1920-1970 on the Faroe Islands

The modern Faroese society was established during the period from 1920 to 1970. The democratic reforms establishing the Løgting as an exclusively democratic institution were adopted, the modern political party system was established and the Løgting was given legislative authority over Faroese affairs. The Løgting also gained control over the Faroese economy, and most cultural objectives, including the position of the language in schools and the church as well as the question of recognition of the flag, were defined during this period. Relations with Denmark were also challenged, but secession did not materialise.

Position in the kingdom and administration

The position of the Faroe Islands in the kingdom remained unchanged throughout the period, but several crises led to some quite fundamental changes between Denmark and the Faroe Islands. One of the less dramatic events was the new Løgting Act from 1923, which established that the Løgting was a consultative assembly, but the right of the Løgting to consider decisions by Danish national authorities was emphasised. A significant change was that the chief administrative officer no longer had to be a permanent member and chairman of the Løgting. The Løgting would now choose a chairman from among its elected members to lead debates; the chief administrative officer as well as the dean would only become members if they were elected by the voters.

However, the chief administrative officer had a seat in the Løgting and could (without the right to vote) participate in the Løgting’s debates on an equal footing with elected members. However, the Løgting’s status as a consultative assembly meant that the chief administrative officer had a strong position vis-à-vis the Løgting. He had the right to postpone the implementation of resolutions of the Løgting until he had verified that they were in compliance with the applicable legislation. Moreover, the king, i.e. in practice the Danish Government, had the right to dissolve the Løgting and call elections for the parliament. Another significant change was in the electoral system for the Løgting, which, until now, had several times meant that the political party getting the majority of the votes did not get the majority of members in the Løgting.

So the parties in the Løgting were thus able to agree on democratic reforms, but the Løgting’s position as a consultative assembly was maintained, and legislative power was vested in the Danish Rigsdag.

An administrative strengthening of the Løgting, which was generally only in session for six weeks after the ólavsøka festival, was introduced in 1928: A national council consisting of representatives from all political parties, which also had to meet between parliamentary sessions, was established. At the same time, the Løgting got its own administration with a head of department. Administratively speaking, the Løgting had thus become relatively independent of the chief administrative officer’s administration, but it was still subject to the chief administrative officer’s supervision and legal control.

The Home Rule Act

With the Home Rule Act of 1 April 1948, the Løgting acquired legislative authority in special Faroese matters, which were defined in list A, and over which the Løgting could easily take responsibility. Following negotiations and agreement with the Danish authorities, the Løgting was also able to take over other fields of common interest that were on list B. The special matters on list A included direct and indirect taxes, administration, health services, public welfare services, schools, municipal affairs, etc., while the areas on list B included the Evangelical Lutheran Church, underground deposits of raw materials, police and the Land Fund.

Another list identified areas that could not be transferred to the Faroese authorities, including foreign policy, defence, the Supreme Court and monetary affairs.

In addition to the Løgting, which had legislative power in matters taken over by the Faroe Islands, a Faroese Government in the form of the Landstyret was established. This was to administer the Faroese affairs taken over by the home rule.

Section 2 of the Home Rule Act stipulated that if the home rule wanted to take over a matter on list A or list B, the home rule would simultaneously assume full responsibility and the associated financial rights and obligations. Section 9, however, contained an exception to this general rule. According to this section, the home rule government and the Danish government could reach agreement by negotiation on ‘the extent to which’ a field of common interest area (i.e. an area not taken over on list A or an area on list B) could be transferred to the home rule. It was thus possible to take over parts of an area, but it would require agreement between the home rule and the Danish government.

A takeover under Section 9 did thus not have the same status as a takeover under Section 2, since it, in the first case, was only the authority to issue executive orders that was taken over, while, in the second case, it was also the legislative authority. Accordingly, a matter could be taken over twice, the first time partially under section 9 and then completely under section 2, but it could also be taken over once under section 2.

The office of the chief administrative officer was abolished and replaced with the High Commissioner of The Faroe Islands. The High Commissioner of The Faroe Islands had the right, without having a right to vote, to participate in the debates of the Løgting, but, contrary to the chief administrative officer, had no rights over the Løgting. In case of disagreement about the interpretation of the Home Rule Act, committee consisting of seven people was to be set up to settle the disagreement: two representatives appointed by the home rule and two representatives appointed by the Danish government, respectively, and three representatives appointed by the Supreme Court. If the members appointed by the Danish government and the home rule agreed on the interpretation, the matter was settled.

