Examines the historically unique conditions under which the International Congress of Mathematicians took place in Oslo in 1936. Relying heavily on unpublished archival sources, the authors consider the different goals of the various participants in the Congress, most notably those of the Norwegian organizers, and the Nazi-led German delegation.

Introduction: Four strategies, the prehistory of the Oslo Congress, and sourcesThe politics of the Congress: The Norwegian hosts: The newcomer with historical traditionsThe German delegation: Swaying between expansionism and isolationismThe Russian withdrawl: Isolationism out of fear and ideologyThe Italian case: Mathematics as a victim of world politicsThe Congress in the Norwegian dailiesInternational mathematics shortly before and after the Second World War: A glimpse ahead and back againThe mathematics of the Congress: Assessing the mathematics of the CongressThe plenary lecturesICMIConclusions regarding the mathematics of the CongressAppendices: Norwegian newspaper items relating to the CongressLetter from Heegaard to Engel, 24 July 1936Congress report from Neue Zurcher Zeitung, 9 August 1936Leitzmann's unpublished report on the CongressReport by E. G. Kern, the Nazi functionary in Oslo, to Nazi headquarters in Berlin, 15 August 1936Newspaper profile of E. G. Kern, the Nazi functionary in Oslo, 4 December 1937 (with Stormer's annotation)Transcription of two recommendations made by the Subcommittee on Conferences to the Organizing Committee of the planned 1940 ICMTranscription of an attachment to the round letter of the Organizing Committee of the planned 1940 ICM, listing the mathematicians invitedBibliographyName indexSubject index.