German occupation of Norway

The German occupation of Norway during World War 2 began on 9 April 1940
after German forces invaded the neutral Scandinavian country of Norway.
Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940 and
the Germans controlled Norway until the capitulation of German forces in Europe on
8/9 May 1945. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the
Wehrmacht. Civil rule was effectively assumed by the Reichskommissariat
Norwegen (Reich Commissariat of Norway), which acted in collaboration with a
pro-German puppet government, the Quisling regime, while the Norwegian King
Haakon VII and the prewar government escaped to London, where they acted as a
government in exile. This period of military occupation is in Norway referred to as
the "war years" or "occupation period".

Contents
Background
Pre-war relations with Britain
German invasion German officers in front of the
National Theatre in Oslo, 1940
Occupation
German political and military powers
Economic consequences
Holocaust and deportation of Jews
Acceptance and collaboration
Resistance movement
Exiled Norwegian forces
Navy
Air force
Army
Allied raids in Norway
Liberation
Lapland War, Soviet advance, and retreat of the German army
Exiled Norwegian troops liberate Finnmark
German capitulation and end of occupation
Aftermath
Lebensborn and war children
Refugees
Treason trials
German prisoners of war
Legacy of the occupation
Social and cultural transformation
Surviving Luftwaffe aircraft

See also
References
Further reading
In Norwegian
External links
Background
Having maintained its neutrality during World War I (1914-1918), Norwegian foreign and military policy since 1933 was largely
influenced by three factors:

Fiscal austerity promoted by the conservative parties;

Pacifism promoted by the Norwegian Labour Party;
A doctrine of neutrality, on the assumption that there would be no need to bring Norway into a war if it remained
neutral.
These three factors met resistance as tensions grew in Europe in the 1930s, initially from Norwegian military staff and right-wing
political groups, but increasingly also from individuals within the mainstream political establishment and, it has since come to light,
by the monarch, King Haakon VII, behind the scenes. By the late 1930s, the Norwegian parliament Storting had accepted the need
for a strengthened military and expanded the budget accordingly, even by assuming national debt. As it turned out, most of the plans
enabled by the budgetary expansion were not completed in time.

Pre-war relations with Britain

Although neutrality remained the highest priority until the invasion was fait
a accompli, it was known throughout the government that
Norway, above all, did not want to be at war with Britain. On 28 April 1939, Nazi Germany offered Norway and several other
Scandinavian countries non-aggression pacts. However to maintain neutrality, it was turned down along with Sweden and Finland.
By the autumn of 1939 there was an increasing sense of urgency because of its long western coastline facing access routes into the
North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean that Norway had to prepare, not only to protect its neutrality, but indeed to fight for its
freedom and independence. Efforts to improve military readiness and capability, and to sustain an extended blockade, were
intensified between September 1939 and April 1940. Several incidents in Norwegian maritime waters, notably the Altmark incident
in Jøssingfjord, put great strains on Norway's ability to assert its neutrality. Norway managed to negotiate favourable trade treaties
both with the United Kingdom and Germany under these conditions, but it became increasingly clear that both countries had a
strategic interest in denying the other warring power access to Norway and its coastline.

The government was also increasingly pressured by Britain to direct ever lar
ger parts of its massivemerchant fleet to transport British
goods at low rates, as well as to join the trade blockade against Germany.[1] In March and April 1940, British plans for an invasion of
Norway were prepared, mainly in order to reach and destroy the Swedish iron ore mines in Gällivare. It was hoped that this would
divert German forces away fromFrance, and open a war front in southSweden.[2]

It was also agreed that mines would be laid in Norwegian waters (Operation Wilfred) and that the mining should be followed by the
landing of troops at four Norwegian ports: Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger. Because of Anglo-French arguments, the date
of the mining was postponed from 5 April to 8 April. The postponement was catastrophic. On 1 April, German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler
had ordered the German invasion of Norway to begin on 9 April; so, when on the day before, 8 April, the Norwegian government
was preoccupied with earnest protest about the British mine-laying, the German expeditions were already well on their way of their
mission.[3]

German invasion
On the pretext that Norway needed protection fromBritish and French interference, Germany invaded Norway for several reasons:

strategically, to secure ice-free harbors fromwhich its naval forces could seek to control the North Atlantic;
to secure the availability ofiron ore from mines in Sweden, going through Narvik;
to pre-empt a British and French invasion with the same purpose; and
to reinforce the propaganda of a "Germanic empire".
Through neglect both on the part of the Norwegian foreign minister Halvdan Koht
and minister of defence Birger Ljungberg, Norway was largely unprepared for the
German military invasion when it came on the night of 8–9 April 1940. A major
storm on 7 April resulted in the British Navy failing to make material contact with
the German shipping.[4]:55 Consistent with Blitzkrieg warfare, German forces
attacked Norway by sea and air as Operation Weserübung was put into action. The
first wave of German attackers counted only about 10,000 men. German ships came
into the Oslofjord, but were stopped when the Krupp-built artillery and torpedoes of
Oscarsborg Fortress sank the German flagship Blücher[4]:65 and sank or damaged
German infantry attacking through a
the other ships in the German task force. Blücher transported the forces that would burning Norwegian village, April
ensure control of the political apparatus in Norway, and the sinking and death of 1940.
over 1,000 soldiers and crew delayed the Germans, so that the King and government
had the chance to escape from Oslo. In the other cities that were attacked, the
Germans faced only weak or no resistance. The surprise, and the lack of
preparedness of Norway for a large-scale invasion of this kind, gave the German
forces their initial success.[5]

