Ný saga - 01.01.1996, Page 98

Summaries
Snorri G. Bergsson
The Intemees on the Isle of Man
(Fangarnir á Mön)
During the Second World War Iceland was occu-
pied by British forces. This article deals with the
British internment of Germans living in Iceland
on the Isle of Man. In May 1940 the British gov-
ernment took the decision to intern enemy aliens
in Britain, a policy also enforced in Iceland after
the British occupation. Unlike Britain where the
majority of internees arrested were Jews or polit-
ical refugees from Germany, in Iceland the 113
German civilians deported and interned were pri-
marily men suspected by British intelligence of
having Nazi sympathies. The author of this arti-
cle, however, concludes that there is little evi-
dence to support this.
The Germans from Iceland were interned on
the Isle of Man where they were treated relative-
ly well, being comfortably housed in boarding
houses and having the opportunity of engaging in
cultural activities. In 1944-45 the prisoners were
sent back to Germany.
In May 1945 the families of ten internees
turned to the Icelandic government to obtain
their release and eventual return to Iceland.
However, the Icelandic coalition government was
divided on the issue: the Icelandic Minister of
Justice, a member of the Social Democratic Party,
refused to issue permits on the basis of the
Germans’ alleged support of Nazism while the
two largest political parties in Iceland, the
Conservatives and the Progressive party, joined
forces advocating the immediate return of the
Manx internees, thus giving this, in the author’s
opinion, rather trivial issue the potential of
breaking up the coalition. Matters never came to
a head, however, and in 1947 a newly formed gov-
ernment finally permitted those Germans who
still wished to return to Iceland to do so.
Torfi H. Tulinius
Canon law in the Life and Works of Snorri
Sturluson
(Guðs lög í ævi og verkum Snorra Sturlusonar)
This article studies the implications of canon law
for the understanding of both the life and works
of Snorri Sturluson. Changes in canon law made
by the Lateran Council of 1215 had a direct influ-
ence on legislation in Iceland only two years later
when it became possible to marry within former-
ly prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity.
Snorri was at the time law-speaker of the Alþingi
(the Icelandic parliament). Evidence of his
knowledge of canon law can be adduced from the
Saga of the Blessed Ólafur. More importantly
canon law throws light on the Saga ofEgill, where
the author seems to have had in mind the recent
concept of legitimatio per subsequens parentum
coniugium when devising the plot of the saga.
The canonical concept of infamia facti may also
explain discrepancies between what different
sources tell us about Snorri’s years as law-speak-
er. Finally, legitimatio per subsequens parentum (
coniugium is again used to explain why Gissur
Porvaldsson allowed Alþingi to declare in 1253
that canon law should prevail over lay law where
the two legislations did not agree.
Aðalgeir Kristjánsson
Absint nugæ, absit scurrilitas. Þorleifur Guð-
mundsson Repp and his doctoral defence
(Absint nugæ, absit scurrilitas. Af Porleifi Guð-
mundssyni Repp og doktorsvörn hans)
Þorleifur Guðmundsson Repp was probably the
most eccentric and brilliant Icelander studying at
the University of Copenhagen in the early 19th
century. He was an exceptional linguist. His
eccentricity, his roaring laughter when he became
angry and generally uncouth behaviour, however,
made him enemies. When he defended his doc-
toral thesis at the University of Copenhagen his
enemies exacted their revenge and failed him,
declaring his thesis to have no scholarly merit and
to be a disgrace to the university. Repp later went
to Edinburgh where he eamed his living for
twelve years as assistant librarian in the
Advocates’ Library while translating excerpts
from the Icelandic sagas. He then returned to
Copenhagen where he survived by teaching,
researching and translating English works, pub-
lishing for example A Danish-English Dictionary
and an anthology of English poetry.
Visual History (Sjón og saga)
Pétur Pétursson
The First of Mav Deinonstration in Reykja-
vík in 1923
(Svipmyndir og frásagnir um fyrstu kröfugöngu
verkalýðsfélaga í Reykjavík)
This article discusses the first demonstration in
Iceland by the Icelandic labour movement on
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