Heroes on Strike

Snow lay deep on the hills around Oslo. On Christmas Day, as always, Norwegians thronged the ski slopes. Men over 45 and boys under 18, outside the Nazi slave-labor brackets, began practicing for this winter's illegal championship, the fourth since Norway's athletes went on strike.

The sports strike started in November 1940, when Nazis suppressed the Norwegian Sports Association with its 300,000 members, a tenth of the population. Patriots rebelled at the New Order's all-powerful little Fuehrers in every sport and district. They substituted secret cross-country meets and ski championships.

The boycott was immediately effective. The world-famed ski meet on Holmenkollen, attracting 450 crack jumpers, was abandoned. When quislings tried to organize their own Holmenkollen meet, only 20 nonentities signed up. When a quisling was made president of the Oslo Gymnastic Society, all 7,000 members resigned. Sixty-four wrestlers signed up for matches with Denmark. Day of the elimination contests, not one appeared.

Hitler & Himmler.

Skiers ignored Hitler's demand for 20 blond Aryans to compete at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Himmler went to Norway and repeated the invitation, with threats. No results. Olympic Champion Birger Ruud announced that he would burn his skis before he would compete in compulsory Germanic sports.

Next the Nazis tried terror. Two famed skiers, Krisitian Aubert and Tor Salvesen, were questioned by the Gestapo; burly torturers trampled on their chests until shattered ribs pierced their lungs. Skater Ivar Ballanrud and scores of other athletes were arrested. But of Norway's 300,000 organized sportsmen, no more than 1% went over to the quislings.

A few matches were finally held. Only 90 people turned out to watch the first day of a national skating championship. Last fall's football (soccer) championship drew only a handful. Oslo's Bislet Stadium was deserted when track & field championships were held last summer.

Sports Underground.

As in Czecho Slovakia, this sports sabotage soon became the prototype and nucleus of the underground movement. Though many of Norway's top athletes have escaped to join United Nations' forces, sports clubs remain important cells.

Most dangerous part of the strike are the surreptitious championships, particularly in skiing. Last winter's ended in tragedy. One Sunday afternoon, 90 crack jumpers mysteriously appeared on a hillside near Oslo. Asbjoern Ruud had barely made the winning leap of 72 meters (234 ft.) when the police arrived. The new champion was dragged off to concentration camp along with 24 other competitors.

Eventually released because of tuberculosis, he will be too weak to jump this winter. His famed brothers, Birger and Sigmund, who both cleared 70 meters at last winter's meet, will also be missing. They are in Kongsvinger prison.

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