SCAND 445/JSIS A 442/SCAND 590A: Fall 2023
War and Occupation in the Northern Europe: World War II as History, Fiction, Media and Memory.
CDH 110A: Tu/Th 12:30 - 2:20 pm
Professor: Marianne Stecher-Hansen, Department of Scandinavian Studies.
Office (Raitt 305Z): Thursdays 3:00 to 5:00pm or by appointment (email: marianne@uw.edu).
Course Description: This course investigates the Nordic region in the Second World War (1939 - 1945) in a study of historical, literary and cinematic texts.
Students examine the difficult fates of several small nations in the Nordic and Arctic regions of the northern periphery of Europe. We read historical scholarship in order to provide a context for studying literary fiction, memoirs and films that depict this pivotal historical period. We investigate how texts represent the experience of military aggression and occupation by a foreign power. Some of the literary texts are written by celebrated writers of the period (such as Väinö Linna or Sigrid Undset); others are memoirs written by survivors or children of these survivors. We consider the perspectives of invaders, collaborators, resistors, and victims of persecution in various texts. Not least we discuss how distinct national and cultural memories shape the representations of WWII experience in recent 21st-century cinema, historiography and literature.
During World War II, the Nordic region were clenched between two belligerent powers: the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. While Finland resisted Soviet aggression from the East, Denmark and Norway suffered military occupation by Nazi Germany. Sandwiched in between two warring powers, neutral Sweden avoided occupation by making concessions to the Axis powers. In the North Atlantic, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands were occupied by the Western Allies - and in the Arctic region, Greenland (then a colony of Denmark) held vital strategic significance for the Allies.
The assigned reading and some film clips are posted under "Modules." There are also four required paperback books to purchase. Assignment guidelines are posted under "Assignments."
Student Learning Goals:
- To gain knowledge of the history and literature of the Nordic region during World War Two.
- To develop a vocabulary for the study of war and occupation (key terms: alliance, collaboration, neutrality, occupation, resistance) and to support effective cross-cultural communication skills.
- To exercise the skill of analysis in discussion of wartime literature, films, and memoirs (making use of such key concepts: agency, audience, censorship, narrative, propaganda, reception, and rhetoric).
- To enhance critical thinking about societal issues such as power, inequality, civil disobedience, activism, and social change movements.
- To develop the practice and skills of inquiry-driven research and scholarship.
The Diversity Requirement: This course fulfills the UW diversity requirement, which requires all undergraduates to take a minimum of 3 credits that focus on the socio-cultural, political, and/or economic diversity of the human experience at local, regional, or global levels. This requirement is intended to help UW students develop an understanding of the complexities of living in increasingly diverse and interconnected societies. Courses that fulfill the diversity requirement focus on cross-cultural analysis and communication; and historical and contemporary inequities such as those associated with race, ethnicity, class, sex and gender, sexual orientation, nationality, ability, religion, creed, age, and socioeconomic status. Therefore, course activities in this class on “War and Occupation in the Nordic Region” encourage thinking critically about topics such as power, inequality, marginality, and social movements, and support effective cross-cultural communication skills.
Please stay up to date with UW Covid policies: https://www.washington.edu/coronavirus/2023/05/08/changes-to-university-covid-19-policies/
Assignments and Evaluation for SCAND 445/JSIS A 442 A:
Grades will be based on two short essays, and a term paper, and a final test as well as class participation.
20% Two short essays (500 - 750 words in length; 10% each )
20% Participation: Online "Discussions" (10%); In-class discussions & class conference (10%)
10% One-page paper proposal (250 words) with a short bibliography.
20% online Final Test, consisting of multi-choice questions and short essay (choice of questions)
30% Term research paper (ca. 6 - 8 pages)
All students are advised to make use of the class guide in order to get started with the research for the term paper: http://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/scand445. You can also make an appointment with our librarian, Dan Mandeville (dcman@uw.edu) who will help you get started with your research.
Further, you are encouraged to make use of UW campus writing centers, such as Odegaard Writing & Research Center https://depts.washington.edu/owrc/ for assistance with the final research paper.
