H7 was the royal cypher of the Norwegian head of state, King Haakon VII, who reigned from 1905 to 1957. When Germany invaded Norway in 1940 as a part of World War II, the royal family fled the country and Haakon VII later spearheaded the Norwegian resistance in exile in the United Kingdom. H7 became one of several symbols used by the Norwegian populace to mark solidarity with and loyalty to the King, and adherence to the Norwegian resistance movement.
According to Minister of Foreign Affairs Bjørn Tore Godal, speaking at the 50th anniversary for Victory in Europe Day, Norway was the only country in which the initials of the head of state became a resistance symbol. [1] The monogram, with H superimposed on 7, was drawn on fences, walls, houses, roads, in the snow and otherwise in the public sphere. [2] It was also used in illegal art. [3] Coins with the H7 symbol were also attached to clothes. [4] Such coins were confiscated by the Nazi authorities. [5] It was also used in the private sphere, among others on the inside of blinds. [6]
A symbol used in a similar way was the "V for victory", as popularised by Winston Churchill. However, the Axis attempted to usurp this sign, supposedly with the new meaning of "V for Viktoria". [7] While this campaign was successful in most of Nazi-occupied Europe, it failed in Norway: Despite continued official use, the opposition also adopted the V-sign as an abbreviation of verlieren (German for "to lose"), and filled in the Nazi V's with the H7 monogram. [8] In fact, this popularized the use of H7, which was soon drawn without the V. [5]
The act of drawing or creating a H7 symbol in German-occupied Norway was punishable by imprisonment. [9] Another possible sanction was terror from Nazi paramilitary groups, to which the police were ordered not to respond. [4]
The symbol was also evoked after World War II to have a commemorative effect, among others at the first post-war Holmenkollen ski jump event, when the symbol was formed in large scale by people. [10] It was also used on post-war coins. [11]
Haakon VII was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957.
The Norwegian resistance to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:
Maximo Guillermo "Max" Manus DSO, MC & Bar was a Norwegian resistance fighter during World War II, specialising in sabotage in occupied Norway. After the war he wrote several books about his adventures and started the successful office supply company Max Manus AS.
A monogram or wenzel is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series of uncombined initials is properly referred to as a cypher and is not a monogram.
Gunnar Fridtjof Thurmann Sønsteby DSO was a member of the Norwegian resistance movement during the German occupation of Norway in World War II. Known by the nickname "Kjakan" and as "Agent No. 24", he was the most highly decorated citizen in Norway, including being the only person to have been awarded the War Cross with three swords, Norway's highest military decoration.
Nils Per Imerslund, born in Kristiania, Norway, was one of the most prominent figures of the Nazi scene in pre-World War II Norway. He first gained prominence at home and abroad with the publication in 1936 of his début book, Das Land Noruega, a fictionalised autobiography of his youth in Mexico. His blonde, blue-eyed stature and extravagant way of life gave him the position of "the Aryan Idol". A loathing of his homosexuality and self-perceived feminine traits, led him to frequently risk his life. He lived most of his early years in Mexico and Germany, fought with the Sturmabteilung (SA) in Berlin in the 1930s, fought with the Fascist Falange in the Spanish Civil War, and finally joined the Waffen SS to fight in Ukraine and Finland, where he was severely injured. He died at Aker University Hospital on 7 December 1943. Imerslund also participated in radio broadcasts in the Nazi-controlled Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
The German occupation of Norway began on 9 April 1940. In 1942, there were at least 2,173 Jews in Norway. At least 775 of them were arrested, detained and/or deported. More than half of the Norwegians who died in camps in Germany were Jews. 742 Jews were murdered in the camps and 23 Jews died as a result of extrajudicial execution, murder and suicide during the war, bringing the total of Jewish Norwegian dead to at least 765, comprising 230 complete households.
The Osvald Group was a Norwegian organisation that was the most active World War II resistance group in Norway from 1941 to the summer of 1944. Numbering more than 200 members, it committed at least 110 acts of sabotage against Nazi occupying forces and the collaborationist government of Vidkun Quisling. The organisation is perhaps best known for conducting the first act of resistance against the German occupation of Norway, when on 2 February 1942 it detonated a bomb at Oslo East Station in protest against Quisling's inauguration as Minister-President.
Lauritz Sand was a Norwegian topographer, military officer in the Dutch army, estate owner in the Dutch East Indies, business man and resistance pioneer of World War II. He was called the hardest tortured person in Norway during the war, and came to be an important symbol of the resistance against the Nazi regime.
Richard Andvord was a Norwegian businessperson and resistance member.
The Quisling regime or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 1942 until its dissolution in May 1945 was Den nasjonale regjering. Actual executive power was retained by the Reichskommissariat Norwegen, headed by Josef Terboven.
Sven Arntzen was a Norwegian barrister. He was also the acting director general of the Norwegian Prosecuting Authority from 1945 to 1946, and played an important role in the legal purge in Norway after World War II.
Johan Scharffenberg was a Norwegian psychiatrist, politician, speaker and writer.
Oslogjengen was a sabotage group operating in Oslo from May 1944 to May 1945, during the last year of the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. The group had its basis in both the British Special Operations Executive and the Norwegian Milorg, was coordinated by Gunnar Sønsteby, and had around ten members. It was the dominant sabotage group in Oslo between May and September 1944, when they performed a series of successful sabotage operations.
Aake Anker Ording was a Norwegian civil servant and politician for Mot Dag and the Labour Party.
Erling Welle-Strand was a Norwegian writer and resistance member.
Edvard Sylou-Creutz was a Norwegian classical pianist, composer and radio personality, who was especially active in Nazi-controlled radio in Germany and occupied Norway between March 1940 and the autumn of 1942.
Lars Borgersrud is a Norwegian military historian and government scholar. His work has largely centered on World War II in Norway.
Harald Sundt was a Norwegian businessperson.
Oliver Hansen Langeland was a Norwegian military officer and civil servant. He had careers in both civil service and the military, and is best known as leader of Milorg District 13 from 1942 to 1944.