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 […]
World War II land mines found on West Coast beach
December 29, 2016
Police have cordoned off a beach at Jæren, Rogaland County, after a man out walking found 21 old land mines stemming from World War II. The mines were spread over an area estimated to be around 300 square meters in size. Johan Ølberg, who often strolls along Sele Beach neary Hellestø in Jæren, spotted some of […]
Police send Dachau gate back to Germany
December 5, 2016
Police in Bergen said they planned to send the heavy iron gate that was stolen three years ago from the concentration camp Dachau back to authorities in Germany “as soon as possible.” They found the gate in their area just before the weekend, after responding to a tip. The recovery of the gate, emblazoned with the words Arbeit macht frei (Work […]
Royal infatuation sealed US support
October 27, 2016
“Intimate” and “private” is how author and royal researcher Tor Bomann-Larsen has described the “close relationship” between Norway’s Crown Princess Martha and US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II, when she lived in exile in the Washington DC area. One thing is clear: It sealed relations between Norway and the US, and helped boost Norway’s standing […]
Norway loses another war hero
October 4, 2016
Tributes have been published in Norwegian media all week, since news broke that one of Norway’s last surviving war heroes had died at the age of 99. Wilhelm Mohr will be honoured with a state funeral on Friday. Prime Minister Erna Solberg called Mohr “one of Norway’s greatest war heroes,” and claimed that few did as […]
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