The major Norwegian ports from Oslo northward to Narvik (more than 1,200 mi
(1,900 km) away from Germany's naval bases) were occupied by advance
detachments of German troops, transported on destroyers.[4]:58 At the same time, a
single parachute battalion took the Oslo and Stavanger airfields, and 800 operational King Haakon and crown prince Olav
aircraft overwhelmed the Norwegian population. Norwegian resistance at Narvik, seeking refuge as the German
Trondheim (Norway's second city and the strategic key to Norway),[4]:60 Bergen, Luftwaffe bombs Molde, April 1940.
Stavanger, and Kristiansand was overcome very quickly, and Oslo's effective
resistance to the seaborne forces was nullified when German troops from the airfield
entered the city. The first troops to occupy Oslo entered the city brazenly, marching
behind a German military brass band.[3]

On establishing footholds in Oslo and Trondheim, the Germans launched a ground

offensive against scattered resistance inland in Norway. Allied forces attempted
several counterattacks, but all failed. While resistance in Norway had little military
success, it had the significant political effect of allowing the Norwegian government,
including the royal family, to escape. The Blücher, which carried the main forces to German troops enter Oslo, May
occupy the capital, was sunk in the Oslofjord on the first day of the invasion.[5] An 1940. In the background is the
improvised defence at Midtskogen also prevented a German raid from capturing the Victoria Terrasse, which later became
the headquarters of theGestapo.
king and government.

Norwegian mobilisation was hampered by the loss of much of the best equipment to
the Germans in the first 24 hours of the invasion, the unclear mobilisation order by the government, and the general confusion caused
by the tremendous psychological shock of the German surprise attack. The Norwegian Army rallied after the initial confusion and on
several occasions managed to put up a stiff fight, delaying the German advance. However, the Germans, quickly reinforced by Panzer
and motorised machine gun battalions,[4]:80 proved unstoppable due to their superior numbers, training, and equipment. The
[5]
Norwegian Army therefore planned its campaign as a tactical retreat while awaiting reinforcements from Britain.

The British Navy cleared the way to Narvik on 13 April, sinking one submarine and eight destroyers in the fjord.[4]:90 British and
French troops began to land at Narvik on 14 April. Shortly afterward, British troops landed at Namsos and Åndalsnes, to attack
Trondheim from the north and from the south, respectively. The Germans, however, landed fresh troops in the rear of the British at
Namsos and advanced up the Gudbrandsdal from Oslo against the force at Åndalsnes. By this time, the Germans had about 25,000
troops in Norway.
By 23 April, there was open discussion about evacuating Allied troops, and on 24 April Norwegian troops, supported by French
.[4]:88
soldiers, failed to stop a Panzer advance. On 26 April the British decided to evacuate Norway

By 2 May, both Namsos and Åndalsnes were evacuated by the British. On 5 May, the last Norwegian resistance pockets remaining in
South and Central Norway were defeated at Vinjesvingen and Hegra Fortress.

In the north, German troops engaged in a bitter fight at the Battle of Narvik. Holding out against five times as many British and
French troops, they were close to rebellion before finally slipping out from Narvik on 28 May.[4]:95 Moving east, the Germans were
surprised when the British started to abandon Narvik on 3 June. By that time the German offensive in France had progressed to such
an extent that the British could no longer afford any commitment in Norway, and the 25,000 Allied troops were evacuated from
Narvik only 10 days after their victory. King Haakon VII and part of his government left for England on the British cruiser
HMS Glasgow to establish the Norwegian government-in-exile.[3]

Fighting continued in Northern Norway until 10 June, when the Norwegian 6th Division surrendered shortly after Allied forces had
been evacuated against the background of looming defeat in France. Among German-occupied territories in Western Europe, this
made Norway the country to withstand the German invasion for the longest period of time – approximately two months.

Hitler garrisoned Norway with about 300,000 troops for the rest of the war. By occupying Norway, Hitler had ensured the protection
[3]
of Germany's supply ofiron ore from Sweden and had obtained naval and air bases with which to strike at Britain.

