You sort of raise an interesting question...
Would it have been better to surrender like the Danes?
More Norwegian and jewish lives would probably have been spared?
The Danes never really got a chance to surrender. They were occupied almost before they knew they were invaded.
Given the difference in geography and topography the two countries were in very different situations.
The Norwegians (and Danes) had the huge advantage when occupied of being on the right side of the Nazi delusions about “race.”
Norwegians and Danes were the ideal Aryans per Nazi ideology, possibly more so than actual Germans, who admittedly had more admixture with inferior alien blood.
The Nazis wanted to convert and recruit the Norse, not exterminate them.
No. The initial fight - which left the main German attack force on the bottom of the sea - gave the government and King the chance to relocate to London. From there it was possible to take control - legally - of the Norwegian merchant fleet which turned out to be one of the real major building blocks in the allied war effort.
That's a conundrum I ask about Poland. Poland could have taken the route of her southern neighbor, Slovakia, during the war. Basically allowing Poland to become a Nazi-Puppet state, yet still keeping something resembling a national identity. A lot of Poles would have been saved for sure. Of course the problem would have been still what the Nazis would have done with the Jews on Polish soil, don't know if that would have turned out any better for them, considering that Slovakia was more than happy to turn over her Jews to the Nazis.