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Youth Hird (Unghirden)

by Mark Sensen

Unghirden (Youth Hird)

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Unghirden (Youth Hird)

The flag Mark sent is one of the flags of 'Unghirden' (Youth Hird), the Nasjonal Samling (NS) 'hird' section for boys aged 14 to 18. More precisely the flag is that of a 'sveit' within the Unghirden The sun cross emblem is a little too big. Specifications in the NS Arbok 1944 (Oslo, 1943) says the flag should be 6:9 (or 100:150 cm), with the diameter of the sun cross emblem making up 4 parts. The distance from the centre of the sun cross to the hoist was also 4 parts. The name and number of the 'sveit' was to be inscribed in silver in the top hoist. As a miniature (length 30 cm and called 'pennant' in the NS terminology), the flag was flown by the 'sveitforer', the commander or leader of the 'sveit'.
Jan Oskar Engene, 16 July 1997

I'm wondering what's the link between the Youth Hird from Norway in the 1940's and the neo-Nazi NRP in Sweden, using the same emblem. Or is it a more general emblem. And are the swords part of the sun cross?
Mark Sensen, 2 July 2002

As far as I know there was no other link between the two than the ideological and the fact that the Norwegian party Nasjonal Samling figured as an example for the Swedish groups. I have actually also seen an example of a Finnish group which adopted the Nasjonal Samling sun cross with eagle as their emblem. After the second world war, Nazism and all symbols associated with it was totally discredited in Norway, but in Sweden this was not so. One could perhaps say that the Swedish groups took over the legacy of Nordic Nazism and Fascism including the symbol developed by Nasjonal Samling: The sun cross.

I doubt, however, that the swords should be in the emblem of the Nordiska Rikspartiet. The other day I watched a TV documentary about Swedish Fascism and Nazism in the post war period. Though one should be careful about drawing conclusions about what appears in the background in such programmes, I noted that during an interview with the leader of the Nordiska Rikspartiet a flag was visible: Red with a black sun cross (no swords). The footage was in colour.

Nordiska Rikspartiet was one of the main European Nazi parties after the second world war and played a leading role in reorganizing the extreme right. I suspect the Nordiska Rikspartiet and its emblem may have influenced the development of the Celtic cross so popular with neo-Nazis these days.
Jan Oskar Engene, 3 July 2002

No, the swords are not part of the sun cross. Whether the NRP symbols includes them, I don't know. (I seem to recall they were still in use after the war, but I can't recall where.)

As far as a connection, I have the impression fascism wasn't treated as severely in Sweden as it has dealt with been in occupied Europe. I guess, as a consequence, Norwegians, or their ideas, might have migrated to Sweden.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 5 July 2002

A suncross I think is used by national socialists all across Scandinavia. Scandinavian Nazis usually see each other as "brother peoples"; the racism is aimed against others. Therefore, it is not very strange if they use the same symbols.

Suncrosses can be found in images cut in stone as far back as the bronze age in Scandinavia, i.e. ca. 1800-500 BC.
Elias Granqvist, 8 July 2002