8th of May 1945, Independence Day

The celebrations had started on the seventh, as soon as the news of Hitler's suicide spread. On the eight the celebrations continued as Berlin capitulatedto the Allies. When the occupation of Norway officially ended at midnight to the ninth day of may, the Norwegian people entered their third day of celebrations.

Norway did of course celebrate along with his people, drinking and singing and dancing and waving his flag. He did that, and he was social. At times. But mostly he walked and watched. He was glad that it was over. He was happy to have his independence back. He was proud of his people. He was tired after working far too hard for far too long. He was angry that he had been too naive to properly defend himself. He was sad that so much and so many were lost. He had lost too much to truly celebrate these days. Maybe in the future, when the wounds had closed. When a generation was born that had not lived under the shadow of war. When moss grew on the grave markers of fallen heroes…

He wanted his people to forget and to move on. He knew they could not do it, and he wanted his heroes to be remembered, but hate and resent would do no good in the long run and therefore it was better to forget. Not everything, no, just enough that they would be sincere when they forgave.

He walked up the Karl Johan, towards the Royal Palace. The Royal family had yet to return, though the Crown Prince Olav was already planning his journey. How Norway looked forward to seeing the young man again. He glanced absentmindedly at the buildings, but had to look back. He smiled a bit as he read the sign again. Closed because of Joy, the sign read. It was hung in the door of a book store. He walked on, watching the greening trees and breathing the fresh spring air. The sweet scence of flowers and candy and the aroma of dinners drifting out from second-story flats mingled with the smoke from the burning blending curtains

He knew it was wrong of him, but he tried to forget the young woman in the alley. He had not helped her. He had tried, but could not find in himself to do anything. He was disgusted with himself, knowing what would happen to those young women who fell in love with the wrong handsome man, and to the innocent children whose only fault was their fathers nationality. Yet he let it happen.

No victory is truly great, and everyone lose in every war. There is never any true victor, because the moment a war break out; all sides have lost. Norway sighed as he finished his walk and closed the door behind him. He had been given a little room connected to the Royal Flat in the Palace, nothing permanent, just until he could find another place. His had been burned.

Rebuilding would take a long time. He sifted through the stacks of papers at his desk. Everything was in minus. He lacked even the most fundamental resources and if the situation did not change he would have to ration some goods well into the next millenia. He could export fish and ammunition, maybe increase tourism, but no one in Europe had money or want to travel or really for anything but rebuilding their own countries. Maybe USA… though his pride would certainly take a hit if he had to accept help from such a young nation, just because he had not been able to defend himself. The North American probably would not offer anyways. Maybe he could build hydro powerplants? Yet again he lacked the financial resources.

Well then, nothing much he could do before his King and the Government came back home, so he better celebrate a bit more. And have a chat with Russia, the young one still had soldiers on his side of the border. Ah. Damn it. Hopefully he would not be caught in the middle of some not-quite-peaceful testosterone-filled I-have-more-guns-than-you competition between the two young Powers. Surely they were both smart enough to avoid that kind of tension after such a catastofic World War. Once again assured that the world would follow common sense and that everything would be fine, Norway sat down with a good book, celebrating his independence by shutting out the world.

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Congratulations!

For those who did not know, in Norway the Eight of May is celebrated as our Independence Day, it is not a large celebration, but the Norwegian flag will decorate many houses today.

History lesson:

2. World War in Norway, extremely short edition.

9th of april 1940, Germany attacks Norway, the Royal family and the Government eventually escape to England with all the gold in the Norwegian Bank.

Two months of resistance before official kapitulation.

Quisling-regime.

Commando-Saboteurs, soldiers in exile and civil disobedience.

1943, arrest of all professors at the Univerity of Oslo and many other teachers throughout the country.

Germans burns the northern ⅓ to stop the Soviets.

8th of May 1945, Berlin capitulates.

9th of May 1945, German forces in Norway surrender.

Did you know that during the entire war Hitler had more than 30 000 soldiers stationed in Norway, a tiny country with 3 million citizens?

Author's note:

I am back home in Norway. You may expect faster updates, and I will try, but I have four english essays, four english tests and six lifescience tests next week. It is crazy and it is entirely my fault for starting on my schoolwork one and a half month before the end of the year. I am an idiot, please wish me luck.

Here is the list I promised with some of my ideas, if you have any, please tell me.

-17th of May. Several scenes depicting the history of Norway's Constitution Day.

-The Swedish-Norwegian was of 1814, more specifically, the Treaty of Moss, in which Norway surrenders to Sweden after losing the war. He takes the Swedish king as his, but he retains control over internal matters. In the Treaty of Moss they also stress that the Union of Sweden and Norway was not a fulfilling of the Treaty of Kiel.

-Norway making fun of the fact that of all European nation, Sweden has the most McDonalds restaurants per capita.

-England and Romania slipping veritaserum into his coffee at a world meeting, preferably one where he is required to make some sort of speech.

-A head-ache inducing one-shot about the Norwegian Language Debate. It is the longest running debate in Norwegian history, it started in 1814 and continue to this day.

What do you think? Please follow, favourite, review, comment, pm me or just go on reading the next story you find interesting.

Happy Independence Day,

Shrizyne