Some years ago I worked at the local museum which tells the story of the Soviet and Yugoslav prisoners of war that was sent to Northern Norway to work as slaves. One autumn we had a visit from Aleksey, an 83 year old man that was a slave in this area. It was a very strong meeting and ofcourse very interesting to hear his story. We took him around the valley visiting memorials and to one of the camps he had been held.
In springtime 1943 Aleksey and tens of thousands young and old men was taken by German forces in Ukraine. He was transfered through several camps before he was shipped out from Szcezecin in Poland heading for the unknown. The prisoners was put ashore in Oslo and transported to Trondheim where they spent a few weeks building an airport while waiting for transport further north.
In northern Norway he also went through several camps, all the time under hard conditions. They knew nothing about what was going on outside the barbed wire fences, they had bad clothing and wooden clogs , no medical treatment, and the food was never even close to what a human needs to survive on. Around 140 gram of bread pr day and some thin cabbage soup. When walking to the camps after working on the tunnels for the railroad they had to walk arm in arm so not to fall over, they had become so thin and weak. Friends died almost every day and it seemed the death rate was climbing as the months drew on.
When it became clear that Germany would loose the war the treatment got better and the guards wanted to know about Siberia, as they were probably afraid to be sent there.
When the liberation came, and the celebration cooled of during the summer every prisoner was to be sent back to Soviet and this was something many feared.
Aleksey was transported by boat to Narvik, then by train through Sweden reaching Vyborg in Finland. Here they were sent of to different camps in Soviet. Aleksey was free to go home after just a few weeks, but he had to go through life as a second class citizen and lost several jobs as soon it became known he had been a prisoner during the war.
In northern Norway he also went through several camps, all the time under hard conditions. They knew nothing about what was going on outside the barbed wire fences, they had bad clothing and wooden clogs , no medical treatment, and the food was never even close to what a human needs to survive on. Around 140 gram of bread pr day and some thin cabbage soup. When walking to the camps after working on the tunnels for the railroad they had to walk arm in arm so not to fall over, they had become so thin and weak. Friends died almost every day and it seemed the death rate was climbing as the months drew on.
When it became clear that Germany would loose the war the treatment got better and the guards wanted to know about Siberia, as they were probably afraid to be sent there.
When the liberation came, and the celebration cooled of during the summer every prisoner was to be sent back to Soviet and this was something many feared.
Aleksey was transported by boat to Narvik, then by train through Sweden reaching Vyborg in Finland. Here they were sent of to different camps in Soviet. Aleksey was free to go home after just a few weeks, but he had to go through life as a second class citizen and lost several jobs as soon it became known he had been a prisoner during the war.
He was happy to have this visit, but said it was hard to look back at what he had been through, and by being here he remembered things forgotten and he seemed to often drift into his mind. As said it was very interesting to meet this old guy and I hope he is still going strong.
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