QUISLING’S PARTY USED THE OLD SUNWHEEL CROSS, BUT AS A CHRISTIAN SYMBOL, RIGHT?
VIDKUN QUISLING
They said the sun sign was a cross of St. Olav, and therefore they used it. But the youth division of National Union, his party, they were very heathen. They were actually going to open an Ásatrú church in Norway, just like Hitler and Himmler in Germany. But they were suppressed, typically.
Vikernes is correct that Vidkun Quisling did develop his own doctrine of mystical beliefs, which he termed “Universism.” In formulating this he drew heavily from ideas ranging from Gnosticism to Taoism, and philosophers from Nietzsche to Kant. The historian Hans Fredrik Dahl, one of Norway’s leading experts on Quisling and author of a two-volume biography, states that Quisling was most definitely a Christian—although he considered himself to be a lot more reflective than most of his fellow believers. Many inconclusive suppositions about Quisling’s personal philosophy have been advanced, based on the contents of the small volume Vikernes refers to, as this was Quisling’s only published essay which touched upon the subject. His philosophical project was to reconcile Christianity with science, and he left behind unfinished manuscripts for what was to become a major spiritual/philosophical work. He had compiled 930 pages of handwritten text but was never able to complete his opus. While these manuscripts have been available to researchers, few have actually bothered to look at them until a critical appraisal of the material was published in 1996.
According to another Quisling expert, Oddvar Hoidal, “Universism” would seem to encompass a certain sense of a will to power, à la Nietzsche, upheld and spurred on by a natural oligarchy:
The universe, [Quisling] said, was “the one living and true God” which had been given to the earth, and which would continue to exist long after the world had disappeared, creating new earths and new stars. It was up to man to recognize this, and to work for perfection here on earth. This was the “divine will” as he saw it. This development of the “divine will” would take place in many areas of organized social behavior: “religion, science, art, and practical action—led by an elite.”11
Despite the fact that Quisling’s spiritual system may have paid a certain amount of lip service to Christian cosmology, Vikernes is correct that on one level it could be considered pagan or “pantheistic” in the sense of its dictionary definition as “identifying the Deity with the various forces and workings of nature.”12 His statement that Quisling’s organization, Nasjonal Samling (National Union), was actively encouraging the development of the old Nordic religion is, however, misleading. Quisling consistently deferred to Christian forces both inside and outside of his political party, long before his trial for treason after the war.
WOODCUT OF QUISLING THE “UNIVERSIST”
A more fitting role model for Vikernes would be an early National Union activist, Hans S. Jacobsen, who later resigned from the party due to disagreement with Quisling’s direction. Jacobsen urged a more strident political outlook and specifically voiced his objections to the National Union’s official advocacy of “Christianity’s basic values.” As Hoidal explains:
[Jacobsen] favored instead the pagan element of German National Socialism, which opposed Christianity because of its Jewish origins, and which stressed the pre-Christian Nordic traditions of the folk. Norway’s conversion to Christianity, made possible by St. Olav’s death as a martyr at Stiklestad, was described by Jacobsen as the introduction of “something false and unnatural into our folk’s life.” It was therefore logical for him to condemn Quisling’s adoption of the St. Olav’s cross as the NS symbol, declaring that the party symbol itself was non-Nordic.13
Jacobsen’s mouthpiece for his ideas, which he hoped to insinuate into National Union, was a journal he published called Ragnarok, named after the Nordic myth of apocalypse and rebirth.
QUISLING’S NS PARTY CROSS
Hans Jacobsen is long forgotten in Norway, and only those reading the more detailed biographies of Quisling will ever hear of his activities. His name commands no attention today —unlike that of Vidkun Quisling, whose specter still looms from the not-so-distant past. Varg Vikernes is well aware of his basic similarities with Quisling, both for their extreme visions of a Norway exclusively for Norwegians, but also in the power of their very names to raise hackles on the necks of the average social-democratic citizen of today. As a result, Vikernes is quick to proclaim his relation to Quisling in both thought and blood.
QUISLING AT WORK
Varg Vikernes: It’s the fifty-year anniversary of [Quisling’s] execution on the 24th of October, 1995. I was trying to pay for a wreath, to lay a cross on his grave. It’s in Telemark. There will probably be a lot of people gathered there this year. I unfortunately cannot come. I have Quisling blood. Susanne Qisling, she’s born 1811 and died 1891, is one of my ancestors. One side of the family spelled their name without the “u.” Quisling actually means one who comes from a side branch of the king’s lineage. So it’s a noble birth, Quisling.
HAVE YOU EVER TALKED TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL RELATIVES OF QUISLING?
No, they’ve changed their names, all of them. I’m considering changing my name back to Quisling.
MINISTER OF PROPAGANDA
Confined to prison and unable to record music any longer, Varg now seeks other methods of spreading his message. He lamented not being able to legally register his own religious organization in Norway due to his criminal record. Toward this goal he has, however, formed the Norwegian Heathen Front, a loosely knit operation through which he will issue propaganda. The members of German Black Metal band Absurd, also currently behind bars, are involved with a branch of the organization in their country.
