NORWAY: Dear Haakon

One of the “Germans’ girls” in Norway, fearing that her head would be shaved for fraternizing with Nazis during the occupation, carried her appeal for mercy to the throne. In a letter addressed to King Haakon VII she admitted that she had been “associating with” a German soldier whom she professed to love very much. Now repentant, and suddenly mindful of the consequences, she told the King her prayer for salvation: “Dear God, suffer me not to be shaved. If you cannot prevent men from inflicting this shearing upon me, prevent my soul from being clipped.” She hoped for royal understanding of youthful folly: “Dear King Haakon, you yourself have probably once been young and foolish, and surely you can understand that one can fall in love even with a German. . . . Help me, dear Haakon.”