1941 theatre strike in Norway

The theatre strike in Norway in 1941 was a conflict between Norwegian actors and Nazi authorities, during the German occupation of the country. The strike involved theatres in the cities of Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. The strike started on 21 May 1941, as a response to the revocation of working permits for six actors, after they had refused to perform in the Nazified radio. It lasted for five weeks.

In Norway there was a state monopoly on radio, which was broadcast by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). When Norway was invaded by Germany on 9 April 1940, the Nazis seized control of NRK. A Norwegian Theatre Directorate was established, subordinate to the Ministry of Culture and Enlightenment.

During the early period of the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, cultural conflicts did not surface. But eventually, about the turn of the year 1940/1941, actors started to express unwillingness to participate in German festivities, and to perform on radio. The resistance movement also issued a parole against radio appearance. On 14 January 1941 Minister Lunde issued a bull of excommunication, which said that any actor who declined to perform publicly, either on theatre, in radio or at festivities organized by the authorities, should not be allowed to work as an actor in Norway. This prompted theatre directors to gather in Oslo, and contact was established between the directors and the Norwegian Actors' Equity Association (NSF). There was a general agreement that Lunde's document violated basic civil rights, and that such violations were unacceptable. On 23 January board members of NSF were summoned to Reichskommissar Terboven's office, where they were told that German authorities supported the Ministry, and that violations would be met by the strongest measures. To be held responsible were both the actor herself/himself, the theatre director, the union representative, and the entire board of the NSF. Schwenzen, acting chairman of NSF, published the directives on bulletin boards at the various theatres. A strike parole, formulated by Gerda Ring and August Lange, was secretly distributed among actors, signed and hidden. The parole text said that if an artist should lose their work for non-artistical reasons, the undersigned were willing to take the consequence and go on strike. Subsequent negotiations between theatre workers and authorities eventually resulted in a document that was mutually accepted. In particular the document emphasized that actors could freely dispose of their spare time.

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