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Norwegian Immigration to Lake Wobegon

February 13, 2012 | 5 Comments

Hallo,

My girlfriend introduced me to this show, and we have now been listening to it for a year. I'm from Denmark, so of course I have to ask, when did the Norwegian people of Lake Wobegon emigrate? Norway was under the Kingdom of Denmark for around 300 years until 1814, which make the people of Lake Wobegon Danish. After 1814 they became part of Sweden, which didn't last very long because, honestly, the Norwegian, as well as everybody else, do not care for the Swedish people ;-)

Peter Emil Sørensen
Statesboro, GA

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Herr Sørensen,

The Norwegians who came to Lake Wobegon left Norway on account of the herring famine of the 1870s and surely were not Danish, nor were they Swedes. The Norwegians always knew who they were, even when under the iron fist of their powerful neighbors. Of course, all of us, at one time or another, have wished we were Danish. As the old song goes:

Er du dansk? Er du dansk?
We'd all like to be if we can. Sc-
Ottish is fine, Italian, or Greek,
And Americanism is downright unique,
But when I need a change of landsc-
Ape, I would like to be dansk.

Good luck being Danish in Georgia. Tre slags sild med grits.  Tak for brev.