Today’s podcast is about the greatest drama of modern Norwegian history. What Norwegians call ‘Aprildagene’ – the fateful days of the 9th, 10th and 11th of April 1940. The greatest drama? How else to describe three days that start with King Haakon in his bed in the palace in central Oslo, and finish with the king and government hunted by the Nazis from town to village to farm. Three days that finish with them stumbling through snow as German planes strife and bomb the ground around them in an assassination attempt. How else describe three days that see a coup d’etat by a politician whose party – at the most recent general election – gained a meagre 1,8 percent of the popular vote. Today, Act 1 of the drama: the 9th of April. The climax of the 10th and 11th comes in the next podcast. 

EPISODE PHOTO

King Haakon VII of Norway in 1930

Photographer: Ernest Rude

Public Domain 

CONTACT

Twitter: (a)northbynorway

Email: northbynorway(a)gmail(.)com

MORE INFO

andrewjboyle(.)com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.