Direct and indirect taxes were not unexpectedly taken over immediately, and so were administrative matters, both according to section 2. The Home Rule Act stipulated that the Løgting should elect the Faroese Government. The Faroese Government was to be led by a prime minister, who was now given the old designation løgmaður. While the Løgting elected the prime minister and the other members of the Faroese Government, the Faroese Government could only be removed in connection with general elections, which had to be held every four years. The Faroese Government was organised as an administrative committee under the Løgting, whose members could sit in the government, at the same time as they sat in the Løgting. The Faroese Government was also organised as a college where all decisions were made jointly and the members were collectively liable for all decisions.

The Home Rule Act also recognised the Faroese flag and Faroese as the main language.

Municipalities, welfare and the Evangelical Lutheran Church

The increase in the number of municipalities after 1900 continued. While, in 1920, there were 33 municipalities, the number peaked in 1970 with 51 often quite small and sparsely populated municipalities. This created challenges in having central welfare areas, which the home rule had taken over or had plans to take over, handled in the municipalities, as many of them were so small that they simply lacked a population base.

With the Hospitals Act of 1939, the Løgting and the State took over responsibility for all the hospitals, which had previously been local matters. Other state-funded welfare reforms were also introduced in the 1950s and 1960s; the Danish state pension from 1957 was introduced in the Faroe Islands in 1959 with the support of all parties.

The Faroese Evangelical Lutheran Church, which since 1923 had belonged to the Diocese of Copenhagen, was established as an independent vice-diocese in 1963, and the vice-bishop took over from the dean. In 1990, the Faroe Islands were separated from the Diocese of Copenhagen and became an independent diocese with its own bishop, and the church in Tórshavn became a cathedral.

Business and population

In 1920, the Faroese society had changed from an agricultural society to a trading and fishing society. Major demographic shifts occurred between the various areas. The population moved from the traditional agricultural villages to the new trading stations, where shipowners and shipmasters concentrated their businesses. The sloops came from Iceland with fish to be dried and salted, providing work for both men and women. Whereas the sloops in the 1920s mostly fished with line off Iceland, line fishing from the larger schooners off the coast of Greenland did not really begin until the 1930s. Already in 1925, a Faroese port opened in Greenland, from where the ships could operate.

Fishing in the Faroe Islands was difficult, since English trawlers often trawled close to the coast, however, during World War I, fishing activities off the Faroe Islands increased since the English trawlers were absent during this period. They came back after the war, however, forcing the Faroese to find other places to fish.

The long journey with the sloops and schooners to Iceland or Greenland was dangerous in bad weather, and many shipwrecks in the 1920s and 1930s had a profound impact on the Faroese population. Economically, times were not favourable either, and the 1930s in particular were tough. The world economic crisis in 1929 also hit the Faroe Islands hard. The Faroese exported most of their catch of fish, especially the salted fish, to the markets in Southern Europe, however, exports were very unstable. Spain was in civil war in the 1930s, Greece experienced political unrest and economic crisis, and the League of Nations boycotted Fascist Italy because of the invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935. These important markets were thus almost closed to Faroese exports.

World War II, however, created extremely good opportunities for Faroese business and economy. The Faroe Islands, which in the 1930s had been all but cut off from sales in the lucrative English fresh fish market, now had almost free access to this market. Great Britain needed its navy – also its fishing fleet – for the war and therefore had to leave it to other countries to supply the British with fish. The conversion of the Faroese fishing fleet from sail- or partly motor-powered sloops and schooners to coal-powered trawlers had begun in the 1930s, but during the war, virtually the entire fishing industry converted from production of salted fish to fishing for fresh fish and transport of fresh fish to the English market. Fish prices were good, but the cost in lost lives was substantial: About 200 Faroese died at sea during the war. It was also a period of unemployment since the sloops and schooners off Iceland and Greenland had a crew of 15‑20, while only six to eight men were needed for fresh fish fishing and transport. It is estimated that Faroese exports covered 20 % of Great Britain’s consumption of fish during World War II.

