Grey areas
Grey Areas (Gråsoner)
AI: Inger Selven Watts/ NTNU
This project has three main objectives:
- To deepen historical understanding by supporting master’s theses that explore topics overlooked by the dominant patriotic resistance narrative, which shaped public discourse for decades after the occupation.
- To establish a didactic foundation for this history, also through master’s-level research.
- To design a primarily digital continuing education (EVU) course for professionals in the education and museum sectors, integrating the knowledge produced in objectives (1) and (2).
The EVU course is structured around case-based learning. The project leader received KOMPiS funding to support the course design. A total of 20 master’s students have participated or are currently participating in the project.
The project has also organised two summer schools at Charles University in Prague, aimed at testing and developing new ideas generated within the project framework.
Additional informastion
The Grey Area Project engages with recent decades of evolving research that reconsiders Norway’s experience during the World War II. It offers a critical lens on the dominant national narrative of occupation, challenging long-held assumptions and highlighting overlooked perspectives.
The project seeks to strengthen history education by developing teaching methods that illuminate the grey areas and overlooked aspects of Norway’s occupation history. These methods are intended for use in schools, in professional development programmes for history teachers, and in university-level teaching, within the Czech-Nordic Memorabilia II initiative, across both Norway and the Czech Republic.
These include:
- Illegitimate killings carried out by the resistance movement.
- The use of foreign forced labourers in Norway.
- Ethical and strategic considerations related to the risk of reprisals.
- Nazi Germany’s “nation-building” efforts in Norway.
- Women’s roles and contributions within the resistance.
- Norwegian individuals and companies who profited from the war.
- Norwegian involvement in the Holocaust in Norway.
- Individuals who were excluded from post-war recognition and honour.
- Experimentation with various didactic approaches
- Microhistory as a methodological tool
- Use of conflicting sources
- How pupils interpret historical sources
- Visual material as historical sources
- Understanding individuals’ scope for action and their dilemmas
- Memory culture versus factual history
- A case study based on subject-specific academic research
- Exploring teaching approaches for presenting the case at Charlottenlund Upper Secondary School
- Developing pedagogical strategies for use in schools, professional development courses for history teachers, and university-level teaching
This history education project aims to raise awareness and enhance democratic citizenship skills by examining the experiences of Czech forced labourers in Norway. Through a didactic approach, it encourages reflection on historical injustice and its relevance to civic understanding today.
Key components of the project include:
- A public exhibition on Czech forced labourers in Trondheim
- A peer-reviewed academic anthology
- Seminars held in Prague and Trondheim
- Professor Hans Otto Frøland, IHF, NTNU
- Assistant Professor Lars Busterud, ILU, NTNU
- Dr. Vendula V. Hingarová, Scandinavian Studies, Karlsuniversitetet i Praha
- Lecturer Torfinn Rogne, Charlottenlund Upper Secondary School
- Ph.D Candidate Andreas E. Grini, IHF, NTNU
- Inger Fagerberg Hallem, The Falstad Centre.
- Master students
History Education Literature:
- Cohen, T.V. (2017). The Macrohistory of Microhistory. The Journal of Medival and Early Modern Studies, 47(1), 53-73.
- Hammar, A. & Holmberg, L. (2017). Varför mikrohistoria? Om teckentydningens dragningskraft och historievetenskaplig transparens. Historisk tidskrift (Stockholm), 137(3), 437-447.
- Magnússon, S. G. & Szijártó, I. M. (2013). What is Microhistory?: Theory and Practice. Routledge.
- Seixas, P. & Morton, T. (2013). The big six: Historical thinking cocepts. Nelson Education.
- Wineburg, S, Martin, Daisy & Monte-Santo, Chauncey. (2013). Reading Like a Historian. Teaching Literacy in Middle and High School History. Teachers' College Press.
Photo:
The Schrøder Archive; Schrødersamlingen Sverresborg Trøndelag Folkemuseum: Tsjekkere -Sverresborg Trøndelag Folkemuseum / DigitaltMuseum
Contributors
- Faculty of Arts, Charles University.
- NTNU
- Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway Grants.