Freedom must be hospitable
Today I had a fascinating experience in the Haugar Kunstmuseum in Tønsberg. The receptionist in the Museum was a surprisingly beautiful elderly woman. Even though she was somewhere between my mother and my grandmother's age, I found her really pretty. But most of all she was incredibly friendly, thanked me for deciding to come to the museum, explained a lot about the exhibitions to me and told me that I could ask her anything I wanted to know.
When I walked up the stairs to the exhibition I could see her talking with the security guard, and as I looked back, questioning with a gesture whether I should leave my backpack downstairs, he only smiled at me and waved his hand in a welcoming gesture.
Upstairs there was a video installation playing what seemed like random snippets of people walking through the streets. Something about it created a strange mood. Something was off.
In the next room there was a video installation showing on one half of the screen two survivors of the holocaust talking about their horrible experiences during the German occupation and the deportation of Jews from Oslo, and then a photograph of Knut Rød on the other half of the screen, his voice in English, presumably during his post-war court trial, explaining his actions.
As administrative head of the Oslo Section of Statspolitiet, he had organized the arrest, detention and transfer of Jewish men, women and children to SS troops at Oslo harbour.
After the war, he was acquitted and continued to work for the police.
After listening to the suffering of the women interviewed by the artist Victor Lind, this felt terribly wrong. I was sad for the suffering and the death of more than 500 Norwegian Jews, but I was also mad about the injustice of the trial.
I was not sure whether I wanted to find a corner to cry or rather something to punch. I did neither and left the exhibition, but not without drinking a coffee with Nils and asking the woman at the exhibition why she thinks Knut had been acquitted.
In the evening I read more about the history of the occupation of Norway, the resistance movement, and the trial against Knut Rød.
During the trial in 1945, he argued that he had conducted the arrests in a “humane” manner, and that his participation had prevented German police from taking over the Norwegian police authority and doing greater harm.
His defence also claimed that he had been a double agent for the Norwegian resistance, and that his cover would have been compromised, preventing him from performing more important work for the resistance. But he didn't warn the Jews or the resistance of the pending arrest and deportation.
One of my favourite characters in the context of the resistance is the Norwegian Foreign Minister Halvdan Koht, who gave the first response to Germany's invasion in 1940
After reading more about the whole context of the occupation and the legal purge afterwards, I thought I understood better.
I could start to see how Knut Rød might have not been too bad of a person, but had just made the choice to sacrifice the Jewish population for the sake of the much larger Norwegian population.
Most Norwegians probably only had compassion for Norwegians, which already is a great feat considering how we're each always growing from an undifferentiated consciousness into an individual as part of a family and a group, but caring for a whole Nation! That WAS something new, and it still is for large parts of our societies.
The simple and cruel truth back then was that Jews were not considered part of the Norwegian Nation, as they were not considered part of the German Nation. They just didn't belong anywhere.
I also understand how identifications are like heavy dresses woven of responsibilities, consequences, considerations and calculations.
In this state of identification with oneself, family, and people of the Nation, conflicts around these will necessarily arise, as there will be conflicts around who is even part of these groups.
In a way, today we might even be in a worse situation. Instead of identifying with our whole nation, we identify mostly with ourselves.
Individualism has reached its pinnacle, but yet, “surprisingly”, people at large do not seem really happy. A new movement will ned to pitch in, and I hope it will be radically more inclusive than former Nationalism, because we already know where this gets us. The next stage will need to include all humans, all life, otherwise we're simply screwed.