After the war, the salt fish production experienced a comeback for a time and continued to a lesser extent when fresh fish production and filleting factories started dominating the industry in the 1960s. An economic crisis arose in the 1950s when the revival of the fishing fleet was initially carried out by investing the war savings in old coal trawlers, which the English replaced with diesel trawlers. This proved to be a bad investment as the coal trawlers were expensive to run, unprofitable and unable to compete with the newer trawlers. A large part of the fleet went bankrupt, and the banks, in particular the Faroese-owned Sjóvinnubankin, had to be reconstructed three times during the 1950s with the help of the Danish Government and the central bank of Denmark.

The fishing industry experienced a major recession, and many fishermen found work on either foreign ships or travelled to Greenland. However, it did help that net fishery for herring grew in the 1950s, because all fishing vessels could be used for herring fishery, even trawlers. In 1962, the herring fishery became even more important with the new power block ships and laid the foundation for the fishing industry factory Havsbrún, which was built in Fuglafjørður in 1966. The crew wages on these new power block ships and shrimp ships in Greenland, where fishing began in 1969, were very high.

The revival in the 1950s took place with the help of the newly established mortgage credit institution, which received capital from the Danish part of the Marshall Aid. This time the Faroese invested in new steel long-line ships and trawlers that supplied the new filleting factories with fresh fish. The revival of the fishing industry was largely completed during the 1960s, and especially the many filleting factories helped change the Faroese fishing industry. All in all, the fishing fleet had now become modern and more varied.

The population increased from around 21,000 in 1920 to around 32,000 in 1950, and in 1970 it was around 38,000. Population growth mainly occurred in Tórshavn and a number of large fishing villages. In 1920, for example, 24.1 % of the total Faroese population lived in Tórshavn (11.7 %), Klaksvík (4.8 %) and Tvøroyri (7.5 %), and in 1970 as much as 44.5 % of the total Faroese population lived in Tórshavn (27.8 %), Klaksvík (11.5 %) and Tvøroyri (5.2 %). Norðoyggjar is an example of the opposite shifts in population that occurred during the period; in 1920, 6.6 % of the country’s population lived in Norðoyggjar (excluding Klaksvík), while just 2.6 % lived there in 1970.

The major societal changes, population growth and demographic shifts created the basis for movements in the spiritual culture. The revival movements had already arrived in the Faroe Islands in the second half of the 19th century, but they did not gain influence until the beginning of the 20th century. The Home Mission, the evangelical wing of the Church of Denmark, enjoyed great support in the 1920s and 1930s, but remained part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, despite religious disagreement. Things were different with the other influential revival movement, the Plymouth Brethren that had come to the Faroe Islands via Scotland with a missionary in 1865. The Plymouth Brethren also gained a lot of support in the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the new large immigrant villages, while the Evangelical Lutheran Church remained strong in many of the traditional agricultural villages.

Infrastructure – roads, ports and transport

In 1920, there were neither roads nor bridges of importance between the villages, but this changed a lot during the period. In 1907, the Hoydalsvegurin was established near Tórshavn, which is considered the first non-urban road in the Faroe Islands, while the road between Skopun and Sand from 1916 is considered the first road between villages. Since then, the road network expanded. In 1921, the Danish Government granted 80 % of the costs for the construction of five roads between Sørvágur, Miðvágur and Sandavágur, between Tórshavn, Velbastaður and Kirkjubøur, between Søldarfjørður, the Gøtu villages and Fuglafjørður, between Kollafjørður and Kvívík and between Sand, Skálavík and Húsavík. In 1955, most of the large villages were connected by road, but roads were still missing to some of the small villages and across mountains, where it was almost impossible to build roads without drilling tunnels through the mountains. Tórshavn was still only connected by roads to Velbastaður and Kirkjubøur, and Norðoyggjar only had a few roads.

In 1965, Oyggjarvegin, the road across the mountains between Tórshavn and Kollafjørður, opened, and in 1965 and 1967, the tunnels connecting Klaksvík and the northern villages were opened for traffic. On Suðuroy, Hvalba got a tunnel to the southern part of the island in 1963, and in 1969, Sandvík got a tunnel to Hvalba and the southern part of the island.

