Varg Vikernes ut på prøve / Varg Vikernes edges closer to FREEDOM!

Huzzah!

Neo-Nazi murderer, warbler, tub-thumper and string-plucker Varg Vikernes — The Artist Formerly Known As Count Grishnackh — is due for release from his prison in Norway.

Varg has learned a lot during his time inside, including how to escape, which he did in October 2003, failing to return to his low-security prison in Tønsberg, after having been granted a short leave. Vikernes was found riding in a stolen Volvo car, which contained an unloaded AG3 automatic rifle, a handgun, numerous large knives, a gas mask, camouflage clothing, a laptop, a compass, a Global Positioning System, various maps and a fake passport (it is thought that Vikernes came to be in possession of this equipment by means of a military barracks). For this thirteen months were added to his sentence, and he was then moved to a maximum-security prison in Trondheim. He has since been moved again, this time to Tromsø Prison.

Vikernes has spent the last 16 years in one prison or another (including, from July of last year, periods spent with his family on the outside) for murdering fellow metalhead Øystein Aarseth — The Former Artist Formerly Known As Euronymous — on August 10, 1993 (and for a number of other crimes). When Vikernes was arrested, it was discovered that he had in his possession about 330 pounds of dynamite, some of which he claimed he was planning to use to destroy the Antifa (Anti-fascist) center Blitz House in Oslo.

Despite this, Varg denies being a neo-Nazi… sort of. Conceding that he has sometimes referred to himself as a Nazi, Vikernes is at pains to clarify his views. Thus:

Some of the terms I have used have been rather inaccurate, and I realize that people react to the different terms differently, depending on where they come from or who they are. A Scandinavian, for instance, has no good reasons to emotionally react negatively to “nazism”, but I understand that a Slav has a perfectly good reason to do so. While the German “nazis” behaved exemplary in Denmark and Norway during WWII, they certainly didn’t behave exemplary in Poland or the former Soviet Union. In Norway only about 0,03% of the population was killed in WWII (and the vast majority was actually killed by the Allies), while for example in Byelorussia as much as 25% of the population was killed – and had a lot to do with the Germans’ incredibly lowbrow and surprisingly ignorant view on the Slavs and their culture…

~ A Burzum Story: Part VII – The Nazi Ghost

So:

A Scandinavian, like Varg Vikernes for instance, has no good reason to react negatively to “Nazism”;
The “Nazis” behaved impeccably during their occupation of Denmark, murdering only a tiny proportion of the .03% of the population killed during WWII;
The slaughter of one quarter of the population of Byelorussia had much to do with the Nazis “surprisingly” low opinion of Slavs and Slavic culture.

Got that?

In reality:

Denmark

The Nazis began their occupation of Denmark in April 1940. At this time, the Jewish population was approximately 7,500, accounting for 0.2% of the country’s total population. Until 1943, the Nazis adopted a relatively relatively hands-off approach. Unlike Norway, the ‘Final Solution’ was not implemented in Denmark until 1943, and even then met considerable resistance, from both Government authorities and the general population. At this time, strikes and sabotage escalated, as it became clear that the Nazis might well be defeated by the Allies.

The Danish government resigned on August 28, 1943, rather than yield to new German demands that German military courts try future saboteurs. The following night, the German military commander, General Hermann von Hannecken, declared martial law. German authorities arrested Danish civilians, Jews and non-Jews alike, and Danish military personnel. Under the state of emergency German authorities took direct control over the Danish military and police forces…

In the intervening [months], the Danish authorities and Jewish community leaders facilitated a massive operation to get Jews into hiding or into sanctuaries. When German police began the roundup on the night of October 1, 1943, they found few Jews. In general, the Danish police authorities refused to cooperate, denying German police the right to enter Jewish homes by force, or simply overlooking Jews they found in hiding. Popular protests quickly came from various quarters such as churches, the Danish royal family, and various social and economic organizations. The Danish resistance, assisted by many ordinary Danish citizens, organized a partly coordinated, partly spontaneous rescue operation…

Thousands of Jews were hidden in the countryside while others were conveyed to the relative safety of Sweden.

The Germans seized about 470 Jews in Denmark and deported them to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Most of them were German or eastern European refugees. Despite the fact that many of those deported were not Danish citizens, the Danish authorities and the Danish Red Cross vocally and insistently demanded information on their whereabouts and living conditions. The vigor of Danish protests undoubtedly deterred the Germans from transporting the Danish Jews to killing centers in German-occupied Poland…

The Danish Jews remained in Theresienstadt, where dozens of them died, until 1945. In late April of that year, German authorities handed the Danish prisoners over to the custody of the Swedish Red Cross. Virtually all of the refugees returned to Denmark in 1945. Although a housing shortage required some of them to live in shelters for a few months, most found their homes as they had left them, since the Danish authorities had refused to permit the Germans or their collaborators in Denmark to seize Jewish homes.

In total, some 120 Danish Jews died during the Holocaust, either in Theresienstadt or during the flight from Denmark. This relatively small number represents one of the highest Jewish survival rates for any German-occupied European country.

Norway

When the Nazis tripped and fell into Denmark in April 1940, they also accidentally landed in Norway. Following the Norwegian government’s surrender in June, the Norwegian fascist Vidkun Quisling was appointed Prime Minister. He was an incompetent figurehead, and was subsequently removed and reinstalled as the Nazis saw fit.

There were approximately 1,700 Jews in Norway at the time of the German invasion, including about 200 German and Austrian Jewish refugees who had found safe haven there in the 1930s. Restrictions on Jews initially were sporadic, but with the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, numerous Jews in the northern part of the country were incarcerated. Arrests of Norwegian Jews began in the fall of 1942 with Norwegian police and paramilitary formations supporting SS and German police units. In early October, the authorities arrested all male Jews in Trondheim, a northern Norwegian port city. On October 26 and 27, 260 male Jews were arrested in Oslo, Norway’s capital. During the night of November 25-26, 1942, all remaining Jews in Oslo, including women, children, the sick, and the handicapped, were arrested and interned. They were deported on the “Donau,” a ship requisitioned by the Quisling government, which took them to Germany. From Germany, they were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.

In the weeks that followed, despite protests by Norwegian church leaders and some segments of the population, the internment and deportation of Jews from Norway continued intermittently. Fortunately, many Jews received advance warnings of the roundups from Norwegian policemen and members of the underground. More than half of Norway’s Jews, about 900, escaped to neutral Sweden with the aid of the underground. Many others went into hiding.

Between 1940 and 1945, more than 760 Jews were deported from Norway. Only about 25 returned after the war; most of the others were murdered in Auschwitz. On May 8, 1945, German forces in Norway surrendered to the Allies. Quisling was arrested and found guilty of treason. He was executed on October 24, 1945.

The reasons Scandinavians might have reason to reject Nazism escape Varg — but perhaps this is not all that surprising. Certainly, other Scandinavians don’t appear to have too many difficulties in this arena. By the same token, while the place allocated ‘Slavs’ in Nazi racial theory may surprise Vikernes, I imagine it was unlikely to surprise too many Nazis.