the painful stories,” he said.
Source material:
- German sources from the Reichskommersariet and the Wehrmacht
- Norwegian sources: Lapp bailiffs and reindeer herding agronomists, both of whom were links between the Sami and the Norwegian state. These sources have not been studied much in the past.
- The Treason Archive. In this archive, there are still a number of documents that are restricted and where access is granted on the basis of an application. However, application-free access is allowed if the person in question was born more than 120 years ago.
References:
Andreas Eliassen Grini, Es war ein Edelweiss. Selvforståelse og -konstruksjon i krigsmemoarer fra Wehrmachts 2., 3. og 6. Bergjegerdivisjon (NTNU Master’s thesis (in Norwegian) (It was an edelweiss:Self-understanding and construction in war memoirs from the Wehrmacht’s 2nd, 3rd and 6th Mountain Fighter Divisions)
Andreas Eliassen Grini Es war ein Edelweiss. Die Nordfront in den Memoiren der Gebirgsjäger der Wehrmacht, Zeitschrift Zeitgeschichte (It was an edelweiss. The Northern Front in the memoirs of the mountain troops of the Wehrmacht)
