2024-10-16 — October Bokprat: A Coat Dyed Black by Don Pugnetti (Online)

Schedule: 

Instructor: 

Location: 

Dr. Maren Johnson, Luther College's Associate Professor of Nordic Studies and Torgerson Center for Nordic Studies Director, facilitates a monthly bokprat discussing Scandinavian authors and Scandinavian life. Join us in October as we discuss A Coat Dyed Black by Don Pugnetti 

Bjørn Erliksen lives a peaceful life on Norway’s west coast and has never considered himself anything but a farmer. But when Nazi Germany invades, and his country’s ill-equipped military collapses in less than two months, it falls on him and other ordinary Norwegians to fight back.

He escapes to England, trains with an elite Norwegian special forces army unit and is smuggled back into his homeland as a commando. When Bjørn’s resistance work eventually reunites him with a lost love, they join forces to carry out dangerous sabotage missions, all the while working in the shadows to evade the Gestapo. He weighs love against duty, wrestling with his own conscience as he is forced to commit unspeakable acts and unexpected betrayals. Can Bjørn survive long enough to see Norway’s liberation and find his own peace?

Filled with thrilling historical details about a corner of Europe often forgotten in the story of WWII, A Coat Dyed Black illuminates the struggles and sacrifices of ordinary people compelled to do the extraordinary.

Supplies:

Registrants should secure their own copy of the book (available through Vesterheim Museum Store soon!) and have read it prior to the discussion. Students will need to provide a computer, laptop, or tablet with a camera and mic as well as a fast, reliable internet connection.

Special Instructions:  

When registering for the class, please make sure to use the email address you'd like the Zoom meeting invitations sent to. You will receive links to the Zoom sessions by email sometime during the week prior to the class. If this class is a gift, please sign up with the recipient's email address or be prepared to forward all communications.

Enrollment Deadline: 

September 25, 2024 

Click here to learn more about instructor Dr. Maren Anderson Johnson.