In several projects, the Norwegian Holocaust Center’s researchers have examined how employees in the police force, government ministries and schools dealt with efforts to convert them into tools for Nazism during WWII.
The picture to emerge was both frightening and inspiring. It became clear what pressure could do to people. Threats of dismissal, imprisonment or worse had a huge impact. Many government employees shut their eyes and did what the occupiers ordered because they were afraid of the consequences if they refused.
But not all. Some, both long-term and new employees, saw a Nazified Norway as a good thing and were therefore enthusiastic in carrying out the orders that would bring this about. Some saw the new situation as an opportunity for personal gain and were therefore willing to go with the flow. Others, however, took a different path and used their positions to undermine the “new Norway”, either openly or in secret, often at considerable personal risk. For these people, life was full of paradoxes and moral dilemmas.