8 May 1945 and Forward

The history of Norwegian SS volunteers did not stop at the end of World War 2.  Tens of thousands of Norwegians had openly given their support to the Quisling government and the German Reich of which 15,000 had applied for frontline duty as soldiers or nurses. They were now “branded” by the Norwegian Government and most became the victims of a witch-hunt never before seen in Norwegian history.

 

A total of 4,800 Norwegian volunteers were prosecuted and sentenced in the so called Landsvikeroppgjøret, which is the name given to the massive prosecution of Quislings followers in the years after World War 2.  Minster President Vidkun Quisling, Minister of Trade Albert Viljam Hagelin and Minister of Labor Ragnar Sigvald Schanke were sentenced to death and executed by shooting.  These sentences have since the war been somewhat controversial since the death penalty was only introduced by the Norwegian “London Government” in exile, shortly before the end of the war specifically for this purpose.

 

Most Norwegian volunteers received sentences ranging from lifetime in prison and hard labor to a few years.  Most sentences were shortened.  In addition the Government confiscated all their assets and they lost their rights to vote.

 

From Bjørn Østring sentence we read:

 

The Defendant has from the beginning stood behind and promoted Quisling and his policies and has been doing this all until the end of the War.  In spite that the Defendant has understood that Quisling has put his personal interest beyond the legal Government and that he cooperated with the enemy of the People the Defendant never doubted that Quislings actions would be against the best interest of the Country.  In spite of the Defendants crooked and one sided view he acted purely out of idealistic motifs and there is no reason to believe he acted for his own personal gain.  The defendant has not acted in an evil way.

 

For this, Bjørn Østring received a sentence of 7 years in prison.

 

In addition, many Norwegian volunteers were taken prisoner by the Russians and spent years in Russian prison camps.  A large part of them never survived, and those who did survive had to make their own way back to Norway for again to be sentenced the second time for their “crime” and spend additional years in a Norwegian prison.

 

In addition, many Norwegian volunteers chose suicide.  The most well known was Minister of Police, Jonas Lie.

A very dark chapter in Norwegian post war history is the prosecution of the Red Cross Front Sisters by the legal system in Norway.  These Norwegian women and girls with medical education and background volunteered to serve on the Eastern Front under German command of the Red Cross.  In addition to helping wounded German and Norwegian soldiers, they also helped the wounded Russian soldiers.  As Red Cross personnel, they saw no difference on the nationalities that were brought in wounded.  In spite of this, Norway as the ONLY country made their service a crime.  While Red Cross after the war has admitted this mistake, the Norwegian Government until this day stand behind their sentencing and that no wrong doing took place.

 

After the war, and as the volunteers eventually were let out of their respective prison sentences, they started having secret meetings and gatherings.  These meetings are still  taking place up until these days, of course with many fewer participants.  As employment proved to be difficult to find, a small “economy” of resourceful people formed around the Country.  The Norwegian volunteers stayed together and became an almost secret brotherhood organization.  New medals and orders were issued to those that lost their during the war, and their own newspaper “Folk og Land” was issued for 52 years up until 2003 when the dwindling number of readers no longer made it feasible or possible to continue publishing.

For the surviving Norwegian SS volunteers as well as the Frontsisters, it became very early evident that a memorial for the fallen and those that never came home would have to be raised.  The purpose of this “memorial” would be as a grave sort of speak, where family and friends could go and leave flowers and remember the lost ones.  Since no official memorial would be allowed raised in Norway, it early became evident that it would have to be done by the soldiers themselves and at a secret place away from the general public.  At noon on 2nd September 1978, the memorial at an undisclosed place in Bamble (Telemark) was unveiled.  It is made of rocks from all over Norway with a plaque attached that reads:

 

“In Memory of Norway’s Fallen Frontfighters and Frontsisters in World War 2.  We That Came Home Greet You!”

 

A replica of the “Bamble plaque” was later unveiled inside the ruins of the St. Maria Church in Sologubowka, St. Petersburg, Russia.  This church was bombed completely during the war and is now a memorial for the many German and foreign soldiers that was killed on this part of the front.  The cemetery has many foreign volunteers buried there, including many Norwegians.

Norwegian volunteers have often traveled back to the old battlefields on the Eastern Front.  The situation has of course changed significantly in over 60 years.  The old Norwegian soldiers have always been welcomed by the locals in St. Petersburg,  Finland, and other places.  Above left is the memorial raised for the Norwegian SS volunteers at Krasnoe Selo outside of St. Petersburg at what is known as “The Blue Church.  It reads “For Peace and Reconciliation—Norwegians that Fell” in Norwegian and in Russian.  The Norwegian volunteer organization has also supported and organized the collection of clothes and toys for a local orphanage in Krasnoe Selo.  The photo above right shows the Norwegian volunteers donating 150 kilos of children's clothes and toys.

 

While reconciliation has been the key word in Russia, appreciation is what the Finnish have shown.  Norwegian SS volunteers have very recently even been officially invited for receptions at the Finnish Embassy in Oslo to celebrate the Finnish War Veterans Day (May 5th).  When the volunteer organization in 1991 asked for permission to raise a memorial for those Norwegians that gave their life on the Finnish front between 1941 and 1944, this was promptly approved by the Finnish Government.  The memorial was raised at Norvajarvi in 1992 and reads “In Memory of the 196 Norwegian Volunteers that Fell in the Continuation War 1941—1944” and was raised by former members of SS Skijeger Batalion Norge, and fully funded by the veterans organization.