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The eighth of May. One of the days that binds the present to the past. And more than many others; Wednesday marks exactly 79 years since Norway became free again after five years of German occupation. Since 2011, this has also been official Veterans Day; a day where we celebrate those who have fought for Norway with weapons in hand.
For most of us, this is history, for more and more, distant history. Few witnesses are still alive, even those of us with parents who experienced the war – and could tell about it – are becoming fewer. And yes, we say “The War”, as if there was only one war.
That’s exactly what makes us a lucky people. World War II was a historical exception. During the First World War, which in other countries is often referred to as “The Great War”, we were neutral, and although we were occupied during the second, it was – with a few heavy exceptions – a fairly mild occupation.
If we are among the countries that have been relatively lucky when it comes to wars, Ukraine is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Not only is the country at war as this is being written, the Ukrainian land area is one of the areas that throughout history has been exposed to the most wars and the most deadly violence.
“Bloodlands” or “Dødsmarkene” is the name the American historian Timothy Snyder has given these areas in the book of the same name. It gives an extremely brutal and shocking description of European history in the interwar period and during the Second World War.
The book deals with areas that make up today’s Ukraine. It was where the majority of Europe’s Jews lived, it was where Hitler’s and Stalin’s armies fought each other, it was where the SS and the KGB were most active. It was “simply the area where Europe’s most murderous regimes carried out their murders”, as Snyder writes.
To understand Europe’s history, and Norway’s, we have to understand this history, says Snyder today. If your European narrative doesn’t take you through Ukraine then it must be wrong. No matter where you live, but especially in Scandinavia, he says in an interview with the Danish Weekendavisen.
The Scandinavian connection is due to the fact that Scandinavian Vikings were central in establishing the first “Rus”, the first Russian state formation. Which might as well be called Ukrainian, as it originated in Kyiv.
But we Scandinavians are not alone, the whole of Europe is struggling to take over Ukraine’s central role, says Snyder. Both because we have become so good at telling ourselves that history is not important, and because in any case we rather maintain our own, national narratives where Ukraine does not belong.
This remoteness to both history and to Ukraine becomes shorter on a day like May 8. But it won’t go away completely and I take it upon myself to ask how we in Norway would react if we were the ones who were invaded and occupied again. Would we be willing to fight and die for our values and our freedom?
One who doubts is the historian Nils Rune Langeland who last year traveled along the border with Russia, from Kirkenes in the north to Georgia in the south. The journey is described in the book “Freedom’s border”, and in an interview in NRK’s ”Trygdekontoret”.
There, Langeland tells of two meetings. The first is with Norwegian 19-year-olds on their way to first service; innocent, chubby and with their noses in their mobile phones.
The second is with young Ukrainian soldiers at the train station in Lviv; tired, war-weary and with “death in the face”.
They have been willing to sacrifice everything for their country, while Langeland believes Norwegian youth, yes, most Norwegians – himself included – who will most often react to the unpleasantness of taking their values with them and going to a warm and safe place until it’s all over.
Right here, Norwegians are hardly alone in Europe. The military support for Ukraine was long cautious, more guided by the need not to provoke Putin too much than by Ukraine’s military needs.
Snyder puts it this way: The only reason the rest of us aren’t at war yet is that Ukraine has fought the war for us.
A defeat for Ukraine, where the country is placed under Russia, would thus be a bigger step towards a war in which we are also directly involved, than even more military support for Ukraine in the future.
While popular support for Ukraine has been very strong, a certain war weariness is now spreading in many Western countries.
Some have also begun to question NATO’s commitment to the joint defense of all member states that are attacked. Because then your own country ends up in war, and do you want that?
One of the strengths of democracy is that it allows free exchange of opinions. It also means that they allow criticism of their own country, their own authorities, their own values. In recent years, this criticism has increased in strength.
More and more people are asking fundamental questions about what we can call “Western values” in the wake of, among other things, colonialism and imperialism.
This is happening at the same time as other social systems are strengthening support for their “values”, whether it is about Russian imperialism, Chinese nationalism or Islamic fundamentalism. All movements that have shown themselves willing to use extremely violent means to achieve their goals.
Certainly there is much to criticize in democratic societies as well, but today too much of the criticism tends to reject the basic claim that democracy is the best form of governance, as well as to imply that values such as freedom, justice and equality are hardly worth defending. At least not if it costs us anything.
The eighth of May is thus a perfect day to remind us of what we risk losing. Now there is little indication that we are facing an immediate danger of war, but the less we are willing to stand up for our values today, the greater the chance that we will lose them in the future.
And again have to pay a very high price to get them back.
