On October 7–8, 2025, Uppsala University will host a workshop on Nordic rightwing paramilitarism, Tools of Suppression: Nordic Paramilitarism and its Aftermath, 1918–1950s arranged by NORFAS in cooperation with the Swedish network for fascism studies, SWEFAS.
At the workshop, researchers from Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden will explore the complex picture of Nordic paramilitarism from the interwar years to the early 1950s, the development of transnational and entangled ideology and networks – including collaboration with the German National Socialist regime – and the ways its legacy would be dismantled in the immediate post-war era. With empirical cases from four Nordic countries, we will highlight how paramilitarism in the fascist periphery was connected to the themes of both counter-revolution and fascist insurgency, and how the use of violence constituted a tool of suppression in Nordic radicalisation processes. The workshop is organised by Nicola Karcher and Oula Silvennoinen, and will result into a special issue in Fascism: Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies.