forthemselves.
I won't try to diminish them.
It's bad enough as it is.
On the contrary, I stand by them.
Now as well as then.
Just like I have always done.
We were led to believe
that Norway would take -
- a prominent place -
- in the Greater German Empire
which was soon to be a reality.
Everyone believed this,
more or less. Everyone.
I know I did. And that's why
I wrote the things I did.
I'm not saying this to defend myself.
I am not defending myself.
I'm merely explaining my position.
I value our reputation -
- as well as our Norwegian
system of justice.
But I value even more my own sense
of good and evil, of right and wrong.
I'm old enough
to have my own guideline, -
- and this was it.
I felt the best way to serve
my country was to write what I did.
To use my pen forthe good
of this new Norway, -
- the most prominent among
the Germanic nations of Europe.
The thought of this
appealed to me.
Indeed, it made me ecstatic.
Norway, an independent
and shining nation -
- up there
on the outskirts of Europe.
I wrote in orderto
persuade young Norwegians-
- to refrain from doing stupid things
against the occupation forces.
It wouldn't do them any good.
No, it would cost them their lives.
And I sent telegrams. There must be
an archive of my telegrams.
I sent a lot. Time was running out,
so I sent telegrams night and day.
My fellow countrymen's lives
were at stake.
But this made the Germans
suspicious of me.
They saw me as some sort of
untrustworthy mediator.
Hitler wanted nothing to do with me.
Terboven didn't reply.
Terboven got tired of me.
And no one told me
what I was writing was wrong.
No one in this country.
I sat alone in my room.
I couldn't hear anything. I was deaf.
No one could get through to me.
They hammered on the stovepipe
to tell me dinner was served.
I could hearthat.
So I came down and ate.
Then I went back to my room
and sat down.
And I stayed there.
All I had were my two newspapers:
Aftenposten and Fritt Folk.
And none of those papers said I
was wrong. They thought I was right.
But what I did went wrong.
It went wrong.
I was floating in midair
with nothing to hang on to anymore.
I brooded over everything.
I reminded myself that every
great cultural figure we have -
- had been through Germany-
- and only then achieved
international greatness.
I wasn't wrong in thinking that,
but I was criticized for it.
It didn't lead me anywhere.
On the contrary, -
- it lead everyone to believe
that I...
...was betraying the very Norway
I so wanted to help.
Well, so be it.
It's my loss,
and I have to bear it.
So, there I was...
..."betraying" my country.
I became a "traitor".
So be it.
But I didn't feel like one, -
- and I still don't.
I'm at peace with myself.
I have always kept my country
in my soul, wherever I went.
And that is where I intend
to keep my country, -
- while I await...
...my final sentence.
I thank the court.
This is all I wanted to say-
- so as not to be dumb
as well as deaf.
I felt I had to mention a few facts.
The rest can wait
until some othertime.
Until bettertimes
and another court than this.
Tomorrow is another day,
and I have all the time in the world.
Alive or dead,
it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matterto the world
how one individual fares.
In this case, me.
But I can wait.
The defendant, Knut Hamsun,
born August 4, 1859, -
- poet with a wife and children, -
- is sentenced to pay
425,000 crowns in damages-
- with an annual interest rate
at 4 per cent.
Furthermore, he is sentenced to pay
the costs of the trial...
Welcome back.
I've been knitting socks now
for 2 years and 46 days.
They probably think
they have enough socks now.
I've prepared a lovely meal
for us at my place, mother.
So father doesn't want me
to come home?
I knew it.
We have a nice room for you
at home.
I've been longlng to ask you...
You promlsed my testlmony
would be confldentlal, -




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