Speech in Oslo, May 3, 1941: Norwegian sailors!

The return of Norwegian sailors.

By Gulbrand Lunde.

Old Norway welcomes you all home. We know the emotions that flow through you when you have been outside for a long time and are approaching your homeland and then see the first contours of Norway's mountains rising on the horizon. Then there will be life on board. You see, there we see the country! And through everyone flows a longing to set foot on Norwegian soil again, this land that is mine and yours, that we all love, and where we have our homes.

And the country lies there today in the sunshine. Spring is in the air, the fields are turning green and the buds on the trees are ready to burst. And the Norwegian people welcome you with open arms and many homes around the country are waiting for you.

Most of you have probably not been at home in the country since the unfortunate events last year where the then government led our people into the senseless war against Germany, after the politicians here at home had first neglected and destroyed our defense so that an effective protection of our neutrality had been rendered impossible.

But today let us not speak of these unhappy things. The old system showed its incompetence and the old rulers have escaped. The new age political movement, Nasjonal Samling, has taken over the government in the country and is now working in understanding with Germany. Slowly and surely, the Nasjonal Samling is now restoring the lost freedom both internally and externally, and Vidkun Quisling was able on April 8, in full understanding with the Reich Commissioner in Norway, to state that "the coming peace would neither find Norway as a German province nor as part of the Great German Empire".

One of the tasks that has been most important to the Nasjonal Samling has been to accompany the seafarers home to Norway and then first and foremost the detained seafarers and whalers. And NS's foreign organization, in cooperation with the new board and the Germans, has now succeeded in making it possible for you to come home to Norway. But I cannot refrain from mentioning here that the correct behavior you have shown during the detention has been of great help to us in this work.

You have also, in this difficult time for our country, all of you certainly done what you thought was your duty, or what you were forced to do under the circumstances that existed for each of you. We here at home in Norway are aware that Norway's future fate cannot be decided in London, and we are aware that we have nothing good to expect from England, which has tricked one nation after another into fighting for itself, because their capitalist interests.

Norway's recovery must take place here at home, by Norwegian men and women who understand their time, and go the only way possible to ensure our country the place it deserves and, according to its opportunities and efforts, has a rightful claim to in the new Europe. Many of you may have heard both one and the other about the conditions here at home. You can now judge for yourself. The English say they will help us and liberate us, but they block us from supplies and try to destroy our food factories. It is Nasjonal Samling which today, in cooperation with the Germans, obtains supplies for the country despite the British blockade, and puts all its efforts into keeping working life up, even under the difficult conditions that a war now brings with it.

The new Norway welcomes its sailors home!