However, the sea remained the only route between the islands, leading to a massive expansion and modernisation of the port facilities. At the beginning of the period, shipowners had built private piers for their ships, but in 1913, the Danish State decided to finance the majority of the large port facilities in major Faroese villages. World War I led to delays in the construction works, but activities resumed in the 1920s. The large port facility at Tórshavn was completed in 1927, and ten years later, in 1937, the last facility in this round was completed in Klaksvík. In the 1930s, port facilities passed from private to municipal ownership.

In 1921, the first power plant in Botni opened at Vágur on Suðuroy. In 1931, a similar municipal power plant opened in Ánirnar at Klaksvík, owned by Klaksvíkar Kommuna. In the 1950s, all the municipal power plants were collected under a common municipal company, SEV. The large power plant in Vestmanna opened in 1953, and in 1974, the plant on Sund was built. This marked the beginning of the expansion of the electricity connection to all villages and islands. In 1970, the last village, Múla on Borðoy, became electrified.

The first telephone line between two villages had been established privately in 1905, but already in the 1930s, all villages were connected to one of the 99 manual telephone exchanges. Several villages only had one telephone. A major advance was made in 1953, when, in Tórshavn, it became possible to call the desired telephone directly by bypassing the public telephone company’s switchboard. However, it was not until 1978 that the last manual switchboards were replaced by direct telephone connection. In 1954, the first telephone connection to Denmark was opened, and in 1971, it became possible to call Denmark directly.

School, education and cultural institutions

A secondary school was established in Tvøroyri in 1923 and in Vági in 1933 on Suðuroy as well as in Klaksvík on Norðoyggjar in 1935. In the 1950s, middle and secondary schools were established in several of the large villages: Vestmanna, Fuglafjørður, Glyvrar and Sørvágur and at Miðvágs-Sandavágs Skúli. In 1962, several schools were given this option, but now there was the option of two tracks: a secondary school leaving examination, which gave access to the high schools, and an 8th, 9th and 10th grade leaving examination, which did not give access to the high schools. In 1971, 14 schools were able to offer secondary or 10th grade school leaving examination.

In 1937, a two-year upper-secondary course was created in Hoydølum near Tórshavn, which was the only one of its kind in the Faroe Islands at the time. During the first years, it was only possible to graduate with a language certificate, but in 1947, it also became possible to graduate with a mathematical-natural science certificate. In 1959, the course was extended to a three-year course, and in 1962 the upper-secondary course became an upper-secondary school, at which point it moved into new premises.

The nursing school was established in 1960. During the first years, students had to travel to Denmark to take part of the education, but since 1979, it has been possible to take the entire education in the Faroe Islands.

In addition to the ordinary evening schools, which offered courses in several subjects, technical colleges for apprentices and business colleges for those who wanted to work in shops were already organised as evening schools in several of the large villages in the 1930s. In 1949, it became possible to take a special commercial certificate, the commercial assistant’s examination. Since 1960, there have only been technical colleges in Tórshavn and Klaksvík. Commercial colleges were organised in the 1960s, and Føroya Handilsskúli in Tórshavn was established in 1967.

Already in 1892, shortly after the sloop era began in 1872, it was possible to take a shipmaster’s exam in the Faroe Islands. During winter, experienced shipmasters organised private teaching for young fishermen, giving them the opportunity to take the shipmaster’s exam. Officers on the Danish coast guard ships at the Faroe Islands were examiners on these courses. In 1906, with the support of the State, an attempt was made to establish a seamen’s school, which was meant to help the students take a ships mate’s certificate, but due to a lack of students, the school, which was located in its own building, was closed down in 1909. The state-funded private schools continued. However, the navigation school in Tórshavn was established in 1928. Already in 1949, the Home Rule took over the navigation school named Tórshavnar Sjómansskúli. The school, which had been housed in the old seamen’s school building from 1906, moved into the new and later refurbished and expanded premises in 1962, where it is still located today. A shipmaster’s and telegraph operator’s school was established in Klaksvík in 1947. The Faroe Islands School of Engineering was established in 1964. In 2008, the engineering school was merged with the seamen’s school in Tórshavn under the new name Vinnuháskúlin (Centre of Maritime Studies & Engineering).