Required Texts:
The following books required (available at U-Bookstore, shelved under SCAND 445):.
1. Väinö Linna, Unknown Soldiers. Penguin Modern Classics, [1954] 2015. (ISBN: 978-0-141-39365-0)
2. John Steinbeck, The Moon is Down, Penguin Classics [1942] 1995. (ISBN 978-0-14-018746-5).
3. Göran Rosenberg, A Brief Stop on the Road from Auschwitz, trans. By Sarah Death. Granta, [2012] 2014. (ISBN: 978-1-78378-130-0).
4. Bjorn Westlie, My Father's War: Confronting Norway's Nazi Past, trans. Dean Krouk. U of Wisconsin Press, 2023. (ISBN: 978-0-299-34324-8)
5. Marianne Stecher-Hansen, ed. Nordic War Stories: World War II as History, Fiction, Media and Memory. Berghahn Books, 2021 (ISBN 978-1-78920-962-4 ebook, available on Canvas and via UW libraries).
Weekly Reading Schedule: AUT quarter 2023
Assigned reading (either posted on Canvas or in required books) should be read in advance of lectures)
Week #1: Introduction and Overview How do historians ‘narrate’ the plot of the war or wars in the Nordic region? How does media and cultural memory shape our understanding of the past generally and World War II specifically? We will begin by exploring the relationship between history and literary texts and by surveying the historical period and the geo-political region. We will consider briefly the rise of Nazi Germany in relation to the Soviet Union and the ‘race’ for domination of the Nordic and Baltic regions.
Thu 28 September - the ‘Plot’ of the Race for the North
Introduction: Course goals and requirements
READ: Marianne Stecher-Hansen, “Introduction” to Nordic War Stories, 1 – 15. (Canvas in “Modules” and eBook, Nordic War Stories)
READ: John Keegan, “Do We Need a New History of the Second World War?” (Canvas in Modules)
Optional READ: Aleida Assmann, “Canon and Archive,” pp 97 – 107. (Canvas in Modules)
Weeks 2 and 3: Norway: Allied and Occupied/Resistance or Collaboration: We will explore the position of Norway as both allied and occupied during World War II. We will discuss the importance of wide-spread civilian and military resistance to the Nazi occupiers as well as the activity of collaborators (including Quisling’s NS party and Waffen-SS volunteers). Thus, we will read texts written in the service of the Allied cause, including part of Sigrid Undset’s memoir (Return to the Future) of 1942, and also a book by the son of a collaborator, My Father’s War. Finally, we’ll consider how the 'cultural memory' of the Norwegian experience in World War II is depicted in recent cinematic productions.
Tu 3 Oct: - Allied Norway – View from the Western Allies
READ: Richard Overy, “Scandinavia in the Second World War,” in Hitler’s Scandinavian Legacy, 13 - 32 (Canvas).
READ: Tom Kristiansen, “The Norwegian War Experience: Occupied and Allied,” from Nordic War Stories (eBook)
Begin: Sigrid Undset, “”Norway, Spring 1940” from Return to the Future (first chapter only, pp. 3 - 47)
WATCH: Invasion of Norway “The World at War” (Canvas)
Thu 5 Oct. - Occupied Norway: cultural memory, resistance and collaboration
READ: Sigrid Undset, “”Norway, Spring 1940” from Return to the Future (first chapter, pp. 3 - 47)
Optional: Christine Hamm, “Sigrid Undset’s Problematic Propaganda,” in Nordic War Stories (eBook).
READ: Bjørn Westlie, My Father’s War – Confronting Norway’s Nazi Past (Prologue & Part I), pp. 3 -59.
Tu 10 Oct. – post-memory and confronting Norway’s Nazi Past
Class Visit: Interview with Norwegian historian and journalist, Dr. Bjørn Westlie
READ: Westlie, My Father’s War – Confronting Norway’s Nazi Past (Part I – II) pp. 60 – 137.
