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Poetry || SubmissionsA MEDAL WITH THE WRONG SIDE UP"One can always win a war, but how does one conquer peace?" Michael Holmboe Meyer This is a poem about Norwegian freedom fighters and its aftermath. Here is a story from a very, very small country rallying to its own defence when it was suddenly attacked by armies which outnumbered its own forces in a very high scale. Quoting Roosevelt: "Look to Norway": On April 9, 1940, the same day as the Germans began their massive invasion of this very poorly defended land, the leader of the National Assembly (NS), Vidkun Quisling said in a radio broadcast that he had formed a "national government" with himself as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. The party he headed had never been represented in the government and had only a few scattered members. Both in Norwegian and in English the word "quisling" immediately became a synonym for traitor. Ideologically the party he led was related to Hitler`s National Socialist Party. It advocated, among other things, the superiority of the Aryan race and participated actively in persecuting the Jews and in terror against the Norwegian civilians who passively or actively worked against the occupation forces and their Norwegian collaborators. The war had cost the lives of 10,000 Norwegians. Nine thousand Norwegians had been prisoners in German concentration camps. Many did not survive. Many came back damaged for life. Of the 760 Norwegian Jews who were sent to Germany, only 24 survived. It`s been said - over and over again - without the Norwegian sailors - Hitler would have won the war. The many dangerous convoy to Murmansk was of outmost vital importance for the allied forces. It was the lifeline of supplies - battling the unfriendly forces of nature - and military enemies: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MEDAL by Michael Holmboe Meyer Translated by Ebba Haslund Honorable member of the Norwegian Author Association (Den Norske Forfatterforening) He lay on a bench in the park, shamelessly people would think. The emty bottle sparkled where he downed his final drink. He sailed during six years of war, an exiting hazardous game. The frayed compromise of peace he never managed to tame. Things seemed easy at first, when war ended he was not censured because of his thirst, although he drank a lot. When ecultant cries abound in such a great amount, with thousands of heroes around what does one sailor count? So nothing could really save him no mercy was ever shown, that the government graciously gave him a minor pension is known. Was it oblivion he sought because he could not understand, that the country for which he fought was no longer his native land. People whispered, they shook their heads and couldn`t care less. The police at intervals took him to prison for drunkeness. There was no help anymore, all sympathy ceased. One can always win a war, but how does one conquer peace? They lifted from the bench without sound his worn-out body but something fell to the ground - a medal - the other side up. To find out more about Michael Meyer, try: Today's Situation
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