The Faroe County Archives was established as a state institution in 1932, but it was taken over by the Løgting in 1952 and has since been the national archives, now named Tjóðskjalasavnið.

In 1952, Føroya Fornminnissavn, the Faroe Islands Museum of Cultural History, was established by the Løgting, and in 1955 Føroya Náttúrugripasavn (the Faroe Islands National History Museum). The institutions were merged in 2011 under the name Tjóðsavnið (the Faroe Islands National Museum).

Útvarp Føroya (Faroe Islands Radio), which began broadcasting in 1957, was merged in 2005 with Sjónvarp Føroya (Faroe Islands Television), which began broadcasting in 1984. The merged institution is called Kringvarp Føroya, abbreviated KVF.

In 1970, the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands, Listasavn Føroya, was established in Tórshavn.

Politics

In 1918, Sjálvstýrisflokkurin won the majority in the Løgting for the first time and held it until 1923. The party wanted to use its majority to get some of its key issues adopted, and during this period, the Løgting several times decided that Faroese should be the language used in education and the churches. In connection with the constitutional amendment in 1920, the Løgting decided to amend section 2 – that the legislative authority jointly rests with the king and the Danish Rigsdag – so that the Løgting could be granted authority to legislate in special Faroese matters. However, the central authorities of the Realm did not approve any of the Løgting’s decisions. These matters, together with accusations from the Landsting commission in 1919 of subversive activities, caused the relationship between Sjálvstýrisflokkurin and the Danish government led by the Liberal Party to come to a freezing point.

When the disagreement between Denmark and Norway over the North Atlantic islands made a Norwegian professor of international law in 1923 propose that a referendum should be held in the Faroe Islands on whether the islands should belong to Norway or Denmark, it lit a fire. In this connection, the Faroese member of the Danish Landsting, Oliver Effersøe from Sambandsflokkurin, said to the Danish newspapers that the Faroe Islands had been treated well by Denmark and that there was no desire in the Faroe Islands to join Norway. The chairman of Sjálvstýrisflokkurin, Jóannes Patursson, who was in Norway at the time, replied by telegram that, the Landsting member’s statements could only be understood as the Faroe Islands had no desire to join Norway under the same heavyhanded conditions as Denmark enforced against the Faroe Islands at the time.

Sambandsflokkurin raised the matter in the Løgting, where the independence supporters supported Jóannes Patursson, and in the Danish Folketing, where Prime Minister Niels Neergaard October 1923 stated that the Danish Government would offer its unconditional support to the forces in the Faroe Islands that wanted to preserve the current constitutional state of affairs. He also emphasised that a condition for Danish support for Faroese language and culture was that the Danish Constitution should continue to apply throughout the realm, just as Danish should be preserved as a common language for the whole realm. This rather explicit Danish position on Faroese politics provoked Sjálvstýrisflokkurin so much that the party decided to change its platform in 1924. Thus, any reference to Denmark and Danish was removed, incl. the wording that they would work for as much self-government as they could achieve »on the best of terms with the Danish Government and the Danish Rigsdag«.

Cooperation since replaced conflict, but it is part of the story that Sjálvstyrisflokkurin never had a majority of voters behind it. It was the electoral system related to the electoral act for the Løgting and the dean, who supported independence, that in the period 1918‑23 had guaranteed Sjálvstýrisflokkurin a majority in the Løgting. When the new Løgting act, which ensured a fairer electoral law, came into force in 1923, Sambandsflokkurin regained a solid majority in the Løgting that same year. When the Danish Minister for Education, Nina Bang, proposed a compromise which, with a few exceptions, would recognise Faroese as the language of instruction, it was thus rejected by the majority in the Løgting.

The matter was not resolved until 1939, when the Danish Government acknowledged the wish of a large majority of the Løgting from 1936 to rank Faroese alongside Danish in schools and churches. By this time, two new political parties, Javnaðarflokkurin (The Social Democratic Party, 1925) and Vinnuflokkurin (The Business Party, 1935), both of which were more nationalistic than Sambandsflokkurin, had representatives in the Løgting, and Sambandsflokkurin had definitively lost its majority. In 1939, Sjálvstýrisflokkurin was split up, and its chairman, Jóannes Patursson, together with the people behind Vinnuflokkurin established the party Fólkaflokkurin, whose platform was one of political and economic independence.