WATCH: Documentary (2005), clip depicting Vidkun Quisling's 1945 trial & execution (Canvas)
Thu 12 Oct: -occupied Norway – postwar legacy and cultural memory
READ: Westlie, My Father’s War – Confronting Norway’s Nazi Past (Part III), pp. 141 – 172.
READ: Bjarte Bruland and Mats Tangestuen, “The Norwegian Holocaust,” Scandinavian Journal of History, pp. 587-598. (Canvas)
WATCH: trailers and clips: The King’s Choice (2016) and The 12th Man (2017) [Optional Watch: entire films on Prime]
Optional READ: Gunnar Iversen, “Acts of Remembering – Norwegian Occupation Drama,” in Nordic War Stories (eBook).
Due: Sun 15 Oct. Essay #1 on Narrating History, Occupied Norway, or Westlie’s memoir
Weeks 4 and 5: Finland at War; the Continuation War - Unknown Soldiers: We’ll study the fate of Finland in WWII, including 3 separate wars: the Winter War of 1939—1940 (between the Soviet Union and Finland) and the “Continuation War of 1941-44,” when Finland was a ‘co-belligerent’ of Germany, and the Lapland War, 1944-45. We will delve into selected chapters of Linna’s canonical novel, Unknown Soldiers, depicting the Continuation War 1941 - 1944 and discuss how this “collective novel” depicts the Finnish war experience and ask the question: What is a ‘war novel’? Finally, we will consider the battle over the Finnish cultural memory of the World War II.
Tu 17 Oct.
READ: Juhana Auneslouoma, “Finland in WWII: Tragedy, Survival and Good Wars," Nordic War Stories (eBook).
READ: Oula Silvennoinen, “Janus of the North? Finland 1940 – 44; Finland’s road into alliance with Hitler,” in Hitler’s Scandinavian Legacy, 129 – 143 (Canvas).
WATCH: Film clips “The Winter War” (1988); Film clip: “Fire and Ice: The Winter War” (2005) (Canvas).
Optional: Martti Häikiö, “The Race for the North,” (Canvas)
Thu 19 Oct.
READ: Linna, Unknown Soldiers (Chapters 1 – 2), pp. 1 – 69.
READ: Julia Pajunen, “The Battle over Finnish Cultural Memory of War,” in Nordic War Stories (eBook).
Tu 24 Oct.
READ: Juhana Auneslouoma, "Two Shadows over Finland," in Hitler's Scandinavian Legacy (Canvas).
READ: Linna, Unknown Soldiers (Chapters 12 – 13), pp. 334 – 386.
Thu 26 Oct.
READ: Linna, Unknown Soldiers, Chapters 14 – 16, pp. 387 – 466.
WATCH: Trailers/clips of film adaptations, The Unknown Soldier (1955; 1985; 2017)
Week 6 - 7 : Occupied Denmark: Literature & Film as Cultural Memory: Next, we investigate the occupation of Denmark by Nazi Germany and an Allied perspective on Occupation in John Steinbeck’s novella, The Moon is Down (1942) and the role of the underground press. In general, we will discuss how occupation (resistance/collaboration) is depicted in literary works and films. We consider the Danish government’s “policy of negotiation” (policy of cooperation) as well as the Danish resistance movement, as it has been constructed in the national memory and made the subject of documentaries and postwar films.
Tu 31 Oct (Halloween): - allegorical tales about the evil leader, the green invaders and our inner ‘nazi’.
READ: Sofie Lene Bak, “Danish Historical Narratives of the Occupation,: The Promises and Lies of the 9th of April,” in Nordic War Stories (eBook).
READ: H.C. Andersen, "The Wicked Prince - A Fairy Tale” and “The Little Green Ones” (Canvas)
READ: John Steinbeck, The Moon is Down (pp. 1 – 50) and Introduction .
WATCH: Documentary film, Denmark -Living with the Enemy (Canvas)
Thu 2 Nov. - resistance literature as underground propaganda
READ: John Steinbeck, The Moon is Down, pp. 50 - 112
WATCH: Trailer for 'Flame and Citron" (2008) (Canvas)
DUE: Sun 5 Nov. Essay #2 on Finland's ‘Separate’ Wars/Linna's Unknown Soldiers/Steinbeck’s novella.
