The Circular That Divided Norway's Schools

The teachers of Norway receive a circular ordering them to join the Norges Lærersamband, a teachers' union imposed by Vidkun Quisling's collaborationist government. Behind this seemingly routine administrative act lies a sweeping ambition: to turn Norwegian schools into a transmission belt for Nazi ideology and mould the country's youth in the image of the Nasjonal Samling. Refusal exposes all 14,000 teachers to immediate dismissal, arrest, and for some, deportation to forced labour camps beyond the Arctic Circle.

The dilemma is acute. Some argue that submission alone keeps teachers in the classroom, where they can shield students from the worst of the indoctrination and maintain trust with families. Others hold that mass resignation would be the most uncompromising stand: refusing to serve the regime, at the cost of leaving children to replacements loyal to the cause. Still others see a third path — collective, coordinated refusal without abandoning their posts, each teacher sending an individually signed but identically worded letter to the authorities, turning 14,000 solitary acts into a wall of civil resistance.

The stakes could not be higher: the Gestapo is watching, families are vulnerable, and no one can know whether solidarity will hold under repression. The teachers of Norway must weigh a cautious presence against an honourable withdrawal, and both against open resistance that risks everything on the strength of their numbers.