Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Among Prisoners of War, North of the Arctic Circle
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them that it was Swedes who were caring for them
they were very pleased. The Russian gratitude for
Swedish aid was obvious. In memory of the visit to
the Fauske hospital, I still possess a few small things
which were presented to me and which gave me real
pleasure, proofs of the Russians’ fantastic ability
to make attractive souvenirs of the most simple
material.
A Norwegian major explained to us how the
prisoners of war were used during the German
occupation on a project which seems almost fantastic.
There never have been any railway communications
between the south and the north of Norway. Mo in
Rana, north of Trondheim, was the last station on
the line from Oslo. It is true that the Norwegians
had had plans to continue the railroad up to Bodö,
but these plans had never been carried into execution.
The Germans decided to carry them out, however.
They went still further and decided to continue the
railroad right up to Narvik and if possible all the
way up to Kirkenes. This required that the line had
to run for miles on end through tunnels, in valleys,
and high up over mountains. One understands how
terribly strenous the work of laying the track must
have been. For this task the Germans had mostly
chosen prisoners of war and imprisoned civilians
from various occupied countries. There were at the
end of the war, in the province of Nordland alone,
between twentysix and twentyseven thousand slave
laborers, which means about a third of all the war
prisoners in Norway.
The day after our arrival, I had the opportunity
of being present at the departure on German ships
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