Minor subject - major fascination

After her retirement, Scandinavia specialist Susanne Kramarz-Bein wants to plug a personal gap in her life - and take a trip to Sweden. WWU - MünsterView King Olav V was determined to show solidarity with his people during the oil crisis. So early one morning on a weekend in 1973, when there was a ban on the use of cars, the Norwegian monarch demonstratively took a seat on the Oslo underground taking him to Mount Holmenkollen, just outside the city, where he wanted to go skiing. This sign of solidarity was a great success with his subjects. The Norwegians appreciated his unpretentious, relaxed style anyway - and the great majority of them revered their king as a "Folkekonge" - a "people's king". In 1984, the 25-year-old Susanne Kramarz - then doing a degree course in Scandinavian Studies - had the opportunity to see close-up that this approachability of the Norwegian king was more than just a legend. Kramarz, who had a scholarship to study at the University of Oslo for a year, was one of 40 specially selected foreign students whom the king had invited to his palace to thank them for their interest in Scandinavian culture and language.