The period during and after World War II

During World War II, when Denmark was occupied by the Germans and the Faroe Islands by the British on 9 and 13 April 1940, respectively, Sambandsflokkurin had eight members in the Løgting, Javnaðarflokkurin six, Sjálvstýrisflokkurin four and Fólkaflokkurin six. Already on 9 April, Fólkaflokkurin proposed that the Løgting took over all authority in the Faroe Islands, but on 9 May, the majority (18) together with the chief administrative officer adopted a temporary government administration, under which the Løgting together with the chief administrative officer assumed legislative power over the special Faroese matters.

The British occupation recognised the Faroese flag for use at sea, which had the subject of much political debate in the 1930s. From the very beginning, however, the British, who at one point had 8,000 soldiers stationed in the Faroe Islands, made it clear that they wanted to hand the Faroe Islands back to Denmark after the war. At the same time, they declared that they would not recognise the proclamation of an independent Faroese state without prior negotiations with an unoccupied Denmark. Fólkaflokkurin, which in 1943 doubled its mandates in the Løgting from six to 12 and was only one mandate short of having an absolute majority, could therefore not use the voter support for anything.

After the war, however, most people realised that it would be impossible to return to how things were before the war. The Faroese economy was strong, the Løgting, together with the chief administrative officer, had held the legislative authority, the flag was recognised for use at sea, and the Faroese, due to the close economic relationship with the British, had used their own banknotes, which had been linked to the pound sterling, not the Danish kroner; the independence movement stood stronger than ever before.

A general election in November 1945 did not make the political situation any clearer, but when the Faroese political parties were unable to reach an agreement on a new system during negotiations in Copenhagen at the beginning of 1946, the Danish Government put forward a proposal which was in the nature of an ultimatum. None of the political parties were pleased with the proposal, which aimed somewhere between the wishes of the social democrats and the unionists. The intention was probably that social democrats and unionists, who had a narrow majority in the Løgting, would adopt the proposal, but when one social democrat declared himself a supporter of independence, that plan was no longer feasible. Instead, Fólkafokkurin, which wanted an independent Faroe Islands in union with Denmark, proposed a Faroese referendum for or against the Danish Government’s proposal. However, Javnaðarflokkurin and Sambandsflokkurin instead adopted a referendum where the people were asked to choose between the Danish Government’s proposal or secession. The referendum took place on 14 September 1946 and the result was a narrow majority in favour of secession. But when representative from Fólkafokkurin, together with the social democrat defector, wanted to implement the result, the Danish king dissolved the Løgting and called for a new election, which took place in November 1946. The union parties (Sambandsflokkurin, Javnaðarflokkurin and Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) now gained a solid majority in the Løgting, and they initiated new negotiations with the Danish Government where they reached agreement on the Home Rule Act of 1 April 1948, an arrangement with which the social democrats were probably most satisfied.

Home rule

The first home rule government in 1948 was a coalition between Sjálvstýrisflokkurin, Javnaðarflokkurin and Sambandsflokkurin under the leadership of Sambandsflokkurin’s chairman, Andreas Samuelsen, as the first prime minister. However, the Faroese Government only lasted for until 1950, at which point it was replaced by a new government.

Despite fundamental disagreements in the previous years about the relationship with Denmark, the crisis in the 1950s made Fólkaflokkurin and Sambandsflokkurin, which could easily agree on the economic policy, enter into a coalition agreement on a national government cooperation already in 1950, which lasted through most of the 1950s. However, the cooperation with Sambandsflokkurin on the economic policy and with the Danish Government on the rebuilding of the Faroese economy and the fishing industry would cost Fólkaflokkurin dearly. In 1943, the party had 12 seats in the Løgting, and by the end of the 1950s the number had been reduced to five. It was especially the newly established republican party Tjóðveldi (1948) that benefitted from the weakened Fólkafokkurin.