Occupation

German political and military powers

Prior to the invasion, on 14 and 18 December 1939, Vidkun Quisling, the leader of
Norway's fascist party, the Nasjonal Samling ("National Gathering"), had tried to
persuade Adolf Hitler that he would form a government in support of occupying
Germans.[4]:15 Although Hitler remained unreceptive to the idea, he gave orders to
draft up plans for the possible military invasion of Norway.[4]:16 Hence, on the first
day of invasion, Quisling, using his own initiative, burst into the NRK studios in
Oslo on 9 April and made a nationwide broadcast at 7:30pm declaring himself prime
minister and ordering all resistance halted at once.[4]:72 This did not please the Heinrich Himmler visiting Norway in
German authorities, who initially wanted the legitimate government to remain in 1941. Seated (from left to right) are
place. Nevertheless, when it became obvious that the Norwegian parliament would Quisling, Himmler, Terboven, and
not surrender, the Germans quickly came to recognise Quisling. Hitler not being General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst,
aware of anyone better, supported him from the evening of 9 April.[4]:73 They the commander of the German
forces in Norway.
demanded that Haakon formally appoint him as prime minister and return his
government to Oslo; in effect, giving legal sanction to the invasion.

When the German ambassador to Norway, Curt Bräuer, presented his government's demands to Haakon, the king let it be known he
would abdicate before appointing Quisling prime minister. The Germans reacted by bombing the village they believed the King was
occupying. He had been, but had left the village when the sound of bombers was heard. Standing in the snow in a nearby wood, he
watched the village of Nybergsund be destroyed.[4]:77 This prompted the Norwegian government to unanimously advise him not to
appoint any government headed by Quisling. The invaders realised Quisling's party could not muster any significant support, and
quickly pushed him aside. An administrative council led by Ingolf Elster Christensen was therefore established on 15 April to
administer those areas which had so far come under German control. The council was abolished on 20 September 1940, when
Reichskommissar Josef Terboven took over power by forming his own cabinet. Terboven attempted to negotiate an arrangement with
the remaining members of the Norwegian parliament that would give a Nazi cabinet the semblance of legitimacy, but these talks
failed.
Quisling was consequently re-instituted as head of state on 20 February 1942,
although Terboven retained the sole means to use violence as a political tool, which
he did on several occasions (e.g. by imposingmartial law in Trondheim and ordering
the destruction of the village of Telavåg). Quisling believed that by ensuring
economic stability and mediating between the Norwegian civilian society and the
German occupiers, his party would gradually win the trust and confidence of the
Norwegian population. Membership in the Nasjonal Samling did increase slightly in
the first few years of the occupation, but never reached significant levels, and eroded
The German-occupiedParliament of
towards the end of the war.
Norway Building in 1941.
Military forces such as the Heer and Luftwaffe remained under direct command of
the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht in Germany throughout the war, but all other
authority was vested in the Reich commissioner
. The Nazi authorities made attempts to enact legislation that supported its actions and
policies; it therefore banned all political parties except NS, appointed local leaders top down and forced labour unions and other
organizations to accept NS leaders. Although there was much resistance against most of the Nazi government's policies, there was
considerable cooperation in ensuring economic activity and social welfare programs.

Norway was the most heavily fortified country during the war: several hundred thousand German soldiers were stationed in Norway,
in a ratio of one German soldier for every eight Norwegians. Most German soldiers considered themselves fortunate to be in Norway,
particularly in comparison with those experiencing savage combat duty on the
Eastern Front.

Approximately 6,000 SS troops were garrisoned in Norway during World War II, under the command of Obergruppenführer Wilhelm
Rediess. Most of these troops were under the authority of the Waffen-SS and the SS and Police Leader hierarchy. SS and Police
Leaders for Norway included Hans Hüttig as well as Rediess. In 1944, the Allgemeine-SS established the 127th SS-Standarte, which
was the last command of the General-SS ever created.

The powerful battleship Tirpitz was stationed in Norway for most of the war, acting as a fleet in being in her own right and tying up
huge Allied resources until she was eventually sunk in the last of many attacks.

Economic consequences
The economic consequences of the German occupation were severe. Norway lost all
its major trading partners the moment it was occupied. Germany became the main
trading partner, but could not make up for the lost import and export business. While
production capacity largely remained intact, the German authorities confiscated a
very large part of the output. This left Norway with only 43% of its production being
freely available.[6]

Combined with a general drop in productivity, Norwegians were quickly confronted

with scarcity of basic commodities, including food. There was a real risk of famine. The occupation saw a great rise in
Many, if not most, Norwegians started growing their own crops and keeping their food shortages throughout Norway.
own livestock. City parks were divided among inhabitants, who grew potatoes, Here people wait in line for food
cabbage, and other hardy vegetables. People kept pigs, rabbits, chicken and other rations, Oslo, 1942.
poultry in their houses and out-buildings. Fishing and hunting became more
widespread. Gray and black market provided for flow of goods. Norwegians also
learned to use ersatz products for a wide variety of purposes, ranging from fuel to cof
fee, tea, and tobacco.

Holocaust and deportation of Jews

At the beginning of the occupation, there were at least 2,173 Jews in Norway. At
least 775 of these were arrested, detained, and/or deported. 742 were sent to
concentration camps, 23 died as a result of extrajudicial execution, murder, and
suicide during the war; bringing the total of Jewish Norwegian dead to at least 765,
comprising 230 complete households. In addition to the few who survived
concentration camps, some also survived by fleeing the country, mostly to Sweden,
but some also to the United Kingdom.
Anti-Semitic graffiti on shop windows
in Oslo in 1941.
Acceptance and collaboration
Of the Norwegians who supported the Nasjonal Samling party, relatively few were
active collaborators. Most notorious among these was Henry Oliver Rinnan, the
leader of the Sonderabteilung Lola (locally known as Rinnanbanden or "the Rinnan
group"), a group of informants who infiltrated the Norwegian resistance, hence
managing to capture and murder many of its members.