Tu 7 Nov. -resistance and rescue as Danish occupation legacies
READ: Kim Malthe-Bruun, Resistance and Prison, pp. 137 -177 (Canvas)
READ: Tove Ditlevsen, "Oranges," (Canvas).
Thu 9 Nov – revisionist history in recent Danish Cinema
READ: Marianne Stecher-Hansen, "The War Film as Cultural Memory in Denmark; April 9th and Land of Mine," in Nordic War Stories.
WATCH: "Land of Mine" (2015) (entire film on Canvas)
Week 8: Absent from Cultural Memory? – The Arctic: Indigenous Peoples in WW II: This week we will focus on two overlooked areas in the study of cultural memory of WWII: territories the Danish realm in the North Atlantic (Greenland and Iceland), as well as the Arctic region of northern Scandinavia (Finland, Norway and Sweden) and the impact of World War II on the Saami, the Indigenous people of "Saapmi” (formerly, Lapland).
Tu 14 Nov. North Atlantic - Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands and the Allies
READ: Gudmundur Halfdanarson, “The Icelandic National Narrative and World War II,” in Nordic War Stories (eBook)
READ: Niels Aage Skov, “The Use of Historical Myth: Denmark’s World War II Experience” [Canvas)
Th 16 Nov. Greenland and the Arctic front and the Saami
Guest presentation on Greenland by Morten Stensgaard Larsen, Visiting Lecturer of Danish
READ (again): Niels Aage Skov, “The Use of Historical Myth: Denmark’s World War II Experience” (section about Greenland, pp. 95 - 99) [Canvas)
READ: Aalehtta, “The Sami and World War II” (website)
READ: Lehtola, Veli-Pekka. The Sámi People: Traditions in Transition. Trans. Linna Weber Müller-Wille. Aanaar, Finland: Kustannus-Puntsi, 2002, pp. 52 - 55. (Canvas).
DUE: Sun 19 Nov. Abstract and Bibliography
Weeks 9 and 10 Sweden’s Neutrality –Bystander and Rescuer Nation - Holocaust memoir and postmemory: In relation to the war in Finland at war and occupied Denmark and Norway, we will examine Sweden’s political neutrality during WWII, a position that came under scrutiny in the postwar decades. Sweden’s postwar humanitarian legacy will also be investigated. In the context of cultural memory study, we will read the award-winning memoir A Brief Stop on the Road from Auschwitz, written by the Swedish son of Polish Holocaust survivors.
Tu 21 Nov.
READ: John Gilmour, “Sweden’s Ambiguous War,” in Nordic War Stories (eBook)
READ: Goran Rosenberg, A Brief Stop on the Road from Auschwitz, pp. 3 – 74 (“The Place” and “The Wall”)
Thu 23 Nov. Thanksgiving holiday – no class
Tu 28 Nov.
Guest presentation by PhD student Karin Filipsson on Sweden in WWII and Rosenberg's work
READ: Ken Zetterberg, “The Case of Sweden,” in Hitler’s Scandinavian Legacy, pp. 101 – 124. (on Canvas)
READ: Rosenberg, A Brief Stop on the Road from Auschwitz, pp. 74 - 157 (“”The Carousel” and “The Road”)
Thu 30 Nov.
READ: Rosenberg, A Brief Stop on the Road from Auschwitz, pp. 275 - 330 (“The Shadows” and “The Aftermath”)
READ: Johan Östling, “The Rise and Fall of Small-State Realism: Sweden and the Second World War,” in Hitler’s Scandinavian Legacy pp. 127 – 142 (Canvas).
Study Questions for the Final Test. Review of instructions and formatting of Final Papers
Week 11: Conference and conclusions
Tu 5 Dec. “Class Conference” (Oral presentation of term paper in designated peer groups).
Th 7 Dec. In-class, on-line final test (bring your laptop)/ online Course Evaluations
DUE: Wed. 13 December (by midnight): Final Papers
Religious Accommodations Policy: “Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).”