Nygaardsvolds takknemlighet
A Prime Minister's thanks
Johann Nygaardsvold (1879-1952), pictured right, was the Norwegian Prime Minister between 1935 and 1945. He led the government-in-exile in London from 1940 until they returned to Oslo on 31 May 1945. Buckie was an important town for the work of the Norwegian government-in-exile.
During the war, the Norwegian Ministry of Commerce (Handelsdepartementet) had significant involvement with Buckie and the Minister of Commerce, Olav Hindahl (right), visited the town on a number of occasions, connected primarily with the Royal Norwegian Slip or the Buckie Section of the Fiskerikontoret (the Fisheries Office of the ministry). In 1944, Hindahl attended the celebration of 17 May (Norwegian Constitution Day) in Buckie, being introduced by Frank Mohn at a meeting in the Town's House.
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On 31 May 1945, Nygaardsvold led his government back to Norway following the German surrender. The video below shows the event (commentary in Norwegian).
The hated signs of the occupation - such as the swastika flying over the Storting building in Oslo - had been expunged. The affront of the flag on the parliament building and Nazi troops marching through the streets of Oslo were now over and freedom and democracy had triumphed of dictatorship and totalitarianism. And, Buckie's part in that triumph was soon to be acknowledged in the Norwegian Parliament by Prime Minister Nygaardsvold. |
On the 14 June 1945, President of the Storting, C.J. Hambro opened the session of Parliament. Over the coming days, Prime Minister Nygaardsvold and his ministers presented their account of the war.
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In the course of his lengthy address to parliament, Prime Minister Nygaardsvold made mention of only a handful of British places (other than London) and one of them was Buckie.
The Commerce Department was also no stranger to the work its departments undertake in the Ministry of Commerce here in Norway, namely the fishing industry. In Buckie, Scotland, we had a whole colony of fishermen who pursued their customary trade as in Norway. Up there we also had a slipway, a mechanic workshop for repair of fishing vessels. These fishing vessels that have crossed the North Sea to Britain will all be taken care of, they will be repaired and they will probably be sailed back to Norway to do the service in the fishing at home again. Read Nygaardsvold's full address (text in Norwegian)
Lese Nygaardsvolds hel tale (tekst på norsk)
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