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In 1942, 900 [[Yugoslavia]]n prisoners were transported by ship to Beisfjord - approximately 10 kilometers east of Narvik - where a prison camp was established.<ref name="corres">{{citation |url=http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/MD/Vedlegg/Planlegging/Kommunal%20planlegging/Innsigelsessaker/brev_nygaardsfjellet.pdf |work=Government correspondence from [[Erik Solheim|Minister Erik Solheim]] |format=pdf |language=Norwegian |date=2007-09-26 |title=Innsigelse til Reguleringsplan for NygÅrdsfjellet Vindkraftverk Trinn II, Narvik Kommune |quote=}}</ref> 588 prisoners were transported to [[Bjørnefjell]] (approximately {{convert|30|km|mi|abbr=on}} north-east of Beisfjord) to be [[quarantine]]d there, and the camp at [[Øvre Jernvann]] was established.<ref name="corres"/>
In 1942, 900 [[Yugoslavia]]n prisoners were transported by ship to Beisfjord - approximately 10 kilometers east of Narvik - where a prison camp was established.<ref name="corres">{{citation |url=http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/MD/Vedlegg/Planlegging/Kommunal%20planlegging/Innsigelsessaker/brev_nygaardsfjellet.pdf |work=Government correspondence from [[Erik Solheim|Minister Erik Solheim]] |format=pdf |language=Norwegian |date=2007-09-26 |title=Innsigelse til Reguleringsplan for NygÅrdsfjellet Vindkraftverk Trinn II, Narvik Kommune |quote=}}</ref> 588 prisoners were transported to [[Bjørnefjell]] (approximately {{convert|30|km|mi|abbr=on}} north-east of Beisfjord) to be [[quarantine]]d there, and the camp at [[Øvre Jernvann]] was established.<ref name="corres"/>

In 2013 [[NRK]] said that the responsibility for guarding the prison camps in North Norway, between June 1942 and April 1943, belonged to [[Hirdvaktbataljonen]]—a battalion within [[Hirden]].<ref name=2013-11-04>{{cite news|title=SS-soldater måtte stanse brutale norske fangevoktere|trans_title=SS soldiers had to stop brutal Norwegian prison guards|url=http://www.nrk.no/norge/matte-stanse-brutale-nordmenn-1.11330243|newspaper=[[NRK]]|date=2013-11-04}}</ref>

juni 1942 til april 1943, da Hirdvaktbataljonen hadde ansvaret for vaktholdet ved fangeleirene i Nord-Norge.


The number of individuals victimized by [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]-''kommandant'' [[Hermann Dolp]] and his German and Norwegian subordinates, might total 3000 or even 4000.<ref>{{cite news|last=Svarstad|first=Asbjørn|title=Drapsnatta i Beisfjord|newspaper=Dagbladet|date=2012-07-29|author=|page=19|language=Norwegian|quote=}}</ref>
The number of individuals victimized by [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]-''kommandant'' [[Hermann Dolp]] and his German and Norwegian subordinates, might total 3000 or even 4000.<ref>{{cite news|last=Svarstad|first=Asbjørn|title=Drapsnatta i Beisfjord|newspaper=Dagbladet|date=2012-07-29|author=|page=19|language=Norwegian|quote=}}</ref>

Revision as of 10:51, 4 November 2013

The Beisfjord massacre (Norwegian: Beisfjord-massakren) was a massacre on July 18, 1942 in Beisfjord, Norway of 288 political[1] prisoners who were killed at Lager I Beisfjord (German: "No. 1 camp Beisfjord" - in Norwegian Beisfjord fangeleir).

The massacre had been ordered a few days earlier by the Reichskommissar for Norway Josef Terboven.[1]

Background

In order to build defences in Norway against the allies, the Germans brought in around 5000[2] Yugoslavian political prisoners and prisoners-of-war — in addition to prisoneres of other nationalities — to work as forced labour on infrastructure projects. In the summer of 1942 a number of prisoners started arriving in North Norway as a result of the transfer of prisoners from the new Croatian puppet regime to German authorities who needed manpower for projects in Norway.[2] This acquisition of manpower for projects in Norway was under Organisation Todt Einsatzgruppe Wiking.

Many[2] hundreds of Bosnian Muslims were among these prisoners in Norway, but they only figure on a British list from 1945. After they were sent from Norway to Berlin, there is no trace of them, according to historian Gorona Ognjenovic.[2] Yugoslavia did not want those prisoners back, claims Ognjenovic.[2] There were 31 camps between Bergen and Hammerfest during the World War Two.[3]

In 1942, 900 Yugoslavian prisoners were transported by ship to Beisfjord - approximately 10 kilometers east of Narvik - where a prison camp was established.[4] 588 prisoners were transported to Bjørnefjell (approximately 30 km (19 mi) north-east of Beisfjord) to be quarantined there, and the camp at Øvre Jernvann was established.[4]

In 2013 NRK said that the responsibility for guarding the prison camps in North Norway, between June 1942 and April 1943, belonged to Hirdvaktbataljonen—a battalion within Hirden.[5]

juni 1942 til april 1943, da Hirdvaktbataljonen hadde ansvaret for vaktholdet ved fangeleirene i Nord-Norge.

