Threats and euphemisms: the antisemitic propaganda of Nasjonal Samling during the summer and autumn of 1942

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses the antisemitic propaganda disseminated by the Norwegian National Socialist Party, Nasjonal Samling (NS), from July to the end of December 1942. At that time, the anti-Jewish policy in Nazi-occupied Norway reached its culmination point, with mass arrests and deportations to Auschwitz–Birkenau. This article analyses how the image of ‘the Jew’ was constructed and communicated by the NS leadership and in the party press. Furthermore, it explores the extent to which the propaganda contained general and specific threats against the Jewish minority in Norway. A general conclusion is that the NS, at this stage, promoted an intense and aggressive antisemitism. ‘The Jew’ was represented as the incarnation of evil and the wire-puller behind all enemies of the Axis. The party also transmitted a clear message to the German occupation authority that they wanted – and were willing to participate in – radical anti-Jewish actions. Moreover, after 26 November 1942, the NS leadership and official party publications also defended the deportations as necessary for Norwegians’ self-protection. Consequently, this article emphasizes the co-responsibility of the party in the Holocaust.