Of all the Norwegian Nazis during the Second World War, Henry Oliver Rinnan was probably the worst and most notorious. The story of the last days of the Rinnan gang is like witnessing a slow descent into hell, a study of how evil eats itself. Naturally, this blood-soaked tale of doom has been told in many different versions over the years. Now so much time has passed after the war that writers are beginning to dare to get closer to the main character: Henry Rinnan himself. About Henry Oliver Rinnan Photo: news Born: 14 May 1915 in LevangerDeath: 1 February 1947, Trondheim (executed by firing squad) Background: One of the most notorious Norwegian war criminals, known for his extreme brutality during the occupation of Norway. Led the Rinnanbanden, a Norwegian Nazi group that collaborated with the Gestapo during World War II. Actions: Infiltrated and crushed Norwegian resistance groups, especially communist ones, on behalf of the Gestapo. Known for brutal torture, mistreatment and executions of Norwegian patriots. The Rinnan gang is responsible for the death of more than 80 Norwegians, more than 1,000 cases of severe torture, and the fact that around 1,000 Norwegians were sent to German concentration camps. Nikolaj Frobenius has been behind an impressive list of novels and film scripts, which are often about violence and evil, and the human capacity for cruelty. In an article in Aftenposten this summer, Frobenius writes about what he calls “a significant anxiety about giving the Nazis and their accomplices a human face”. To an even stronger degree than Simon Stranger in “Encyclopedia of Light and Darkness”, Frobenius chooses to tell much of the story from Rinnan’s point of view, with ample access to his inner life and world of thought. I’m not convinced that was a good idea. Trondheim 30 April 1946: War criminal and torturer Henry Rinnan on his way into the courtroom at Trondheim’s courthouse in handcuffs Photo: NTB / SCANPIX Here Rinnan is equipped with the number plate 1 as proof that he is the main defendant in the case Photo: Ukerevyen Photograph from the courtroom. Henry Rinnan in the dock. Photo: NTB / SCANPIX The war criminal and torturer Henry Rinnan on the first bench on the far left in the picture, together with several of the 29 defendants in the case. Photo: NTB / SCANPIX Facsimile of the front page of Arbeideravisa after the verdict in the Rinnan case was handed down in September 1946. The image is taken from Ukerevyen in news. Photo: weekly review Progress and downfall The structure of the narrative is clear. It is based on Rinnan’s journey from the poorhouse via the peak of his power during the war, until he ends his life in front of the firing squad in 1947. “The rise and fall of Rinnan”, in other words. Much like a typical gangster film, like “Scarface” or “Public Enemy”. “Razing light” is also reminiscent of such films in the way that the main character does not change. Yes, he becomes more paranoid, more unscrupulous and violent, he steps over more and more moral boundaries, but he never comes to any moral realization or regrets what he has done. A monster emerges Frobenius suggests several answers to how Rinnan became who he became. Rinnan was an alien bird in the Trønder landscape before the war. He was short, dark, with a face described as “Finnish” or “Mongolian”. Poverty contributes to the outsider. When his small family ends up in the poorhouse early during the war, Rinnan is desperate. Realizing that this is a man who is willing to do anything to get out of his hopeless situation, the Gestapo gives him the opportunity to do just that. Out in Europe, the world war is raging, it is creating a mentality where human life is cheap. And the prevailing National Socialism among the new rulers fosters fanaticism and ruthlessness against all enemies. Or is it the diet of alcohol and methamphetamine that is the cause of Rinnan’s paranoia and recklessness? The Normality of Evil It seems that Frobenius is trying to show us Rinnan as an ordinary man. To make us recognize the potential for evil that lies there, latent. There is like a little fascist, a little sadist, a little Henry Oliver Rinnan living in all of us. Of course, it was tempting after the war to externalize guilt and evil. For that, Rinnan was perfect. He was alien, small, dark. He was non-Norwegian. He was not like us good Norwegians. Nevertheless, I think this analysis is flawed. Because there really is something that makes Rinnan different from others. It is his lack of morality, shame or remorse, his total lack of conscience. It is what enables him to commit misdeeds that the rest of us would be disgusted by. Or that would torment us daily, in retrospect, if we had carried them out. Literary critic Ola Hegdal reviews “Rasende lys” in Nyhetsmorgen: Failure on the inside “Rasende lys” can be seen as a fictional adaptation of “Rinnan’s testament” from 2008. This is a documentary book based on interviews with Rinnan conducted in prison after the war. Frobenius dramatizes and adds poetry to many of the events discussed in this book. In many scenes this works well, and gives a vivid impression of how this could have played out. Every now and then, Frobenius touches on war film clichés, for example in the form of cold, cigarette-smoking Gestapo officers. Without it being experienced as a problem, more like a conscious game with our mental ideas about the War. Where it fails is in the attempts to bring the characters’ psyches to life. I don’t buy Frobenius’ attempt to breathe life into Rinnan’s inner world. Either it’s Rinnan’s fantasy of being a lonely man on the moon, or it’s the vision of the raging light of the title (which is probably based on Rinnan’s own statements, and possibly also a reference to Lucifer, the fallen angel of light). The same applies when the author enters the minds of the resistance fighters, such as Odd Sørli and his fiancee Edel Sødahl, parties I find well above the border of the tasteless. So where do the attempts to portray Rinnan’s inner life fail? Partly it is because Frobenius, no matter how capable he is as a writer, of course cannot show us what was really going on in Rinnan’s psyche. It is obvious that this will never be more than guesses and creative imaginations. But more fundamentally, it’s because Henry Rinnan’s emotional life isn’t strictly speaking particularly interesting. It’s the actions that define people like Rinnan. Not what he felt or didn’t feel. No, we can’t know what was going on in Rinnan’s head. And no writer can give us access to it. And how badly do we really want to find out? news reviews Title: “Rasende lys – A novel about Henry Rinnan’s progress” Author: Nikolaj Frobenius Publisher: Gyldendal Genre: Novel Number of pages: 384 Date: 15 August 2024 ISBN: 9788205600201 Watch the news documentary “De siste døddømte” about Henry Rinnan : Henry Rinnan has 80 lives on his conscience. Is the death penalty right only if the acts are cruel enough? Hello! My name is Ola Hegdal, and I read and review books for news. Preferably crime and suspense literature, or non-fiction. Feel free to read my review of “The Anomaly” by Hervé Le Tellier, “You are a farmer” by Kristin Auestad Danielsen or “The Night Runner” by Karin Fossum. Published 20.08.2024, at 09.28
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“Raging light” by Nikolaj Frobenius – news Culture and entertainment