The number of individuals victimized by SS-kommandant Hermann Dolp and his German and Norwegian subordinates, might total 3000 or even 4000.[6]

The massacre

The Beisfjord camp was quarantined by the SS on July 15, 1942 allegedly to avoid an outbreak of typhus.[2] According to Ljubo Mladjenovic (a former prisoner) in his 1989 book, conditions at the camp were unhealthy and there was an outbreak of typhus.[7] Prisoners with various illnesses were moved into two barracks, which became surrounded by barbed wire.[2]

On the evening of July 17, "prisoners regarded as healthy" were marched out of Lager I Beisfjord by nearly all of the Norwegian[8] guards and a number of German superiors.[1] (Their destination was 30 km (19 mi) north-east — Bjørnefjell.[9]) Seventeen Norwegian guards were present and played a role (spilte en rolle)[10] during the massacre.

The remaining "weak and exhausted" prisoners were ordered to dig graves and then ordered into standing positions where they would drop into the grave after the guards had shot them.[2] These 288 prisoners were killed in groups of twenty.[1]

Those prisoners who could not stand on their own feet, were left in the two barracks — which were then doused in gasoline and set on fire.[2] Some sources say that a number of prisoners refused to leave the infirmary,[1] and the building was set ablaze; those who jumped out of the windows were shot.[1] Those who tried to escape the conflagration, were shot by a machine gun in the watch tower.[2]

Criticism of lack of focus on the involvement of Norwegian paramilitary soldiers

In 2009, Aftenposten wrote "That Norwegian pupils are sent on organized bus trips to Germany and Poland to get a sense of the atrocities there, without knowing that equivalent atrocities were committed in Norway, puzzles the leader of Nordnorsk Fredssenter in Narvik". Adding "That the events [of the massacre] were covered up, is feared by the head of a war museum in Narvik (Nordland Røde Kors Krigsminnemuseum[11]), because members of a paramilitary force of Norwegians—Hirden— participated in the atrocities".[1] In 2010 Fritt Ord sponsored research that has led to an exhibition (from August 12, 2012) at The Falstad Centre.[2]

References

Notes
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Ole Magnus Rapp (17 September 2009), "Gransker nordmenns rolle i leirene", Aftenposten (in Norwegian), Alle hadde status som politiske fanger, og var arrestert for å ha motarbeidet Hitler-Tyskland.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Svarstad, Asbjørn (2012-07-29). "Drapsnatta i Beisfjord". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). p. 18.
  3. ^ Svarstad, Asbjørn (2012-07-29). "Drapsnatta i Beisfjord". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). p. 19.
  4. ^ a b "Innsigelse til Reguleringsplan for NygÅrdsfjellet Vindkraftverk Trinn II, Narvik Kommune" (pdf), Government correspondence from Minister Erik Solheim (in Norwegian), 2007-09-26
  5. ^ "SS-soldater måtte stanse brutale norske fangevoktere". NRK. 2013-11-04. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Svarstad, Asbjørn (2012-07-29). "Drapsnatta i Beisfjord". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). p. 19.
  7. ^ Mladjenovic [page needed]
  8. ^ Sigurd Bakke Styrvold, "Heil og Sæl. Jeg er utdannet morder!" - Den norske SS Vaktbataljon 1942 – 45" (pdf), MA in history - University of Oslo (in Norwegian), p. 19, ble alle de friske fangene sendt av gårde i en hard marsj mot Jernvatn på Bjørnefjell eskortert av nesten alle de norske vaktene i leiren, samt noen få tyske befalingsmenn.
  9. ^ Sigurd Bakke Styrvold, "Heil og Sæl. Jeg er utdannet morder!" - Den norske SS Vaktbataljon 1942 – 45" (pdf), MA in history - University of Oslo (in Norwegian), p. 19, ble alle de friske fangene sendt av gårde i en hard marsj mot Jernvatn på Bjørnefjell
  10. ^ Noen av krigens grusomme dødsleirer var på norsk jord
  11. ^ Nordland Røde Kors Krigsminnemuseum Narviksenteret and Nordland Red Cross War Museum {{citation}}: Check |url= value (help)

See also

Literature

  • Mladjenovic, Ljubo Beisfjordska tragedija (1988) Translated to Norwegian in 1989

External links

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