In Haugesund’s Avis on 27 September, Tor Inge Vormedal writes: “It was not Norway as a state that took part in the slave trade, but some shipowners took part as transporters. … Do not muddy the debate with claims that Norway has taken an active part in genocide through the slave trade …”

As Vormedal knows, Norway was not an independent kingdom when the trade in African slaves was at its peak. Therefore, it makes no sense to describe “Norway as a state” in what we call the Danish era. It was the king in Copenhagen, his ministers and a common bureaucracy that overthrew both Denmark and Norway. As the twin kingdom to Denmark, perhaps we should rather look at Norway as participating in what the king and the civil service did. Our common king Kristian 6 was directly involved in the slave trade and was one of the shareholders when in 1733 the West India-Guinean Company had to inject more capital into the company. In the same year, the king was on a tour of Norway with a large entourage. The slave colonies both in the West Indies and in Guinea had settlements named after the king. Denmark-Norway as a state was thus heavily involved in the slave trade both on the ownership side and the operating side.

Vormedal uses the term «carrier» to refer to ships as transported slaves. It appears to me as a language wash where responsibility for abuse, blood and death is gone. Jørgen Thor Møhlen came from Hamburg to Bergen and set up as a merchant, industrialist and slave trader. The slave colony St. From 1690 to 1695, Thomas was chartered away to Møhlen, and his ship became the first Danish-Norwegian ship to transport African slaves to America. St. Thomas became one of the main trading posts for international human trafficking. A district in Bergen is named after Jørgen Thor Møhlen. But Vormedal might think that Møhlen did not become a Norwegian?

Finally, I will give Vormedal an example taken from “Familien Olrik’s Genealogy”, published in Copenhagen in 1901. It is digitized and easily accessible if the source needs to be examined. Benjamin Olrich came from a trading family who lived on Bakholmen in Austevoll. Benjamin studied theology and his last service was as parish priest in Askvoll in Sunnfjord. Bendt b. 1747 was his eldest son. Bendt Olrich became a student from Bergen School in 1768 and traveled to Copenhagen. But he soon gave up his studies. After several years as an inspector in the Greenland trade, Bendt was appointed governor of Christianborg in Guinea in 1792 with the rank of major. In the same year, a regulation was issued that the slave trade should be prohibited from the end of 1802. It was therefore important to increase the execution of slaves for the next 10 years in order to obtain sufficient labor on the plantations in the Danish West Indies. The idea was that the labor force should later be kept at the same level as natural population growth among the slaves.

So I have to correct Vormedal, because here I find a man from Norway responsible for genocide gjennom slavehandelen. Bendt Olrich was a Norwegian located in the main hub of the slave trade in Danish-Norwegian service.