Vikernes explains some of the NHF political outlook, and how he arrived at the name:
It used to be Norwegian Heathen Undemocratic Front, but we realized that we are not “undemocratic,” they are. We’re the democrats. What they call democracy has nothing to do with it. It’s the rule of the scum. So we left off “undemocratic.” The Vikings would choose a Chieftain, and after awhile if you are not pleased with him, you just drop him. Like they tried to drop King Olav, because he was trying to Christianize everyone. And they hail him today as some hero—bloody stupid!14
Another quote from Vargsmål explains his own position as “NHF Chieftain” more fully, imbuing his actions with Odinic significance:
I am Chieftain of a tribe that has taken the lead in establishing a Norwegian Heathen Front. As Chieftain I have to act like Odin, prostitute myself (as Odin did to get hold of Suttungr’s mead), meet dishonor (as Odin did when he learned womanly Seid [sorcery], which is shameful for a man to perform), expose myself to danger (as Odin did to find Mime’s well of wisdom), sacrifice myself (as Odin did when he tore out one eye to get to drink from the well of wisdom, and as he did when he hung himself from Yggdrasil), draw knowledge from history (as Odin did when he went to Urdr—the past—to get advice on the future), and a lot more that isn’t very fun or relaxing.15
Vikernes claims he already has a high degree of support among fellow prisoners. In recruiting from the public at large, he plans to employ his philosophy on the nature of women as a basis for NHF strategy. His awareness of the woman’s role in revolutionary activities is not unlike that of Charles Manson before him, although Vikernes claims to have arrived at it from personal observation during his Black Metal period.
VARG VIKERNES
WHAT LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE MENTALITY OF BLACK METAL?
The groundwork of the Black Metal scene is the will to be different from the masses. That’s the main object. Also girls have a very important part in this, because they like mystical things and are attracted to people who are different, who have a mystique. When a girl says “Look how cute he is” when she sees a picture of someone, her male friends will think “She likes him. If I look like him maybe she will like me as well.” They turn toward the person she admires. The way to make Norway heathen is to go through the girls, because the males
follow the girls.
THAT’S WHAT CHARLES MANSON THOUGHT.
Males aren’t extreme really. You find females are more to the left or more to the right than the males. Females are more communistic, more extremely Marxist-Leninist, or more extremely rightist than the males. They’re predisposed to such extreme things.
It’s like S/M, it’s a natural thing for women. Pain is a natural thing for women, just like lifting things is a natural thing for males. Females have to give birth, and if they didn’t enjoy pain, who the hell would ever lose their virginity? And we wouldn’t be able to inflict pain, or ever take the virginity of anybody if they were screaming. It’s a very natural thing that males are sadistic and females are masochistic. That’s the reason females are also attracted to things like Satan with a big dick, or these macho types. Why else would they be attracted to such things?
Once we’re aware of this we can do a lot of other things. We can build a lot out of that.
ARE FEMALES INVOLVED IN BLACK METAL?
I don’t know how the scene is today; I have no contact with it. I noticed that there are a lot of females writing to me, something like nine out of every ten letters. It’s because of what I just said.
In Oslo everybody fucks everybody in the scene. If one person gets a venereal disease, everyone does. The females I know in the Black Metal scene are not very intelligent, they are basically just whores. That’s a typical Oslo phenomenon.
The people I correspond with are not Black Metal girls at all. Some of them were, but they realized that I don’t like it and then they realized they didn’t really like it either. They were just doing it because they wanted to get in touch with certain people. The way to power is through the women. Hitler knew this as well. Women elected Hitler.
IN HEAVY METAL OR SKINHEAD SCENES THERE ARE USUALLY VERY FEW WOMEN.
I think there are more females than males in Ásatrú, it’s mostly girls.
WERE THERE MANY FEMALES AROUND YOU BEFORE?
There were mostly females, and only two or three guys—they were the snitches. Girls never snitch, with the exception of the Rumanian bitch. Girls never snitch, they’re quiet.
Recently there have been girls involved in the church burnings in eastern Norway. They weren’t caught but they were suspected.
WERE THERE GIRLS WHO KNEW ABOUT YOUR ACTIVITIES WHEN THEY WERE GOING ON?
Yes. They didn’t say anything. Like the girl who is the mother of my child—she knew everything but said nothing.
YOU HAVE A DAUGHTER?
I have a daughter with a fair, blonde Aryan woman. She’s three years old. I haven’t seen her for two years; the mother won’t allow me to. She believes the prison would be a bad influence. She’s over-protective. The girl is older than me, she’s quite extreme in many ways. My mother bought my daughter a sweatshirt which came from America, and her mother was upset because the image on it wasn’t Norwegian.
