Symbols of Oslo pt. 1: Fascism

Of the many ornaments one can see on buildings in Oslo there are several with a more obscure meaning than one would perhaps expect to see, and there are some with meanings that have been somewhat altered since the buildings were erected. People usually don't notice these symbols, but if they would, they might be surprised to find what looks like nazi and fascist symbols.

Perhaps the most well known, and debated ornament is Sommerrogaten 1, just by the national library. The building was built in 1931 as the corporate hq of Oslo Lysverker, now known as Hafslund. An electrical company. While Hitler and the NSDAP had adopted the symbol several years earlier in 1920 the symbol was still widely used by a flurry of other people around the world, as any google search for "Coca Cola + Swastika" will tell you. The reason the swastika was used on this gate is probably due to the symbolic link to prechristian religion in Norway. The swastika was supposedly a symbol for the god Thor, a thunder god. A thunder god is an apt symbol for an electrical company, especially during the twenties and thirties when viking and nordic symbols were still popular in Norway. Naturally many of these, such as the swastika, were discredited during the occupation of the fourties.

However the swastika can be found on other buildings in Oslo, as well as in the rest of Norway, such is this one - which is indeed on Karl Johansgate, just by the central train station. While Sommerrogaten is located a bit away from the city center, this building is right smack in the middle of everything. The busiest shopping street in Norway, not far from the largest train station in Norway, on the same street as the parliament and even the royal palace. Still, nobody seems to notice. Next time you're down there, just look above the 7/11 signs, and be baffled. I don't really know anything about this building, but I would guess it's a simple use of geometrical ornamentation without much consideration put into it. Notice that this one is sinistroverse, while the one on the gate and the one used by the NSDAP was rectoverse.

A more direct link to fascism can be found at the norwegian supreme court a few blocks away. One of the entrances is adorned with a pair of fasces, a lesser known fascist symbol, but the one the movement got its name from. The fasces is in use around the world by police (such as in norway), the US congress and courts, and it's not really strange. This form of the fasces is otherwise known as a lictores rod and was a symbol of authority in the roman empire, as it was carried (almost like a badge, but much more concretely) by a group known as the lictores. The lictores were a form of special judges, who were allowed to apprehend, trial and execute suspects, much like Judge Dredd. Their historic and symbolic link to modern police and courts is evident. Mussolini and his boys however adopted the symbol for two reasons. The first being the physical construction of the rod: sticks tied together for strength were seen as symbolic of how the early fascists saw themselves - as groups of individuals banded together. And that is how they got their names Fasci de Combattimento: combat groups in more plain language. Secondly the fasci was a symbol of the roman empire, which the fascist yearned to ressurect.

There are other symbols too to be found, that are certainly not directly linked to fascism, but have been so indirectly through their connection to facist regimes. Specifically the Iron Cross and the Eagle. These symbols too can be found on buildings in Oslo. These eagles look especially totalitarian - and considering that they look like they're perched on a pair of death runes (another symbol avidly used by the national socialists) I feel they belong in this blog. The picture is a bit small here, but right click on it and select "view image" for a better look. I have no idea what this building houses, but it is located a few blocks from the norwegian parliament (the Storting) and looks incredibly ominous. I think this fine little neoclassical doorway might just be my new favorite doorway in all of Oslo.

I'm certain there are many other examples of fasces and swastikas in Oslo (and so forth), and that these are just a few. The park area Vigelandsparken along with Gustav Vigeland's museum just by it is even worthy of a blog post all to itself, with its numerous swastikas or swastikalike symbols, alongside neoclassical statues and pan germanic romanticism. Given time I might return to this subject at some point. Incidentally one of the few grand projects shared by nazis and social democrats in Norway. The planning of the park was started before the war, while the german occupational government broke the ground, and the post war government finished it. Other similar projects were discarded after the war, and some cases buildings and statues erected during the war were destroyed. The supreme irony of this "cooperation" is of course that the swastikas a the museum are mixed with atleast one Star of David. Only goes to show that a symbol, just like history, might be more than meets the eye.