LOYAL CITIZENS

After the outbreak of World War I, the use of the Norwegian language among immigrants declined sharply, and the number of Norwegian-language newspapers dropped correspondingly. In 1917, as World War I hysteria cast a chilling effect on even the most everyday expressions of ethnic separation in America, a presidential order required all editors of non-English periodicals to file an English translation of all political stories and editorials with their local postman. Nordisk Tidende complied, demonstrating the unswerving loyalty to the United States of the entire community, as well as its determination to preserve and maintain the language and culture of its readers.

Immigration from Norway dwindled to a mere trickle in the late 1920s and 1930s, and the use of the Norwegian language declined with the passing of each generation. But not in Brooklyn, the biggest Norwegian city outside Bergen and Oslo.
By the 1920s, the Bay Ridge district in Brooklyn was the center of the Norwegian settlement, and would become the largest urban colony of Norwegian-born people outside of Norway, notes Lovoll. The connection to Norway was as close as the harbor, with Norwegian ships in port, and many residents who worked in shipping. The colony was often referred to as a suburb of Oslo or Bergen. At its height, there were clubs, choirs, festivals, churches and institutions. Norwegian was the language of the street, and Nordisk Tidende was the paper of record.