page_title: History of Scandinavia
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: History of Scandinavia / 20th century / Second World War
context_page_description: The history of Scandinavia is the history of the geographical region of Scandinavia and its peoples. The region is in northern Europe, and consists of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Finland and Iceland are at times, especially in English-speaking contexts, considered part of Scandinavia.
context_section_description: Near the beginning of World War II in late 1939, both the Allies and the Axis Powers feared their enemies gaining power in Scandinavia.  Britain believed Germany was planning to invade and made counter plans for its own invasion.  At the same time, Germany feared that Britain could gain bases in the area and claimed they suspected an outright invasion. In addition, Germany highly valued the Swedish iron ore they received through Norway and could not afford to lose it.  They also desired Norway for its ice-free ports.  This made it a primary target, with Denmark a secondary goal mainly needed for facilitating the Norwegian invasion.  After planning for months, Germany invaded both Denmark and Norway the same day, 9 April 1940, days before Britain planned to invade.
  The nations reacted quite differently. Denmark surrendered two hours after invasion, having lost just sixteen men. They sought to avoid civilian casualties and receive favourable treatment from Germany. Norway however, refused to give in and fought valiantly and with the full strength of her limited and badly prepared forces. The Western allies sent military assistance, but the campaign was not effectively run. By 10 June 1940, Norway's official military had surrendered to the attackers, while King Haakon VII and his legal government fled to exile in Britain.
  Denmark's strategy proved the more beneficial in the short run. It was one of the factors that led Germany to grant the Danes a high degree of autonomy. Another reason was that they had no real agenda in Denmark. After invading, they simply did not want to relinquish it, seeing it as a permanent part of their empire. Also, Danes were considered fellow Nordics and Aryans by Nazi ideologues, which further helped the country. For all these reasons, Denmark was able to retain their parliament, king, and much of their normal domestic function. However, bitterness towards Germany grew, and small sabotages directed against Germany became commonplace. Germany eventually reacted by eliminating Denmark's representative government and imposing martial law.
  Norway was treated much more harshly throughout their occupation. Opposition parties were eliminated and Nasjonal Samling ("National Unity"), the Norwegian fascist political party, appointed all government officials.  Vidkun Quisling was installed as Minister-President, a puppet to Berlin's High Command. Labor unions could only exist if they accepted Nazi control. These repressive measures ensured that the cooperation was small. About ten percent supported the Nazi party. Nevertheless, there was a hostile relationship, with an occupation force of almost one German for every ten Norwegians.
  Denmark and Norway were also unlike in their cooperation with Germany's genocidal policy. Norwegian police, controlled by the Quisling government, aided in the capture of Norwegian Jews in 1942. However, brave Norwegians managed to save over half of the Jewish population from Nazi death camps and help them to escape to safety in Sweden, even though they ran the risk of being severely punished for aiding Jews. The Danish Jews avoided German persecution until 1943, and Denmark was thus better prepared when the Germans struck. Danes were notable for their devoted efforts to protect Danish Jews. More than 96% of the Jewish population was boated to safety in Sweden, while others found refuge with Christian Danish families and organizations.
  Alone out of the three Scandinavian countries, Sweden was not invaded and remained nominally neutral during the war.  They successfully cultivated peace with the Germans, supplying them with needed raw materials. The Swedish government was very careful to avoid inflaming the Nazis, going so far as to persuade newspaper editors to censor articles, and letting the Nazis move supplies through Sweden and into Norway all the way up to 1943. However, they would occasionally aid the Allies. They granted the Jews that escaped from Denmark asylum and gave notable aid to Finland during the Winter War.
caption: The German landing sites during the initial phase of Operation Weserübung.
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