[72doug2,2S]

Originally Posted by Flat Six

Heard long time ago it was a symbol of Norwegian (?) resistance and nationalism during Nazi occupation in WWII?

Correct!

Similarly, the churches that were told to teach “obedience to the leader and the state” found themselves in desperate need of people to lead church services. Every bishop in Norway resigned, along with 90% of the clergy. The humiliated German soldiers were forced to rescind the doctrine—another win for Norway.

Meanwhile, the general public of Norway were waging a silent war of their own. In addition to donning paperclips, they made life difficult for the German soldiers in various subtle ways. Many of them refused to speak German, even though it was a widely known language at the time, and would point the soldiers in the wrong direction when telling them how to get from point A to point B. They refused to sit beside German soldiers when they rode on public transportation—an act of defiance that enraged the Germans so much that they made it illegal to stand on the bus if there were seats open.

An illegal press was established in order to keep everyone informed after the Nazis attempted to cut Norway off from the BBC. When the German military began to conscript young men into the army, thousands fled to neighbouring Sweden to escape service. The Germans promptly withheld ration cards from those who didn’t sign up—at which point the resistance stole some 150,000 ration cards, and the military was forced to stop their efforts on that front.