ABSTRACT
Historian Roger Griffin characterized the Norwegian far-right party Nasjonal Samling (NS) as an “abortive fascist movement” in interwar Europe. Established in 1933, the movement only got 1.8% of the votes in the Norwegian general elections and hardly had any influence in interwar Norway. To understand the Norwegian involvement in the war, people have to look more closely at some facts. The north and south of Norway experienced the war during the spring and early summer of 1940 in different ways. On 9 April 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Norway. In towns like Bodo and Narvik in Nordland County, like elsewhere in Norway, there were small groups loyal to the fascist party. In the parliamentary elections of 1933, Narvik had two of the six parliamentary candidates on the common list of all the north Norwegian towns. NS never regained popular support before the war broke out. Nevertheless, when the war started, the party organization, with its leadership and nationwide organization, still existed.
