ABSTRACT
During the Second World War, the final phase of their existence, the four main Nordic variants of fascism found themselves in very different situations. Norwegian Nazism, in the form of Nasjonal Samling (National Unity) was distinguished by its deliberate co-operation with the Germans, who placed at the head of a Nazi government its leader, the notorious and eponymous Vidkun Quisling. The Danish ‘führer’, Fritz Claussen, and his Danmarks Nationalsocialistiske Arbeider Parti (National Socialist Workers Party of Denmark) achieved lesser prominence; demanding of the occupying Germans the same status as their Norwegian counterparts, they were unceremoniously rebuffed. In neutral Sweden there existed a number of small far-right groups, the largest being Sven Olof Lindholm’s SvenskSocialistisk Samling (Swedish-Socialist Unity); although their prewar impact had been meagre, during the war some of their leading personalities were occasionally questioned by the police when attempting to serve German interests and agitating in favour of Sweden’s entry into the war on Germany’s side. Finland’s experience was shaped by the Soviet Union’s surprise attack in November 1939. In the ensuing atmosphere of national unity, even the fascist Isanmaalinen Kansanliike (People’s Patriotic Movement) (ILK) was tolerated: indeed, during the so-called ‘war of continuation’, when Finland was allied with Germany, its leader, Dr Vilho Annala, was actually a minister in the first coalition government.