Other collaborators were Statspolitiet (STAPO), a police force that operated

independently of the regular police. Statspolitiet was closely related to the Quisling
regime and took also orders directly from the GermanSicherheitspolizei.
Quisling (in front of the center) at a
Hirden was a fascist paramilitary force with party members subordinate to the ruling party event in Borre National Park is
party. Hirden had a broad mandate that included the use of violence. under a portal that promotes
Germanske SS Norge in 1941
Furthermore, about 15,000 Norwegians volunteered for combat duty on the Nazi
side; of the 6,000 sent into action as part of the Germanic SS, most were sent to the
Eastern front.

Resistance movement
Over time, an organized armed resistance movement, known as Milorg and
numbering some 40,000 armed men at the end of the war, was formed under a
largely unified command, something which greatly facilitated the transfer of power
in May 1945.

A distinction was made between the home front (Hjemmefronten) and the external
front (Utefronten). The home front consisted of sabotage, raids and clandestine
operations (as was often performed by members of Milorg), as well as intelligence The Grini concentration camp, where
gathering (for which XU was founded). Meanwhile, the external front included most political prisoners were
interned.
Norway's merchant fleet, the Royal Norwegian Navy (which had evacuated many of
its ships to Britain), Norwegian squadrons under the British Royal Air Force
command and several commando groups operating out ofGreat Britain and Shetland.

One of the most successful actions undertaken by the Norwegian resistance was the Norwegian heavy water sabotage, which crippled
the German nuclear energy project. Prominent resistance members, among themMax Manus and Gunnar Sønsteby, destroyed several
ships and supplies of the Kriegsmarine. Radical organizations such as the Osvald Group sabotaged a number of trains and railways.
However most organizations opted for passive resistance.

Illegal newspapers were distributed, including Friheten, Vårt Land, Fritt Land. Illegal trade union periodicals included Fri
Fagbevegelse.[7]

Exiled Norwegian forces

About 80,000 Norwegian citizens fled the country during the course of the war; apart from political and military forces they included
intellectuals such as Sigrid Undset. Since the Norwegian parliament continued to operate in exile in Britain, many of these exiles
voluntarily came to serve in Allied military service, often forming their own distinct Norwegian units in accordance with the Allied
Forces Act. By the end of the war these forces consisted of some 28,000 enlisted men and women.

Navy
In June 1940, some 13 warships and 5 aircraft of the Royal Norwegian Navy, including their 500 operating personnel, followed the
King and parliament to Britain. Throughout the war, some 118 ships had served the Royal Norwegian Navy, of which 58 were in
active service by the war's end. By this time the Royal Norwegian Navy had continuously and actively served Allied forces since the
summer of 1940, and had suffered the loss of 27 ships and 650 men.

Air force
In order to develop and train an Air Force, a training camp known as "Little Norway" was set up near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on
10 November 1940. However, a unified Royal Norwegian Air Forcewas only founded as a separate branch of the military of Norway
on 10 November 1944, a date before which it operated in two distinct branches — then known as the Royal Norwegian Navy Air
Service and the Norwegian Army Air Service.

The Air Force operated four squadrons in support of Allied forces:

No. 330 Squadron RNoAF

No. 331 Squadron RNoAF
No. 332 Squadron RNoAF
No. 333 Squadron RNoAF
A number of Norwegian volunteers also served in British RAF units. Combined together, the Norwegian fighter squadrons (No. 331
and 332) and Norwegian fighters operating in RAF service accounted for a total 247 destroyed, 42 assumed destroyed and 142
damaged enemy aircraft. By the war's end, the Norwegian Air Force counted a total of 2,700 personnel and had suffered a total of
228 losses.

Army
The Norwegian Army received the lowest priority of all the exiled Norwegian forces; its size never exceeded more than 4,000 men.
Following its last organizational reform in 1942, ht e Army consisted of the following units:

Scottish Brigade
Norwegian Independent Company 1(initially serving BritishSOE operations)
No. 5 Troop of the 10th Inter-Allied Commando
Norwegian "Iceland" Company (Teaching American and British troops inwinter warfare)
Svalbard garrison
Jan Mayen garrison
South Georgia garrison
Coastal artillery group
Hospital unit

Allied raids in Norway

Throughout the war, Allied planners remained wary of the strategic significance of Norway. Commando raids were carried out in
several locations; some with the intention of deceiving German commanders as part of Operation Fortitude North, others with the
explicit aim of disrupting German military and scientific capabilities, such as sabotaging the German nuclear energy project. Many of
these allied raids were achieved with the help of exiled Norwegian forces. Notable military operations in Norway include:

Operation Claymore
 Operation Gauntlet
Operation Anklet
Operation Archery
Operation Musketoon
Operation Freshman
Operation Checkmate
Operation Judgement, Kilbotn

