From Enemies To Friends
I’m sure my ancestors would have been surprised at how much my wife and I were rooting for Norway in the World Cup. To understand their surprise, you need to know a bit about the relations between Norway and Sweden, home of my wife’s and my ancestors.
I grew up hearing the story of my great-great uncle, also named David, who fled Sweden in the early 20th century to avoid the latest tension between Sweden and Norway. A quick dive into the history of the region offered no mention of war between the two neighboring countries at that time. Nevertheless, there had been decades of Sweden lording it over Norway before Norway achieved its independence in 1905.
During WWII, the relations between Norway and Sweden were severely strained. Hitler allowed Sweden to remain technically neutral during the war under the condition that the Swedish government allow German troops to travel through Sweden to invade and subjugate neighboring Norway. While Norway resisted heroically, neighboring Sweden prospered financially by doing business with both the Nazis and the Allies.
As recently as the late 1970s, a Norwegian high school classmate of my wife chastised my wife and me for Sweden’s betrayal of Norway during that period. I couldn’t help but agree. It was a dark moment in Swedish history.
Norway’s fortunes changed for the better in the 70s with the discovery of oil under the North Sea. My wife and I lived in Scotland at the time while I was pursuing a graduate degree, so we were able to see first-hand the contrasting ways Scotland and Norway were affected by the oil in the seabed between them.
The Scots watched as the huge financial gains from the oil were siphoned off by the government in London. Scottish cities like Aberdeen bloomed as boom towns with lots of work offered on the oil rigs for locals and foreign workers until the oil played out. Now, Aberdeen is filled with “To Let” signs posted on numerous vacant buildings.
Norway’s experience with the oil boom was significantly different. Instead of the profits going to outside interests, the profits benefitted the Norwegian people and funded other Norwegian industries. Norway became the place of so much opportunity that many Swedes, like my wife’s cousins, now live and work in Oslo, Norway’s capital.
In a visit to my wife’s relatives a decade ago, we were astonished by the prosperity in Norway. That prosperity seems to have only increased since our visit. The majority of people live in stunning neighborhoods and drive electric vehicles. Many residents have a yacht moored in one of Oslo’s many harbors. Norway is no longer the poor little sister to Sweden; Norway is now the dominant sibling.
Newly prosperous Norway, given Sweden’s treatment of her in the past, could have responded by seeking revenge. Norway could have made it difficult, even impossible, for Swedes to enter their county, much less work there. Another possible response would have been for Norwegians to treat Swedes working in their country as second-class citizens.
Norway chose a different path. The border between the two countries is porous. With the two languages being similar, my wife’s relatives say that the younger generation seems free of the grudges from the past. We normally think of forgiveness as something that one person offers another. It is worth noting when one country offers forgiveness to another, especially a past foe. No wonder that my wife’s Swedish relatives rooted for Norway in the World Cup. No wonder that my wife and I did as well.