North by Norway19 Feb 2023

The Hunt for the King (part 2)

Hitler demanded that Vidkun Quisling should be Prime Minister. The king said: No! With that, all possibility of compromise was closed off for King Haakon and his government. It was a decision that put them in extreme danger. No monarch or head of state was killed by the Nazis during the war – but on April 11th 1940, they not only tried to assassinate King Haakon, they were also convinced they had succeeded. In fact, the king and politicians evaded the bombing raids on Elverum and Nybergsund. They moved northwards from place to place – to avoid detection and to bolster the spirits of the ever-more beleaguered defence forces. But they finally had to sail for England and exile. As the figurehead of Norwegian resistance, the king’s work from England was of huge significance for Norway’s people.

EPISODE PHOTO

King Haakon seeks cover in a birch grove during an air raid on Molde in late April 1940.

Photo: Per Bratland

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NO

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