Birkebeiner Group

The Birkebeiner Group was a Norwegian neo-Nazi organization that became the organizational precursor of the Einsatzgruppe. Its brief history links the Brumunddal anti-immigration milieu to a successor group that used the language and structure of Nazi units for both historical association and shock value; the account also stresses how far extremist groups’ elaborate names and claims could stand from their actual capacity for action.

Origins and Name

The group emerged from the remnants of a neo-Nazi aggregation in Brumunddal. Its leader, Jan Holthe, was a formative figure in the young neo-Nazi scene and had started several groups, including the Birkebeiner Group. The account places these organizations within a local milieu shaped by anti-immigration activism and politicized gangs, while noting that Holthe was more effective at producing publications and organizational forms than at putting his projects into action.

The name reached back to the Birkibeinar, a group of rebel warriors in the late twelfth century. They wrapped birch bark around their legs for warmth and eventually fought under King Sverre. This historical reference gave the modern organization an asserted lineage of rebellion, though the account presents that lineage as a choice of symbolism rather than evidence of substantive continuity.

Development and Successor

When Holthe left the movement to devote himself to family life, the Birkebeiner Group disbanded. Its remaining members reorganized under the name Einsatzgruppe, making the Birkebeiner Group the basis of the successor organization rather than a group shown continuing independently. The movement’s activity later persisted in Stavanger, where the successor had a small membership described as extremely active; the account particularly singles out Tom Eiternes for his many convictions.

The successor’s name sharpened the group’s historical reference. Einsatzgruppen were SS units responsible for killing civilian partisans, many of them Jews; the account notes the mass killing at Babi Yar, where 40,000 people were massacred. The Norwegian organization also named its sub-units Sonderkommando. Such labels projected a military organization and a bloody historical association, although the book cautions that the extent to which this formal structure reflected reality was doubtful and that Norwegian extremists often produced many titles that made them appear more numerous than they were.

Political Setting and Limits

The Birkebeiner Group formed against a backdrop of far-right organizing and anti-immigration agitation in Norway. The account contrasts older activists’ methods, such as letters to newspapers and distributing flyers, with younger activists who were arming themselves and preparing for violent conflict. It also observes that serious violence remained relatively rare in this wider setting, while identifying the earlier Hadeland killings as a notable exception. This context establishes the stakes surrounding the group without attributing those killings to it.

The book’s description of Holthe’s activity underscores the gap between political theater and action. In Brumunddal, activists harassed the mayor through repeated mail-order deliveries, pizzas and ambulances ordered in his name, and pornographic photo montages placed along the route his children used to walk to school. Two activists also defecated on the town hall steps and repeated the act before being caught. The account presents these acts as low-level harassment, not physical attacks or serious vandalism, and does not specifically identify their perpetrators as Birkebeiner Group members. Holthe’s departure was followed by a decline in activity in Brumunddal, even as the reorganized successor continued elsewhere.