Liberation

Lapland War, Soviet advance, and retreat of the German army

With the beginning of theGerman withdrawal from Lapland, the initial German plan
was to retain the essential nickel mines around Petsamo in the far North held by the
19th Mountain Corps under General Ferdinand Jodl, but events led to the
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ordering the entire 20th Mountain Army out of
Finland to take up new defensive positions around Lyngen and Skibotn just to the
north of Tromsø — a new operation which came to be called "Operation Nordlicht"
(Operation Northern Light). This proved to be a huge logistical undertaking. General
Lothar Rendulic, replacing General Eduard Dietl, who had been killed in an air
crash, set about evacuating supplies by sea through Petsamo and the Norwegian
town of Kirkenes.

In early October 1944, some 53,000 men of the German 19th Mountain Corps were
still some 45 mi (72 km) inside Russia along the Litsa River and the neck of the
Rybachy Peninsula. The plan was for them to reach Lakselv in Norway, some
160 mi (260 km) west, by 15 November. By 7 October however, the combined
Soviet 14th Army and Northern fleet, consisting of some 133,500 men under Field
Marshal Kirill Meretskov, attacked the weakest point of the German line, the Map showing the German army's
junction between the 2nd and 6th Mountain Divisions. retreat from Finland and, shortly
thereafter, from Finnmark in northern
A Soviet Naval Brigade also made an amphibious landing to the west of Rybachy, Norway.
thereby outflanking the Germans. Rendulic, fearing an encirclement of his forces,
ordered the 19th Mountain Corps to fall back into Norway. With the Soviets hard on
their heels, the Corps reached Kirkenes by 20 October. The German High Command
ordered Rendulic to hold the Soviets at bay whilst vital supplies amounting to some
135,000 short tons (122,000 t) could be shipped to safety. Five days later, when the
German army prepared to withdraw, only around 45,000 short tons (41,000 t) had
been saved.

As a result of the Germanscorched earth policy, Kirkenes was virtually destroyed by

the Germans before pulling out: the town was set on fire, port installations and
offices were blown up and only a few small houses were left standing. This scene Soviet soldiers meet local Norwegian
inhabitants.
was to be repeated throughoutFinnmark, an area larger than Denmark. The Germans
were determined to leave nothing of value to the Soviets, as Hitler had ordered
Rendulic to leave the area devoid of people, shelter and supplies. Some 43,000 people complied with the order to evacuate the region
immediately; those who refused were forced to leave their homes. Some nonetheless stayed behind to await the departure of the
Germans: it was estimated that 23,000-25,000 people remained in East-Finnmark by the end of November, they hid in the wilderness
until the Germans had left.
The Soviets pursued the Germans over the following days, and fighting occurred
around the small settlements of Munkelv and Neiden to the west of Kirkenes around
27 October. The German 6th Mountain Division, acting as rear-guard, slowly
withdrew up the main road along the coast (known as Riksvei 50, now called the E6)
until reaching Tanafjord, some 70 mi (110 km) north-west of Kirkenes, which they
reached on 6 November. It was to be their last contact with Soviet troops.

However, the advance of the Soviet troops stopped and West-Finnmark and North-
Troms became a no-man's land between the Soviet army and the German army. The town of Kirkenes was left
Here, several thousand people lived in hiding the whole winter 1944/45. These severely damaged following the
people were called cave people, living in caves, in huts made of driftwood and/or withdrawal of German forces.
turf, under boats turned upside down, etc. The risk of being discovered by patrolling
German boats was a constant threat during the months waiting for liberation.

Exiled Norwegian troops liberate Finnmark

On 25 October 1944, the order was given for a Norwegian force in Britain to set sail
for Murmansk to join the Soviet forces now entering Northern Norway. The envoy
was named Force 138 and the operation was called "Operation Crofter".

Led by Oberst Arne D. Dahl:

Dinner party in Kirkenes in July 1945.
A military mission responsible for creating a liaison with the Soviets and Soviet troops withdrew from
setting up a civil administration, Norwegian territory on 25 September
Bergkompanie 2 under Major S. Rongstad with 233 men, 1945. At the rear from right: Colonel
A naval area command with 11 men, Arne Dagfin Dahl, Crown Prince Olav
"Area command Finnmark" consisting of 12 men. and Commander Soviet Forces in
Norway Lieutenant General
The force arrived in Murmansk on 6 November and went with a Soviet ship to
Sherbakov.
Liinakhamari in North-western Soviet Union (former North-eastern Finland), from
where trucks took them to Norway, arriving on 10 November. The Soviet
commander, Lieutenant General Sherbakov, made it clear that he wanted the Norwegian Bergkompani to take over the forward
positions as soon as possible. Volunteers from the local population were hastily formed into "guard companies" armed with Soviet
weapons pending the arrival of more troops from either Sweden or Britain. The first convoy arrived from Britain on 7 December and
included two Norwegian corvettes (one of which was later damaged by a mine) and three minesweepers.