For an upcoming project, Vikernes explains a first step in putting his ideas into action in gaining support:
My girlfriend is going to have some pictures taken with my chain mail on, with a real Viking sword, and we’re going to make a poster that says “Norwegians—Fight for Norway!” with her picture and the address of Norwegian Heathen Front. That’s a direct teasing of the male lusts.16
Varg has high expectations for the NHF, but the image and ideas he projects are too radical and uncompromising to gain widespread support. Some of his ideological statements are so drastic, it is hard to believe even those on the extremes of the far right would be in agreement.
VARG VIKERNES
WHY AREN’T MORE PEOPLE SAYING WHAT YOU ARE?
The skinheads are like partying Americans, just drunks listening to Viking Rock. It’s typical that the guys who are skinheads are the ones with dark hair and dark eyes. A lot of racists have brown eyes. You can ask why, and it’s simple. They see that they are getting closer and closer to the aliens, the colored people. They realize that, shit, we have something to lose. The people who really could claim the Nordic heritage, they don’t bother. They don’t really think about it because it’s so obvious to them.
THEY DON’T CARE?
I don’t think they’re aware of the problem, because when they look in the mirror they see a true Norseman. They don’t see a mixture. It’s not so easy for them to become aware of it.
NAZIESQUE BURZUM IMAGE
DON’T YOU THINK BY MAKING COMMENTS ABOUT PEOPLE WITH BROWN EYES, YOU’RE ALIENATING MANY WHO MIGHT OTHERWISE SUPPORT YOU?
That’s true. In the [Vargsmål] I’m alienating them quite a lot, comparing brown eyes to looking into their ass. It’s very racial. Look at the sky, it’s blue. The sea is blue. The flowers are blue, and my eyes are blue. Behind the heavens are the stars, they are eternal wisdom. The ocean is a sea of wisdom. My eyes are blue—everything is in the blue eyes. But if I look into brown eyes I could just as well be looking up their ass; brown is like shit. Of course that makes an impact!
AND IT WOULD ALIENATE HALF OR MORE OF THE PEOPLE WHO OTHERWISE MIGHT BE ON YOUR SIDE.
That’s right, but I also say that people can have brown eyes, and it doesn’t matter. They’re not any worse than us, but they should not mate with a person of the opposite sex who also has brown eyes. They should mate with someone with blue eyes. Their son or daughter will probably have brown eyes, but when they mate with someone with clear blue eyes, then they will eventually be pure. This also goes for physical height, everything. So I don’t rule them out at all. People with brown eyes are just as worthy as we are.
WOULDN’T IT BE BETTER TO WAIT UNTIL YOU’RE IN A POSITION OF INFLUENCE BEFORE MAKING SUCH STATEMENTS?
That is a point, but still what I’m saying is the truth. I don’t say that such people are fucked up. We need them as much, but we have to be conscious about who we mate with.
Also by saying that, while I won’t get much support myself from people with brown eyes, they will not view others as so extreme. The more extreme I look, the more they will be able to follow, because ten years from now this will not be extreme anymore. They will follow the others who don’t say these things, but are still extreme. It’s pushing the line out further and further.
One can only wonder if Varg Vikernes has indeed pushed the line out so far in the distance that no one will ever catch up with it. He may realize this himself, and simply not care. He is all too happy to flaunt extremities and fly in the face of decorum without the slightest hesitation. In his role as a modern-day heretic, Varg is always willing to go one step further.
He will remain confined within concrete walls for many years to come, but this cannot stop him from continuing to formulate his political and social strategy. Under the circumstances, he has abundant time for such pursuits. In one of the letters received in subsequent months after the interviews for this book were conducted, Varg related that he had already followed through on at least one of his plans. He had now changed his name to Varg Qisling Larssøn Vikernes.
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING ARYANS
Since the publication of the first edition of Lords of Chaos, Didrik Søderlind again interviewed Varg Vikernes for a magazine assignment in March, 2000. Along with Swedish photographer Max Fredriksson, he travelled to the Trondheim prison on the West Coast of Norway, where Vikernes has spent the last few years practically alone. This means that although he is effectively hindered from applying his theories to practical life, the prison environment functions as a hothouse for Vikernes’s fertile mind.
Ironically, while Vikernes’s name is more or less synonymous with Black Metal, he takes great care to distance himself from that musical milieu. He even now claims the early Burzum releases—records regarded today as milestones of the genre—never were Black Metal music at all, instead classifying them as “standard, bad Heavy Metal.” He passionately distances himself from all forms of Rock and Roll, stressing that Rock’s roots in Afro-American culture make it alien to white people.
Even while rejecting his Metal pa
st, Vikernes has kept Burzum alive, and taken advantage of the recording equipment he has occasionally been allowed to use during periods of his time spent in jail. Musically, Burzum has developed into a form of somber, ambient Electronica. Appreciated in combination with the mystical imagery of the liner notes, the later Burzum records could even be described as dark New Age music. This artistic direction was, however, effectively silenced when Vikernes’s access to recording equipment was cut off. Presently, Vikernes is no longer even permitted to listen to CDs. The only music he is currently allowed to experience must come via MTV—something which, in his case, might be considered a cruel and unusual form of punishment.
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