“The Heritage We Are Fighting For: Democracy and Lutheran Christianity.” Civil Resistance, Christian Belief, and the Norwegian School during Nazi Occupation

Abstract Civil resistance, especially the so-called school struggle, was the most successful resistance to the Nazi occupation regime in Norway. Despite this recognition, several aspects remain under-researched and lack comprehensive analysis. While the overarching developments of the school struggle are well documented, its ideological motives have received far less attention. This is particularly true with regard to Christian values, which were part of a trinity of counter-propaganda: Norwegian democracy, the protection of children and youth, and Lutheran Christianity. While the first two elements have been discussed in research, the third has primarily been studied within the context of church resistance in Norway. This article addresses this gap and shows that Christian values were closely tied to the protest of the school front against Nazism. The analysis centers on watchwords, circulars, directives, and moral advice disseminated nationwide by teachers, school representatives, and parents. Leaders of the school front recognized that emphasizing Christian values together with the role of the teaching profession in the Norwegian nation-building process would strengthen the protest. By framing teachers as defenders of Christian upbringing and education, in line with Norwegian traditions and law, they created a powerful opposition to the national socialist ideology and turned the school struggle into a successful mass movement.