In the early hours of 9th April the Norwegian population was faced with its greatest crisis of modern times.Within the space of a few dramatic hours that morning, the Royal Family, the Storting and the Government were forced to flee the city.

Faced by the might of the world’s greatest military power and the dictatorship’s violent regime, neither the Government nor the Storting was willing to accede to the demands of unconditional surrender made by Hitler’s envoy. The decision was founded in the Constitution and the rules of democracy.

A state of emergency

What were the Storting’s roles and responsibilities on 9th April and in the weeks that followed? And what was life in the Storting really like in the years 1940–1945? In many ways, the period of occupation constitutes a state of emergency and marks a turning point in modern Norwegian history. It is the only time in the years since 1814 that the Constitution, democracy and the branches of the state have been put out of action.

During the Second World War, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law were supplanted by a totalitarian dictatorship under an occupying power. The Storting itself was also physically removed from the building, which was taken over by the German occupiers.  

Seminar and exhibition

The laying of flowers at the Hambro statue in Eidsvolls plass, the opening of the exhibition in the Eidsvoll Gallery, and a historical lecture on C. J. Hambro and Halvdan Koht, President of the Storting and Minister of Foreign Affairs respectively in April 1940, will provide the public with the opportunity to find out more about the role played by the Storting in the days and weeks following the invasion.