Fishermen, who in the 1950s went on strike to get better conditions, shunned Fólkafokkurin, which was supported by, among others, the shipowners. Instead, many of them voted for the left-wing Tjóðveldi, whose chairman was also chairman of the fishermen’s union. Furthermore, following the referendum in 1946, which they believed Fólkafokkurin had betrayed, Tjóðveldi pointed out that the Home Rule Act allowed Denmark to implement the NATO Treaty of 1949 in the Faroe Islands without asking the Løgting. Last but not least, Tjóðveldi benefitted from the doctor’s conflict in Klaksvík 1952‑56.

By 1958, Tjóðveldi had become one of the four major political parties, along with Sambandsflokkurin, Javnaðarflokkurin and Fólkaflokkurin. They are still the main parties in the Faroe Islands. In 1963, Tjóðveldi joined the Faroese Government for the first time together with Fólkaflokkurin and Sjálvstýrisflokkurin; a government that had big plans within the area of self-government. However, it was not until the 1970s that significant changes started happening in this area.

The doctors’ conflict 1952-56

In 1952 the so-called Klaksvík conflict broke out. The complex matter actually consisted of three conflicts: firstly, a conflict between the new administrative home rule capital Tórshavn and the fishing capital Klaksvík; secondly, a conflict between the fishermen in Klaksvík and the dominant shipowner in the town, Jógvan Frederik Kjølbro, with whom they were in conflict, and thirdly, a conflict between Denmark and the Faroe Islands, especially Klaksvík, where more than 70 % of the voters had voted for independence in September 1946.

Olaf Halvorsen and his supporters

The immediate cause of the dispute was that the management of the overall Faroese hospital system had in 1952 appointed a Faroese hospital doctor at the local hospital in Klaksvík instead of the temporarily appointed Danish doctor, Olaf Halvorsen, who was preferred by the overwhelming majority of the population of the medical district. The appointment led to violent protests from the majority of people in the hospital district, which included the northern islands as well as part of Eysturoy.

From the perspective of the authorities, the problem was that Olaf Halvorsen had ad been a member of the Danish Nazi Party, DNSAP, from 1938 to 1941, and in that context he was given a serious reprimand in 1948 by an arbitration court under DADL (the Danish Medical Association), which also included the Faroese medical association, for his national conditions during the war. The arbitration court also decided that Olaf Halvorsen should pay the costs of the case of DKK 601.50. But when Halvorsen refused to pay, he was excluded from the medical association. According to the agreement between the Danish Health Authority and DADL, he could therefore not be appointed as a hospital doctor at a hospital with health insurance practice, as was the case in Klaksvík.

As a result, the protests from the people were not met. Also, it would most likely not have been possible to cancel the lawful appointment of the Faroese doctor, Eivind Rubek Nielsen. The strong medical association also opposed to any disregard of the lawful appointment of one of the association’s members and refused to appoint a doctor who was not a member of the association, and who, according to the collective agreement, did not meet the conditions for practicing as a hospital doctor.

In this stalemate, the conflict escalated. Olaf Halvorsen stayed at the hospital in Klaksvík, where he was paid by a health fund established by his supporters in Klaksvík. At the same time, the same people physically prevented Eivind Rubek Nielsen from coming ashore from the ship on which he arrived to the town. When the highest authorities (the high commissioner of the Faroe Islands, chief medical officer, chief of police and government members) tried to remove Olaf Halvorsen from his position, they were prevented from doing so or even ordered out of Klaksvík.

The Danish intervention

After more than two years with no prospect of solving the conflict, the authorities in Tórshavn gave up. In April 1955, a helpless Faroese Government asked the Danish government for police assistance to restore law and order in Klaksvík.

After the Danish government had sent the DFDS ship Parkeston to the Faroe Islands with 120 police officers and dogs, the Danish Minister of Finance Viggo Kampmann managed to get approval for a settlement. However, Parkeston did not manage to call at Klaksvík Port, which was barricaded. The settlement meant that Olaf Halvorsen had to leave the hospital for the time being, while two Danish doctors were temporarily appointed for six months. The time was to be spend amending the rules for the employment of doctors so that Olaf Halvorsen could practice as a hospital doctor in Klaksvík.

