"Vi vil oss et land" (lit. 'We Want Ourselves a Country') is a famous phrase in the context of Norwegian

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

, derived from a poem by

Per Sivle Per Sivle (6 April 1857 – 6 September 1904) was a Norwegian poet, novelist and newspaper editor. He is known for his novel ''Streik'' from 1891, and for his collections of stories issued between 1887 and 1895, ''Sogor'' (includes the story "Ber ...

. It has been evoked by many different groups, including during the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

, when an arrest order was issued on the deceased Sivle.

Original use

It is taken from a poem by

(1857–1904) issued in 1895, ten years before Norway gained its independence. Sivle's poem, titled "Vi vil os et Land -", was published in the poetry collection '' Bersøglis- og andre Viser'' from 1895. It was originally written as the last verse of the occasional poem "Her spirer i Norge", written for a procession in support of universal male suffrage organized by

Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in 1894.

Later use

The phrase has been evoked by several very different groups who have appealed to Norwegian nationalism. It was praised as a "delightful poem of liberty" in the

Communist Party of Norway The Communist Party of Norway (, NKP) is a communist party in Norway. The NKP was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. It was Stalinist from its establishment and, as such, supported the Soviet government while oppo ...

newspaper ''

Norges Kommunistblad was a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. History was started on 5 November 1923 as the official party newspaper from the Communist Party of Norway, Communist Party, which was established that year after a split from the Norwegian Lab ...

'' in 1925, and the

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

Fatherland Party opened the 1997 election manifesto with a part of the poem. The poem lent its name to a 1936 film, which agitated for the Conservative Party ahead of the 1936 election. The opening words of the poem are reportedly written on the tombstone of

politician Johannes Steen, and are also engraved in a portal on an avenue leading to the Eidsvoll Building, where the nationalist-symbolic

Constitution of Norway The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish language, Danish: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian Bokmål: ; Nynorsk, Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the N ...

was drafted and signed. During the

, ''Vi vil oss et land'' was the name of one of the first

anti-Nazi Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

illegal newspapers, written among others by

Olav Gjærevoll Olav Gjærevoll (24 September 1916 – 30 August 1994) was a Norwegian botanist and politician for the Labour Party (Norway) , Labour Party. Gjærevoll was a professor of botany at the University of Trondheim from 1958 to 1986, and was a specia ...

Gunnar Sønsteby Gunnar Fridtjof Thurmann Sønsteby DSO ( 1918 – 10 May 2012) was a member of the Norwegian resistance movement during the German occupation of Norway in World War II. Known by the nickname "Kjakan" ("The Chin") and as "Agent No. 24", ...

and

Max Manus Maximo Guillermo Manus DSO, MC & Bar (9 December 1914 – 20 September 1996) 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 ...

. A rendition of the poem was staged in 1940 by theatre director Henry Gleditsch, who ended up being killed by the Nazis. In 1942 the poem was printed in an illegal newspaper based in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

. It was signed with Per Sivle's name, resulting in the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

issuing an arrest order for the long-dead Sivle.

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em

External links

A scan of the 1942 newspaper that printed the poem
Norwegian words and phrases Norwegian resistance movement