The occupation of Norway in 1940 and the attempts to implement a “new order” ended a process of democratisation that had lasted for more than 100 years. In close cooperation with the local fascist party Nasjonal Samling, the German occupants started their encroachment on the Norwegian society. For transforming Norway into a totalitarian National socialist state and for integrating it into a planned “Greater Germanic Reich”, a fully nazification of society was needed. As in Nazi Germany, the ideologisation of the school teaching was regarded as an indispensable presumption to carry out these plans. The Norwegian school children should become transformed into convinced National Socialists and the teachers willing “political soldiers” of the “Volksgemeinschaft”. As soon as a collaboration regime was established, the Nasjonal Samling reinforced their encroachment on the school sector. The nazification of the school became a matter of prestige for the party. Since the attempts of nazification met a massive and successful civilian resistance, motivated and organised by the teachers, very little attention has been paid to the ideas and concepts about a Norwegian National socialist school. How was a fascist education in Norway supposed to look like? Did Nasjonal Samling develop own concepts for the school – before and during the occupation? Or were most plans and strategies imported from Nazi Germany? Did representatives of the German civilian administration in Norway, the Reichskommissariat, had own ideas for the Norwegian school? And how and to which extend did strategies and plans turn into practical measures? By investigating these questions, the presentation will discuss the ideas and practices of a fascist education in Norway during the German occupation. Linking it to the cases of Switzerland and Belgium will make it possible to ask more specific what is particular Norwegian and what is charactering an overarching fascist educational ideology.

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