It soon became obvious that reconnaissance patrols needed to be sent out to discover what the Germans were up to and to find out if
the local population to the West had been evacuated or were still there. The reports came back stating that the Germans were in the
process of pulling back from Porsanger, but were laying mines and booby-traps along the way, a few people were left here and there
and many of the buildings were burnt down.

This remained the situation as 1944 slipped into 1945. The new year would see the Norwegian forces slowly taking back a battered
Finnmark, helping the local population in the bitter arctic winter and dealing with occasional German raids from the air, sea and land
as well as the ever-present danger from mines. Reinforcements arrived from the Norwegian Rikspoliti based in Sweden as well as
convoys from Britain. A total of 1,442 people and 1,225 short tons (1,111 t) of material were flown in by Dakota transport aircraft
from Kallax in Sweden to Finnmark, and by April the Norwegian forces numbered over 3,000 men. On 26 April the Norwegian
command sent out a message that Finnmark was free. When the Germans finally capitulated on 8 May 1945, the 1st company of the
Varanger battalion was positioned along the Finnmark-
Troms border to the west of Alta.

German capitulation and end of occupation

 Towards the end of the war, in March 1945, Norwegian Reichskommissar Josef
Terboven had considered plans to make Norway the last bastion of the Third Reich
and a last sanctum for German leaders. However, following Adolf Hitler's suicide on
30 April, Hitler's successor Admiral Karl Dönitz summoned Terboven and General
Franz Böhme, Commander-in-Chief of German forces in Norway, to a meeting in
Flensburg, where they were ordered to follow the General headquarters' instructions.
On his return to Norway, General Böhme issued a secret directive to his
commanders in which he ordered "unconditional military obedience" and "iron
discipline".
Play media
Newsreel about the liberation of
On 5 May the day that German forces in Denmark surrendered, General Eisenhower
Norway
dispatched a telegram to resistance headquarters in Norway, which was passed on to
General Böhme; it contained information on how to make contact with Allied
General Headquarters.

Dönitz dismissed Terboven from his post as Reichskommissar on 7 May, transferring his powers to General Böhme. At 21:10 on the
same day, the German High Command ordered Böhme to follow the capitulation plans, and he made a radio broadcast at 22:00 in
which he declared that German forces in Norway would obey orders. This led to an immediate and full mobilisation of the Milorg
underground resistance movement – more than 40,000 armed Norwegians were summoned to occupy the Royal Palace, Oslo's main
police station, as well as other public buildings. A planned Norwegian administration was set up overnight.

The following afternoon, on 8 May, an Allied military mission arrived in Oslo to

deliver the conditions for capitulation to the Germans, and arranged the surrender,
which took effect at midnight. The conditions included the German High Command
agreeing to arrest and intern all German and Norwegian Nazi party members listed
by the Allies, disarm and intern all SS troops, and send all German forces to
designated areas. At this time there were no fewer than 400,000 German troops in
Norway, which had a population of barely three million.

Following the surrender, detachments of regular Norwegian and Allied troops were
Germans surrender Akershus
sent to Norway, which included 13,000 Norwegian troops trained in Sweden and Fortress to Terje Rollem on 11 May
30,000 British and American troops. Official representatives of the Norwegian civil 1945.
authorities followed soon after these military forces, with Crown Prince Olav
arriving in Oslo on a British cruiser on 14 May, with a 21-man delegation of
Norwegian government officials headed up by Sverre Støstad and Paul Hartmann,
with the remainder of the Norwegian government and the London-based
administration following on the UK troopship Andes. Finally, on 7 June, which also
happened to be the 40th anniversary of the dissolution of Norway's union with
Sweden, King Haakon VII and the remaining members of the royal family arrived in
Oslo. General Sir Andrew Thorne, Commander-in-Chief of Allied forces in Norway,
transferred power to King Haakon that same day
.
Norwegian Royal family waving at
Following the liberation, the Norwegian government-in-exile was replaced by a the crowds in Oslo upon returning
coalition led by Einar Gerhardsen which governed until the autumn of 1945 when from exile.
the first postwar general election was held, returning Gerhardsen as prime minister,
at the head of a Labour Party government.

Norwegian survivors began to emerge from the German concentration camps. By war's end, 92,000 Norwegians were located abroad,
including 46,000 in Sweden. Besides German occupiers, 141,000 foreign nationals were located in Norway, mostly now-liberated
prisoners of war held by the Germans. These included 84,000 Russians.
A total of 10,262 Norwegians lost their lives in the conflict or while imprisoned. Approximately 50,000 Norwegians were arrested by
the Germans during the occupation. Of these, 9,000 were consigned to prison camps outside Norway, including Stutthof
concentration camp.[8]

Aftermath

Lebensborn and war children

During the five-year occupation, several thousand Norwegian women had children fathered by German soldiers in the Lebensborn
program. The mothers were ostracised and humiliated after the war both by Norwegian officialdom and the civilian population, and
were called names such as tyskertøser (literally "whores/sluts of [the] Germans").[9] Many of these women were detained at
internment camps such as the one on Hovedøya, and some were even deported to Germany. The children of these unions received
names like tyskerunger (children of Germans) or worse yet naziyngel (Nazi spawn). The debate on the past treatment of these
krigsbarn (war children) started with a television series in 1981, but only recently have the of
fspring of these unions begun to identify
themselves. Fritz Moen, the only known victim of dual miscarriage of justice in Europe, was the child of a Norwegian woman and a
German soldier, as was ABBA member Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

Refugees
Throughout the war years, a number of Norwegians fled the Nazi regime, mostly
across the border to Sweden. These included Norwegian Jews, political activists, and
others who had reason to fear for their lives. The Nazis set up border patrols to stop
these flights across the very long border, but locals who knew the woods found ways
to bypass them. These "border pilots", and people who hid refugees in their homes,
were among those in the resistance movement who took the greatest risks.

