Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII articles - including German WW2 militaria - providing thought-provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

WW2 category: Norway: WWII Nazi Occupation :: Latest WWII news reviews. See also 'Collectors: Collectables', 'WWII Special Forces', 'British Nazis & Royal Fascists', 'Lebensborn: Fountain of Life'.

Knut Haugland: Last Kon-Tiki sailor, WW2 resistance fighter who stopped Nazi nuclear program     tulsaworld.com :: 2009-12-27
Knut Magne Haugland, the last of 6 persons who crossed the Pacific Ocean on board Thor Heyerdahl's raft Kon-Tiki, has passed away at 92. During World War Two he worked for the Norwegian resistance movement, and with 9 others raided a heavy water plant that helped stop the Nazi nuclear program from getting heavy water to make nuclear weapons. For his wartime feats he was granted numerous awards, including Norways's highest decoration for military gallantry, the War Cross with sword; Britain's Distinguished Service Order and the Military Medal; the French Croix de guerre and Légion d'honneur; and the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav.

Norway grants WWII hero Eiliv Austlid the War Cross with Sword     ap/ :: 2009-10-03
Norway awarded its highest military decoration for the first time in 60 years, honoring a soldier who was killed while helping the wartime government flee the country as Nazi troops invaded in 1940. Captain Eiliv Austlid was granted the recently reinstated War Cross with Sword, a military medal created in 1941 by King Haakon VII and suspended since 1949. Austlid fell to Nazi bullets as he led a small Norwegian unit in an attack on a German detachment in Dovre on April 15, 1940. The assault held up the Germans long enough to allow the Norwegian government to escape to England where they ruled in exile.

Invasion of Norway explored in Axis History Forum thread     axishistory.com :: 2009-02-21
This Axis History Forum thread explores the invasion of Norway (Operation Weserübung, 1940). The invasion included some 14,200 German soldiers in several naval landings and in one airborne landing at Stavanger. The thread has good links about Order of the Battle, Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe & Heer units involved, while articles look into the effectiveness of Norwegian resistance.

Nobelist Knut Hamsun, who supported the Nazi occupation of Norway, commemorated on coin     guardian.co.uk :: 2009-02-04
Knut Hamsun, the Nobel prize-winning author who fell from grace for supporting the Nazi occupation of Norway, is to be put on a commemorative coin by his Norway's central bank. The coin is the first to celebrate Hamsun, a national hero until his sympathy for the Nazi party came out. "NORWEGIANS! Throw down your rifles and go home again. The Germans are fighting for us all, and will crush the English tyranny over us and over all neutrals," he wrote after the Nazis arrived in Norway in 1940. The coin shows a reproduction of Hamsun's notes for his masterwork "Growth of the Soil", along with his features, visible through the text, and his signature.

Norway: Nazi u-boat U-864, which contains 65 tons of mercury, to be raised     norwaypost.no :: 2009-01-30 :: U-Boats : Submarines
The Norwegian Government has decided that the wreck of the WWII German submarine U-864 which contains 65 tons of mercury, is to be raised, and that the seabed be overlaid with clean sand. The wreck, located off the Norwegian west coast, near Fedje, has long been viewed as an environmental hazard. However, experts have disagreed on whether or not the wreck should be raised or if it would be better to build a sarcophagus which would isolate the mercury from the marine environment. The head of the Marine Safety Directorate, Magne Roedland, decided the u-boat wreck should be raised.

Remains of Norwegian Elite Waffen SS Skijäger battalion discovered     scotsman.com :: 2008-08-07 :: Foreign Waffen-SS
Remains of an elite SS Alpine unit of Norwegians vanquished in World War II have been found on the Karelia peninsula in Finland. The bones of 100 soldiers of the Norwegian SS Skijäger battalion (idea of SS volunteer Gust Jonassen) were id'd by their tags and one ring with inscription. The last stand of the battalion - on 25 June, 1944 - was one of the more vicious hand-to-hand fighting actions of the war. Troops fought with hand grenades, small arms and eventually bayonets against the vastly superior numbers of the Red Army - allowing their (German) comrades to get away. 50,000 Norwegians joined Waffen SS, mainly to the save the Europe from the Communism.

The Shetland Bus: History comes to life as boat that resisted the Nazis returns     theherald.co.uk :: 2008-07-19 :: Norway: WWII Nazi Occupation
It seems like just another boat, gliding into Scalloway harbour on Shetland. But those who have come down to the pier are excited. This is the first time that the MK Andholmen has been back to Shetland since World War II, and its crew have come back to tell a WWII story. They called it the Shetland Bus: a network of fishing boats that ran a secret operation between Scotland and Nazi-occupied Norway: keeping hope alive. Andholmen and 20 other boats saw service from 1940 onwards. Together with 3 sub-chasers, loaned later in the war by the US, they made 205 crossings, in spite of the risk of detection by Nazi planes and boats.

