Editing Sigrid Undset (section)

==Exile==
When Germany invaded Norway in April 1940, Undset was forced to flee. She had strongly criticised both [[Nazi ideology]] and [[Adolf Hitler]] since the early 1930s, and, from an early date, her books were banned as part of [[censorship in Nazi Germany]]. She accordingly knew her name was on a list of those to be rounded up in the first wave of arrests and had no wish to become a target of the [[Gestapo]]. She accordingly fled to neutral Sweden.<ref name=Gyldendal>{{cite web|url=https://www.gyldendal.dk/artikler/sigrid-undset-forfatterartikel|publisher=Gyldendal|title=Sigrid Undset – den oversete Nobelprisvinder|author=Nikoline Rosenbjerg Kjeldsen|date=4 January 2024|access-date=9 April 2025|language=da}}</ref> 

Her eldest son, [[Norwegian Army]] [[Second Lieutenant]] Anders Svarstad, was [[killed in action]] at the age of 27, on 27 April 1940,<ref name="Voksø33">{{cite book |last=Voksø |first=Per |author-link=Per Voksø |title=Krigens Dagbok – Norge 1940–1945 |publisher=Forlaget Det Beste |location=Oslo |year=1994 |isbn=82-7010-245-8 |page=33 |language=no}}</ref> while defending Segalstad Bridge in [[Gausdal]] from German troops.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ording |first1=Arne |last2=Johnson |first2=Gudrun |last3=Garder |first3=Johan |title=Våre falne 1939–1945 |publisher=[[Politics of Norway|Norwegian government]] |location=Oslo |year=1951 |volume=4 |pages=272–273 |url=http://da2.uib.no/cgi-win/WebBok.exe?slag=lesside&bokid=vaarefalne4&sideid=273&storleik= |language=no}}</ref>

Undset's sick daughter had died shortly before the outbreak of the war. Bjerkebæk was requisitioned by the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|Wehrmacht]], and used as officers' quarters throughout the [[Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany|Occupation of Norway]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://limagris.com/sigrid-undset-la-vikinga-catolica-que-gano-el-premio-nobel-de-literatura/|publisher=Lima Gris|title=Sigrid Undset, la vikinga católica que ganó el Premio Nobel de Literatura|author=Hans Herrera Núñez|date=17 October 2023|access-date=9 April 2025|language=es}}</ref> Undset's library had already been secretly divided between her closest local friends. The books were hidden at great risk throughout the Nazi occupation and were returned to her after the Liberation of Norway.<ref> Geir Hasnes, ''Sigrid Undset and the Saints'', "The Northern Muse: Celebrating Sigrid Undset", November/December 2021, [[St Austin Review]], pages 4-7.</ref>

In 1940, Undset and her younger son left [[Sweden during World War II|neutral Sweden]] then crossed the [[Soviet Union]] via the [[Trans-Siberian Railroad]] before arriving as a [[political refugee]] in the [[United States]].<ref name=Gyldendal /> There, she untiringly pleaded occupied Norway's cause and the plight of European Jews in writings, speeches and interviews. She lived in [[Brooklyn Heights, New York]]. She was active in [[St. Ansgar's Scandinavian Catholic League]] and wrote several articles for its bulletin.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://findingaids.uflib.ufl.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/357746|publisher=[[University of Florida]]|title=St. Ansgar's Scandinavian Catholic League of New York, no. 41: Feb. 1943. Presentation inscription from Sigrid Undset to MKR. Contains articles by Undset|access-date=9 April 2025}}</ref> She also traveled to [[Florida]], where she became a close friend of novelist [[Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lithub.com/excavating-the-life-of-marjorie-kinnan-rawlings-author-of-an-american-classic/|publisher=Lithub|title=Excavating the Life of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Author of an American Classic|author=Ann McCutchan|date=30 April 2021|access-date=9 April 2025}}</ref>

Following the [[Gestapo]]'s arrest and [[summary execution]] of Danish Lutheran pastor and playwright [[Kaj Munk]] on 4 January 1944, the Danish resistance newspaper ''[[De frie Danske]]'' printed protests from many famous Scandinavian intellectuals, including Undset.<ref>{{cite news |title=KAJ MUNK IN MEMORIAM |url=http://www.illegalpresse.dk/papers#/paper?paper=68&page=685 |newspaper=[[De frie Danske]] |date=January 1944 |page=6 |quote=Munk var en overordentlig modig Mand og er nu mere end nogensinde før i Spidsen for Danmarks Frihedskamp. Hans indsats i Kampen for Friheden har skænket ham udødelighed. Han er blevet et af de store Navne i Danmarks Historie |access-date=18 November 2014 |language=da}}</ref>