Lysistrata In Oslo

Out of a soldiers' bordello in the heart of Oslo's streamlined business section slipped four Paris trulls. Well-bribed German sentries let them pass. Members of the underground guided them on their four-night walk to Sweden. In Stockholm last week, over their first good meal in nearly a year, chunky, raucous Suzette and waspish, salty Marianne told the four girls' story.

"None of us were amateurs, of course," Suzette explained. "We had all worked at the Bal Tabarin since before the war. But we never collaborated. A year ago the Germans were gathering a complement to send to the Maison Oslo and they did not have quite enough volunteers. So they grabbed us. They told our troop of 42 that it was for six months.

"We worked hard; 50 to 60 coups par jour. From three to ten at night. And three flights of stairs every time. My feet were gone before dark. Soldiers and sailors came from all over Norway, and officers in civilian clothes. We knew what ships were in port, what units were passing through, but there was no one to tell."

Marianne took up the tale. "The food was terrible. Potatoes and fish. If we asked for seconds, we were gourmandes. And after the way we were working! We lived in the rooms where we worked and we could not leave the house. Sentries stopped us at the door. We made three kroner par coup (nominally $1.40), which added up. But when we sent our money home, the filthy Boche stole it."

"Most of our clients thought we had plenty of time," Suzette resumed. "Idiots. With a queue halfway round the block.

"After six months they told us we had to stay two months more. We howled but it did no good. After eight months they told us we still could not leave. We struck. There's a good deal of solidarity in our corporation, if I may be permitted the word, and our strike was solid. Twenty-one days we kept it up. They put double sentries around the house. To retaliate, we put on a strip tease near the windows until the street was filled with gawking soldiers. Then the Wehrmacht Recreation Officer came with an ultimatum: back to work or out to a fish factory."

"And that," said Marianne, "was serious, you know. Some of the girls, mostly those who had worked in France, were for giving in. So we four decided to run. After all, we're patriots--and, besides, with the Americans in Paris. ..."

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