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The Presseabteilung was a press department created shortly after the German occupation of Norway in April 1940. Through the department, Germans controlled the content of Norwegian newspapers.
Both the Norwegian
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
party
Nasjonal Samling
Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norwegian far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling and a group of supporters such a ...
and the
Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Enlightenment The Ministry of Culture and Enlightenment ( no, Kultur- og folkeopplysningsdepartementet) was a government ministry during the German occupation of Norway, established on 25 September 1940, and closed down at the end of World War II.
The ministry w ...
wanted to control newspapers, but the German occupants used the press department to get the final power of decision. The department consisted of bureaus for general press policy, daily newspapers, illustrated press, culture and economy journalism, news and information.
The work was based on political control of the press, meaning direct interference, closing, firing of editors and journalists, and even arrests.
Oslo papers that were being published got the messages of what to print through the daily press conferences, other papers got classified daily orders by telephone or
teleprinter
A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Initia ...
, the latter an innovation brought to Norwegian newspapers by the Germans. Orders went into detail about how the occupant power wanted each piece of news handled, as well as what events were not to be covered at all. NS papers were also established. The largest and best known was ''
Fritt Folk
''Fritt Folk'' ("Free People") was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Oslo. It was the official organ of the fascist party Nasjonal Samling, and came to prominence during the Second World War.
History
''Fritt Folk'' had a predecessor in a party ...
'' ("Free People"), which took over the offices of ''
Arbeiderbladet
''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...
'' after this Oslo paper was closed down in August 1940.
Several papers that refused to follow guidelines were shut down for longer or shorter periods. Some were made subject to
prior restraint
Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression. It is in contrast to censorship ...
rather than the normal censorship after the fact. However, perhaps the most effective sanction was paper rationing.
The department managed to reduce the number of publications, which made its censorship work easier. Towns that had more than one newspaper before the war, were usually left with one.
Norway in World War II