Swedish authorities accepted the refugees and ensured their safety once they had
crossed the border, but did little to facilitate their escape. Refugees were often
confined to camps where only their basic needs were met.About 50,000 Norwegians Norwegian refugees passing the
open area cut in the woods between
fled to Sweden during the war.
Norway and Sweden.
In addition to the Jews, members of the resistance movement and other people who
had more acute reason to fear for their lives, a great many refugees were men of
military age wishing to join the Norwegian armed forces abroad. Before the German
invasion of Russia, a number of them managed to make their way out of Sweden and
travel over Russian territory to Britain, often via India, South Africa or Canada.
After Operation Barbarossa, the overland route over Russian soil was closed.

The rest of the refugees were effectively locked up in Sweden for the duration,
except for a small number of officers, pilots or other specialists managing to obtain
priority on the occasional plane leaving Sweden for Britain.
Refugees were often confined to
In the last two years of the war, the Norwegian government in exile in London camps where only their basic needs
obtained permission and cooperation from the Swedish authorities to raise military were met.
formations on Swedish territory in the form of the so-called"Police troops" recruited
from Norwegian refugees, the term "Police" being a cover-up for what in reality was
pure military training. These formations, numbering 12,000 men organised into battalions and with their own pioneers, signals and
artillery by VE-day, were equipped with Swedish weapons and equipment and trained by Norwegian and Swedish ficers.
of

A number of the "Police troops" were employed in the liberation of Finnmark in the winter of 1944/45 after the area had been
evacuated by the Germans. The rest participated in liberation of the rest of Norway after the German surrender in May 1945.
Treason trials
Even before the war ended, there was debate among Norwegians about the fate of
traitors and collaborators. A few favored a "night of long knives" with extrajudicial
killings of known offenders. However, cooler minds prevailed, and much effort was
put into assuring due process trials of accused traitors. In the end, 37 people were
executed by Norwegian authorities: 25 Norwegians on the grounds of treason, and
12 Germans on the grounds of crimes against humanity. 28,750 were arrested,
though most were released for lack of evidence. In the end, 20,000 Norwegians and
a smaller number of Germans were given prison sentences. 77 Norwegians and 18
Germans received life sentences. A number of people were sentenced to pay heavy
fines.
German soldiers waiting at a camp in
The trials have been subject to some criticism in later years. It has been pointed out
Mandal to be returned home to
that sentences became more lenient with the passage of time, and that many of the Germany, August 1945.
charges were based on the unconstitutional[10] and illegal retroactive application of
laws.

German prisoners of war

After the war the Norwegian government forced German prisoners of war to clear
minefields. When the clearing ended in September 1946, 392 of them had been
injured and 275 had been killed, meanwhile only two Norwegians and four British
mine-clearers had sustained any injuries.[11] Many of the Germans were killed
through their guards' habit of chasing them criss-cross over a cleared field to ensure
that no mines remained.[12] The Norwegians' claim that the German prisoners were
Disarmed Enemy Forces circumvented the Geneva Convention relative to the
Treatment of Prisoners of War, which forbids the use of prisoners of war for harmful German soldier clearing a mine near
or dangerous labour. Stavanger, August 1945.

Legacy of the occupation

.[6] In addition
By the end of the war, German occupation had reduced Norway'sGDP by 45% – more than any other occupied country
to this came the physical and patrimonial ravages of the war itself. In Finnmark, these were considerably important, as large areas
were destroyed as a result of the scorched earth policy that the Germans had pursued during their retreat. Moreover, many towns and
settlements were damaged or destroyed by bombing and fighting.

Social and cultural transformation

The adversity created as a result of the occupation strengthened and further defined the Norwegian national identity. The history of
the resistance movement may have been glorified excessively, but it has also provided Norwegian military and political leaders with
durable role models. The shared hardship of the war years also set the stage for social welfare policies of the post-war Norwegian
Labour Party governments. It also led to the abandonment of Norway's traditional policy of neutrality, formalized when Norway
became a founding member of NATO in 1949. Finally, it led to a broad political and popular commitment to maintain armed forces
large enough to realistically defend the country against any likely threat, as well as to keep those armed forces under firm civilian
control.