Peace was restored in Klaksvík, but since the authorities had still not managed to implement significant parts of the settlement in September, it became necessary for the hospital board to appoint new doctors, which took place at a meeting on 27 September 1955. However, even before this meeting was held, some of Halvorsen’s supporters had suspected that the real intention was not for Halvorsen, who had left the Faroe Islands in May, to return. When the members of the hospital board, including the high commissioner of the Faroe Islands and the chief medical officer, were to travel by ship to Tórshavn after the meeting, they were surrounded by angry citizens down at the harbour who forced them to seek shelter at the police station. The result was that the high commissioner of the Faroe Islands called the Danish Prime Minister H.C. Hansen and told him that he was being held hostage in Klaksvík.

In the morning, the hospital board was allowed to leave the police station, but by then the Danish government had decided to send the frigate Rolf Krake to the Faroe Islands with 164 marines and police officers. Rolf Krake arrived in Klaksvík on 1 October 1955. This triggered violent unrest, but after a few months, the Danish superpower managed to restore law and order in the town, although not without resistance. In October and November, electricity went off regularly due to sabotage, bombs were detonated in houses, and in November a bomb was detonated at the police station where four police officers were staying. However, no one was seriously injured. No one was ever charged with the bombings, but in 2021, one of the bombers revealed his identity. However, many were arrested and charged with other offences. Harbour master Fischer Heinesen, who had been the leader of the Olaf Halvorsen supporters, received the harshest sentence of 12 months in 1956.

Not until February 1956 did the last Danish police officers and the frigate Holger Danske leave Klaksvík.

Causes of the conflict

While the immediate cause of the conflict was the appointment of a doctor, the underlying causes were deeper. The doctor’s conflict was based on socio-political conditions in Klaksvík, a centre-periphery conflict in the Faroe Islands and a political conflict with Denmark, which escalated when Danish warships were sent to Klaksvík.

Firstly, with a narrow majority, the Faroese had voted for secession from Denmark in a referendum in 1946. Many were disappointed when the result was only home rule, but in Klaksvík, where the majority had been quite convincing (70.6 %), great disappointment was seen. Furthermore, many believed that with the Home Rule Act of 1948, political and administrative power had been concentrated in the capital, Tórshavn. The main reason why the hospital came into focus was that the town’s first hospital had been established in 1898 based on local initiative and responsibility. When the new hospital was built in 1928, funding came from the Løgting and the state. With the Hospital Act in 1939, the Faroese Government and the state therefore took over responsibility for the local hospital, which many in Klaksvík believed had been neglected while the central hospital in Tórshavn had been given priority.

In addition to the underlying potential for conflicts between Klaksvík and Tórshavn and Denmark, respectively, there was a local conflict in Klaksvík. In the 1950s, the town’s and the Faroe Islands’ largest employer, Jógvan Frederik Kjølbro, was involved in several major labour market disputes with the fishermen’s association, whose chairman was Erlendur Patursson. Patursson was also the leader of Tjóðveldi (Republicans), which was particularly strong in Klaksvík. Kjølbro had not supported Halvorsen and his followers – quite the contrary. And the riots were often directly aimed at the Kjølbro family. Part of the story is that the doctor Eivind Rubek Nielsen and Evald Kjølbro, Jógvan Frederik Kjølbro’s son, were brothers-in-law. The doctor’s conflict was part of a rebellion against the Kjølbro family, both on the personal and political level.

The aftermath

Olaf Halvorsen never came back to the Faroe Islands, but in Klaksvík the citizens were pleased that Eivind Rubek Nielsen eventually did not want to take up the position of doctor. The hospital also got its own hospital board, which it only partially managed to abolish in 2018.

The doctor’s conflict consolidated the strong local dimension in Faroese politics. It also consolidated the Danish governments’ anxiety about Faroese relations, and the dispute strengthened – at least for some time – the secession-oriented dimension in Faroese politics.

Further reading

• 1536-1850 on the Faroe Islands
• 1850-1920 on the Faroe Islands
• 1970-2007 on the Faroe Islands
• Ancient times on the Faroe Islands
• Argisbrekka
• Population trends on the Faroe Islands from 1327-2022
• The middle ages on the Faroe Islands
• The viking age on the Faroe Islands

Read more about History on the Faroe Islands