Since Adolf Hitler came to full power even the least bellicose nations of Europe have feared for their lives. Alarmed by Herr Hitler's warlike attitude, Switzerland last autumn mined her frontiers, nearly doubled her Army strength. The Netherlands has exiled almost all her gold to safer regions, has completed plans for opening her dikes to flood a large part of the country. In the north countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, not only have there been increased expenditures for arms, but the four small nations have long been banded together as the Oslo Powers to present a united front to the world in general and to aggressors in particular. The idea was that where the voice of one small nation might not carry far, the voice of four would.
Last week in Stockholm the Foreign Ministers of the Oslo Powers met in an extraordinary conference singularly unlike those usually held twice a year to discuss routine matters. Present were Juho Eljas Erkko of Finland; Richard Sandler of Sweden; Halvdan Koht of Norway and Peter Munch of Denmark. Their agenda: to decide what answer to make to Herr Hitler's offer of non-aggression pacts.
New pacts with Herr Hitler are not finding a very good market at the present moment. The Scandinavian public is dead set against them. Even when the British a few weeks ago suggested they might guarantee the Scandinavian countries' independence, they showed no enthusiasm. They want neutrality, not pacts. Obviously, all four would have liked to reply to Germany in unison: "Thank you, Herr Hitler, but we don't want any pacts."
But all four Oslo Powers do not have the same German problem. Norway, Sweden and Finland have some protection against Germany in the Baltic Sea. Denmark has a common 42-mile border with the Nazis. Furthermore, in the 1,500-square-mile province of North Schleswig, Denmark owns territory that, from 1864 to 1918, belonged to Germany. Several times during the last few years the German press has indicated that some day North Schleswig would be returned to the Reich. While Britain indicated last month that she would fight if Denmark were invaded, the Danes know that the German Army could probably be in Copenhagen before the British could leave Dover. The urgent necessity for Denmark is not to arouse the German Führer.
So, when two days after the Stockholm meeting, the diplomatic representatives in Germany of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark went to the German Foreign Office to present their countries' replies to German State Secretary Baron Ernst von Weizsäcker, the united Oslo Powers front was broken. Sweden, Finland, Norway thanked Herr Hitler for his interest in their welfare, reaffirmed their neutrality, politely declined the Führer's offer. Denmark replied that the Danish Government would be happy to discuss the terms of a non-aggression treaty with the German Government.