page_title: SS Sanct Svithun
section_title: Reactions to the sinking of SS Sanct Svithun
hierarchical_section_title: SS Sanct Svithun / Second World War / Reactions to the sinking of SS Sanct Svithun
caption_attribution_description: Nazi propaganda poster in Oslo, occupied Norway. Poster designed by illustrator Harald Damsleth
context_page_description: SS Sanct Svithun was a 1,376 ton steel-hulled steamship built by the German shipyard Danziger Werft and delivered to the Norwegian Stavanger-based shipping company Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab on 1 July 1927. She sailed the Hurtigruten route along the coast of Norway until she was lost in an air attack on 30 September 1943 during the Second World War.
context_section_description: The Allied sinking of Sanct Svithun – an unescorted Norwegian passenger ship – led to strong reactions in Norway, with the leadership of the Norwegian resistance movement sending a letter of protest to the press office of the Norwegian government in exile in London on 20 October 1943. In the letter the resistance stated that "We have received message from a trusted source in Western Norway who has been gathering reliable intelligence from eye witnesses and survivors about the sinking of Sanct Svithun. He declares that the German reports in the media are by and large correct. When the negative impacts have not been greater, the reason is that everyone back home refuse to believe that the Allies could have behaved in such a manner. This is in conflict with the experiences that people back home have made over almost three years. If anything like this was to happen again, it would be highly damaging." The letter was presented to Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Trygve Lie and debated in a government conference.
  The sinking was featured heavily in the Nazi-controlled Norwegian newspapers, with the Norwegian national socialist party Nasjonal Samling's official publication Fritt Folk used the incident in its anti-Allied propaganda, calling the attack "a horrifyings enemy deed".
  On 20 May 1944 the Norwegian Postal Service released three postage stamps with designs commemorating war-related shipwrecks, the 15 Øre stamp featuring the sinking of SS Sanct Svithun. Each stamp cost an extra 10 Øre meant to go to the benefit of injured shipwreck survivors and the relatives of those killed. The shipwreck stamps were designed by German-born Norwegian pro-Nazi propaganda artist Harald Damsleth and the other two ships portrayed on the stamps where SS Barøy and SS Irma, sunk in 1941 and 1944 respectively.
caption: 1942 Nazi propaganda poster attempting to link the exiled Norwegian King Haakon VII to the sinking of civilian Norwegian ships
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