PHOTO FEATURE: Jets still fly every day over the site of a wartime plane crash in 1945 that tragically killed British liberators just before they were due to land themselves at what’s now Oslo’s main airport at Gardermoen. They came to help ensure the unconditional surrender of Nazi German forces, and now a memorial to […]
‘With respect and deep gratitude’
May 8, 2018
PHOTO FEATURE: The weather could only be described as glorious when Norwegians gathered in Oslo on Liberation Day to remember their military veterans and war heroes on the 73rd anniversary of Norway’s liberation from Nazi German occupation. Merchant marine veterans were given the credit they also deserved, at an outdoor ceremony fittingly held on the […]
Convoy heroes win overdue acclaim
May 8, 2018
Ships were decorated, canons boomed at noon, flags flew and memorials were planned all over the country when Norway celebrated both Liberation- and Veterans’ Day on Tuesday. Among those finally receiving more official attention were the thousands of Norwegian merchant seafarers who crewed the dangerous convoys that brought critical supplies to Great Britain, but who […]
Norway loses a seafarers’ hero
April 15, 2018
Jon Michelet was a journalist, newspaper editor, local politican, labour activist, TV anchor and, most of all, a best-selling author who won lots of awards. Many Norwegians were thus mourning his death from cancer during the weeknd, but heartened that he’d managed to keep writing to the bitter end. That meant that he also managed […]
Solberg confronts ‘painful’ history
November 27, 2017
Somber ceremonies attracted hundreds of people including the prime minister and crown princess on Sunday, which marked 75 years since most of Norway’s remaining Jewish population was deported to Nazi German death camps during World War II. The goal was to make sure Norwegians never forget what Prime Minister Erna Solberg called a “painful and uncomfortable” […]
Nazi party halted in Trondheim
November 13, 2017
Trondheim’s venerable student union (Studentersamfundet) was embarrassed and angry after a group of bartenders decided to host a “politically incorrect” party on Saturday night. They dressed up in SS uniforms, and neither guests nor leaders of the organization were amused. “I was shocked and upset,” 25-year-old Maja Sandström, who was visiting Trondheim from Östersund in […]
Quisling ‘knew about death camps’
November 3, 2017
Last week marked 72 years since Vidkun Quisling, whose name became synonymous with “traitor,” was executed by firing squad at the Akershus Fortress and Castle in Oslo. Quisling, appointed by occupying Nazi German forces to lead Norway’s puppet government during World War II, claimed he had no knowledge of Norway’s own Holocaust until the shots […]
Bomb from World War II forces evacuation
September 29, 2017
Residents of Vallø in Tønsberg were under evacuation orders on Friday after another non-detonated bomb from World War II was found near an old refinery that was the allies’ target just before the war ended. A funeral planned at the nearby Vallø church also had to be moved. Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that military bomb […]
Norway recognizes its Holocaust role
January 27, 2017
The gloomy, foggy weather in Oslo on Friday was perhaps a fitting backdrop as Norwegian officials and mourners prepared to gather once again on International Holocaust Day. As consciousness of Norway’s direct involvement in the Holocaust continues to rise, the location for Friday’s memorial was the same as in recent years: the waterfront just below the […]
No new medals for World War heroes
January 9, 2017
The Norwegian government was catching flak this week for once again refusing to award medals to many World War II veterans, especially resistance forces that were attached to the communist movement at the time. Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide could choose from more than 1,200 candidates submitted by experts and the public, but opted against giving any of them the country’s […]
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