Soviet prisoners of war in Norway

This year it is 65 years since the victory over the Nazis in 1945.

On 22 June 1941, the German army attacked the Soviet Union. What followed was a war of extermination that also resulted in a large number of Soviet POWs. Around 5.7 million were taken prisoner from the outbreak of war up to February 1945. Of these, 3.3 million died in German captivity.

These inconceivably large numbers tell us just how terribly the inhabitants in the Soviet Union suffered during the war years, and remind us of all the sorrow and grief felt by families, survivors and friends in the home country after the war.

A total of 100.000 Soviet POWs were sent to Norway, and around 13 700 of these died on Norwegian soil. The Soviet losses here, i.e. the POWs who died and those who fell during the campaign in the autumn of 1944, exceeded the total number of Norwegian losses during the entire war.

The Norwegian people in the regions with German POW camps were shocked witnesses to the appalling treatment these prisoners endured and felt deep sympathy for their hardships. During the German occupation, many Norwegian citizens tried as best they could to give the POWs food whenever possible. The encounter between Norwegians and Soviet POWs was generally characterised by sympathy and empathy.

Later – during the initial phase of the cold war – it proved to be impossible to maintain contact between Norwegians and the surviving Soviet POWs, and this part of our history was pushed into the background. In recent years, however, we are pleased to see that greater attention is being paid to the fate of the Soviet POWs. The exhibition now being opened in Oslo is therefore a very important initiative that will help provide more information and more analyses of the fate of Soviet POWs in Norway.

The lives of Soviet POWs in Norway during the war years, is a part of Norwegian history that comprises many individual fates. They are narratives of sorrow, struggle, loss and harsh labour. They are narratives of support and comradeship among the POWs, and of contact with orwegians on the other side of the barbed wire fences. These narratives touch us and concern us all. The exhibition on display in the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum in Oslo tells us about this important chapter in our history.

Our war history is an important part of the shared experiences between Russia and Norway – experiences that are part of the relationship between these two neighbouring peoples.

The relations between Russia and Norway are today characterised by a scope and depth never seen before in the areas of foreign policy, economics, cultural affairs and the relationship between our peoples. Not least, our cultural cooperation is flourishing, illustrated by the Norwegian-Russian action plan for cultural cooperation in the northern regions.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre
Minister of Culture Anniken Huitfeldt
Oslo, April 2010

*****

More information on the exhibition and project.