Surviving Luftwaffe aircraft

The primary Luftwaffe day fighter unit dedicated to serve in the area of Norway, Jagdgeschwader 5 (5th Fighter Wing), was the unit
that used more of the surviving World War II German fighter aircraft than any other in the forces of the Axis powers during World
War II. The complement of surviving German fighter aircraft that once served with JG 5 comprises some twenty examples of the
Messerschmitt Bf 109, and several examples of the radial-engined versions of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. A small number of JG 5's
surviving aircraft have been recently restored to flying condition as warbird aircraft with various organizations that fly them in
airshow events, and a few others that served with JG 5 are also in the process of being restored to flying condition, early in the 21st
century.

The lone surviving original example of the Arado Ar 234 Blitz turbojet-powered Nazi German reconnaissance bomber, restored and
on display in the Smithsonian Institution's Udvar-Hazy Center, in 1945 was based in Norway with Kampfgeschwader 76 (76th
Bomber Wing) and brought to the United States through the ef
forts of Operation Lusty, on the deck of the Royal Navy's HMS Reaper
escort carrier.

See also
Reichskommissariat Norwegen
Nordstern (city)

References
1. See books by E.A. Steen, Gudrun Ræder
, Johan O. Egeland
2. Cf. French Prime MinisterPaul Reynaud's memoirs In the Thick of the Fight(1955) and The Secret Papers of the
French General Staff (1940)
3. World War II. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 18 November 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica
Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/648813/World-War-II (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topi
c/648813/World-War-II)
4. Petrow, Richard. The Bitter Years.
5. Prete, Roy Arnold and A. Hamish Ion. (1984).Armies of Occupation. Wilfrid Laurier University Press,Google Print,
p. 145 (https://books.google.com/books?id=EXE2uchaN3kC&pg=P A145&dq=occupation+norway&ei=J9gFS7H7MY
2szgSRzdC7Dg#v=onepage&q=occupation%20norway&f=false)
6. Klemann, Hein A.M. and Sergei Kudryashov (2011).Occupied Economies: An Economic History of Nazi-Occupied
Europe, 1939-1945. Berg, p. 403.
7. "Gjemt for tyskerne" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150809114510/http://nyemeninger.no/alle_meninger/cat1000/su
bcat1028/thread312887/#post_312887). Archived from the original (http://nyemeninger.no/alle_meninger/cat1000/su
bcat1028/thread312887/)on 9 August 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
8. Karl M. Haugan Politimannen som ble "buret inn bak piggtråd(http://www.aktive-fredsreiser.no/administrasjon/tidsvit
ne_karl_haugan.htm)(in Norwegian)
9. 14.000 «tyskertøser» internert etter krigen(http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/1998/10/18/135348.html) (14 000
"Whores of Germans" held in custody after the war) Dagbladet (but NTB story), 18 October 1998
10. LOV 1814-05-17 nr 00: Kongeriget Norges Grundlov, given i Rigsforsamlingen paa Eidsvold den 17de Mai 1814(htt
p://www.lovdata.no/all/hl-18140517-000.html#97)
11. VG 08.04.2006 Tyske soldater brukt som mineryddere(http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=166207).
12. Tvang tyskere til å løpe over minefelt(http://atvs.vg.no/player/?id=2887)Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2007
1128061447/http://atvs.vg.no/player/?id=2887)2007-11-28 at the Wayback Machine. VG video sequence from
documentary. VG 08.04.2006

Further reading
Andenaes, Johs. Norway and the Second World War (1966)
Dahl, Hans Fredrik. Quisling: a study in treachery(Cambridge University Press, 1999)
 Friis, Erik J. "The Norwegian Government-In-Exile, 1940-45" inScandinavian Studies. Essays Presented to Dr .
Henry Goddard Leach on the Occasion of his Eighty-fifth Birthday(1965), pp 422–444.
Herrington, I. (2004). The Special Operations Executive in Norway 1940–1945: Policy and Operations in the
Strategid and Political Context(pdf) (PhD thesis). De Montfort University, Leicester. OCLC 500159816. Docket
uk.bl.ethos.516070. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
Kersaudy, Francois. Norway 1940 (1998)
Mann, Chris. British Policy and Strategy Towards Norway, 1941-45 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
Riste, Olav, and Berit Nøkleby. Norway 1940-45: the resistance movement(Tanum, 1970)
Vigness, Paul Gerhardt.The German Occupation of Norway(Vantage Press, 1970)
Ziemke, Earl F. (2000) [1960]. "The German Decision to Invade Norway and Denmark" . In Roberts Greenfield, Kent.
Command Decisions. United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 70-7.

In Norwegian
Tamelander, Michael and Zetterling, Niklas (2004). "Den nionde April: Nazitysklands invas
ion av Norge 1940".
Historiska Media. ISBN 91-85057-95-9
Stortinget (1946). Instilling av Undersøkelseskommisjonen av 1945
Södermann, Harry (1946).Polititroppene i Sverige. Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo 1946.
Hobson, Rolf and Kristiansen, Tom (2001). Norsk forsvarshistorie, bind 3 (1905–1940). Bergen 2001.

External links
Declaration for the Purpose of establishing Similar Rules of Neutrality
, with Annexes. Between Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway, and Sweden

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