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The title of this post has been a subject of discussion among my friends in the Viking reenactment society lately, as well as in many Scandinavian speaking newspapers and discussion channels. Why do fascists feel an urge to use Norse mythology as if it had anything to do with their ideology? Why do they insist on dragging our cultural history through the mud? 
In Germany, there once lived a dangerous man, with a strange little mustache, who approved of some people and despised others based on their genealogy. He liked blonde, tall and blue-eyed people (none of which he was himself for that matter). He liked them so much that he occupied our country, tortured and killed us when we resisted. Members of his party were into Norse mythology, and they hi-jacked our cultural history and our symbols. This happened in the 20th century, a millennium after the Viking Age. People connect these two periods based on the Nazis who raped our culture, not because it has any other ties with these political views. It is as simple as that. There is no other plausible connection. What you might have read and seen on various social media pages promoting old Norse culture and supremacist views together is without a sense of history, it is ignorance and racism (two characteristics that I am pretty sure are significantly correlated, but that is another matter). The photos they are using in their promotion, of my friends in the reenactment societies around Scandinavia, are stolen. These people dip their pens in gall, and write texts on photos of people who do not support their views, and who disagree with the juvenile phrases pasted on them. I do not appreciate having to explain to people that I do not support far-right political views etc. due to my interest in Norse culture. I find the mere fact that it is necessary, revolting. Why do organizations such as Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost (the Norwegian organization for Åsatru) and Ásatrúarfélagið (the Ásatrú association in Iceland) explain on their websites that bigotry and hatred towards others is incompatible with membership? I have never seen any other religious organizations doing the same, but these societies actually do. You are not welcome there, and your views disqualify you from membership. We who love Norse history must speak up in order for the public not to start associating the culture and more of its symbols with modern extremist views, in the same way as the sowilu rune and the ancient swastika have been desecrated. And not only in Scandinavian media, but also in English, because many of the people who are relevant in this discussion do not speak the languages. Could it simply be due to lack of historical knowledge? One might think so, when looking at some of the facebook-profiles that promote Norse mythology in combination with racist views, with profile photos of them posing with plastic hammers in some basement or club house, basing their appreciation of the Norse culture on Marvel comics and TV-shows. The title of this post is also that of a Danish article by Sebastian Stryhn Kjeldtoft at Information.dk, concerning thugs who dress up in black hoodies as seen in the photos I am holding above, and patrol Scandinavian cities, protecting the streets from foreigners. This recent phenomenon originated in Finland, the founder being the Nazi and ex-con Mika Ranta. The author allowed me to translate and reproduce parts of it:
Why then, do fascists insist on sailing under false colors and waving the Norse flag, using old symbolics and names in combination with a modern political agenda? And as if that wasn't enough, using the image of a Viking with a horned helmet, just to underline their complete and utter lack of knowledge? Well, perhaps ignorance is a necessity when using the Viking age to promote a supremacist view of our history. Even Hitler was reported by one of the Nazi ministers to have disliked Himmler's attempts to have scientists dig up pre-historic sites, because that would only prove that we were still crouching in mud huts while the Romans and Greeks had reached the highest stage of culture. But nevertheless, if idolizing the Norse cultural history and the Viking Era, one should think they would utilize historical sources, like the rest of us do? That could for example be the "sayings of the high one", Hávamál, 164 stanzas that mainly focus on knowledge, proper conduct, and how to welcome guests. See the irony? These people are not there out of an egalitarian desire to do good and make people feel safe. If they were, they could have signed up with organizations such as the Natteravnene (the Night Ravens), who are a legal and highly recognized volunteer organization of adult and sober citizens who walk the streets in Norway at night, highly visible in their yellow and labeled vests, to prevent anti-social behavior and promote a safe environment, assist those who cannot take care of themselves, and contact the authorities if needed. To call for help. From the one organization that is supposed to reinforce the law in a democracy: The police. As this commentary points out, vigilantes threaten the foundation of our democracy. The monopoly on violence is, as formulated by Max Weber, the actual definition of a state. But many of the "Soldiers of Odin" would not have passed the background checks to join such organizations, as they have criminal records. A report presented by the NRK the other night, states that 14 out of 20 central members of the group in Norway are ex-cons, most of them with repeated offenses. That includes one of the administrators of the group, who was sentenced for a blind aggravated assault against an elderly couple he had never seen before, in their home, leaving the elderly man unconscious and broken before he beat up his wife. Meanwhile, their banner reads: "We make the city safer". Living right next to what was recently turned into a refugee reception center due to the crisis in Syria, I must say I would rather share my neighborhood with people fleeing from war and extremism, than risk running into these criminal fascists in a dark back alley. The refugees are the people who shared Christmas dinner with our neighborhood church, who I pass when taking hikes in our nature, and who play soccer in the evenings wearing secondhand shoes collected by our local soccer-team. Please do not spread fear unnecessarily. Don't be a warmonger. Check your sources, and do reverse image-searches. If in doubt, check official statistics registries yourself for things such as the development of crime rates. Misleading posts being shared on social media promote fear and hate, feelings that are difficult to reverse even if people later find out that the sources came from creative spinning of statistics or satirical newspapers with plain hogwash, because when hatred has already been established independently of facts, people won't remember where it came from in the first place, and quite frankly, I don't think they care. I am aware that writing publicly about this topic can be uncomfortable, as illustrated by the Norwegian author Bjørn Andreas Bull-Hansen who received death threats from the US after he wrote the critical blog post called "No room for racists in Valhalla". And writing this I am prepared to lose some followers, but in that case I consider it necessary riddance. I have so many more of you who share a sincere love of our history: you who use your free time learning and teaching crafts and techniques that are nearly extinct; create beautiful music using historical instruments; write educational books; arrange and attend reenactment events and markets, to promote and educate tourists and schoolchildren about our culture; plain and simple history geeks, and those just eager to learn more. I consider you the real supporters of Norse mythology and cultural history! # Comments
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