Swastika flags and Nazis on Oslo again - As part of a new film     aftenposten :: 2008-04-17 :: Nazi flags
The makers of a $10m film, about the famous Norwegian resistance fighter Max Manus, were re-enacting a scenario from World War II in the capital city of Norway, complete with nazi flags and marching soldiers in the streets of Oslo. Manus, one of the most colorful members of the resistance movement, was caught by the Gestapo in 1941. He escaped to UK for training and traveled back to Norway, where he became known as a brilliant saboteur. Observers who had lived through the Nazi occupation said the reenactment was very realistic, while other passers-by were surprised, shocked, or baffled.

The wreck of a Royal Navy destroyer HMS Hunter found in fjord in Norway     bbc :: 2008-03-06 :: Wrecks: WWII
The wreck of a Royal Navy destroyer has been discovered in a Norwegian fjord, 68 years after she sank during the Battle of Narvik. HMS Hunter has stayed untroubled since April 1940 when she sank, killing 110 people. It was detected 305m under water by Norwegian mine control vessel Hnoms Tyr on a training mission. The site will be marked as a war grave. Major General Garry Robison said discovering HMS Hunter had been a "poignant moment". HMS Hunter was one of 2 Allied destroyers lost during the first Battle of Narvik, the Germans lost 4 destroyers.

Lebensborn: The war children of a nazi eugenics scheme speak out     independent.co.uk :: 2008-01-20 :: Lebensborn - Nazi Master Race - Aryan race
They were the blue-eyed blonds born into an ominous SS scheme to further the Aryan race. But the defeat of the Nazi Germany left Norway's 'Lebensborn' (the spring of life) facing the payback of an entire nation. Here, 5 war children speak about their ordeal: and their fight for compensation. The Lebensborn Society was born on 12 Dec. 1935, the brainchild of Heinrich Himmler. He had planned a project to promote an "Aryan future" for the Third Reich and turn around a falling birth rate. People were given motivators to have more children in the Fatherland, and also in occupied countries, like in Scandinavia, where the Nordic gene was regarded Aryan.

Norwegian Waffen-SS nazi in Costa del Sol: Got Gold Cross by Hitler     independent.co.uk :: 2007-06-05 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers
A Norwegian Nazi Fredrik Jensen who served in the Waffen-SS and was awarded the Gold Cross by Führer has been discovered living in Marbella on the Costa del Sol. He served in a number of Waffen SS units, including the SS Panzer-Grenadier der Fuhrer, SS-Panzer-Division -Das Reich, the Panzer-Grenadier Regiment 9 Germania and the Panzer-Division Wiking. He fought on the frontline, which earned him the rare accolade of being one of the few foreigners to receive the highest decoration granted by Adolf Hitler to Waffen SS troops: the Gold Medal. He joined the SS after the Norwegian Nazi party seized power under the puppet-regime of Vidkun Quisling in 1942.

Exhibit focuses on Norwegian traitor Vidkun Quisling     earthtimes :: 2007-05-19 :: Norway: WWII Nazi Occupation
An exhibit about Vidkun Quisling has one of the Telemark museum's board member's questioning its focus. "I don't quite see the exhibit's point," Arnuf Rafgard told. Rafgard said he thought the exhibit was not critical enough. Quisling once performed humanitarian work in Russia, and later formed Norway's nationalist party. He met Adolf Hitler in 1939. The Nazis named him to lead Norway's puppet government after the 1940 German invasion. Quisling surrendered after Norway's liberation in May 1945 and was executed 5 months later. Exhibit features information about Quisling's life and displays his belongings and films in which he took part.

Norway: Court to Consider Compensating Nazi Lebensborn Children     associatedcontent :: 2007-04-17 :: Lebensborn - Nazi Master Race - Aryan race
In 1935, Nazi SS-leader Heinrich Himmler launched the "Lebensborn" program to breed a blond-haired blue-eyed master race. After decades of discrimination, 150 surviving Lebensborn children, all with a German father and Norwegian mother, have come forward to ask for compensation from Norway, before the European Court of Human Rights. During the years of Nazi occupation in Norway, a half million German soldiers were urged to father children with "pure blood" Norwegian women - "descendants of the Vikings" - thus, helping create a master race. In Oslo's Nazi Resistance Museum, there's no mention of the Lebensborn children - "war children".

Norway's Aryan children go to court over years of prejudice     guardian.co.uk :: 2007-03-08
The victims of a Nazi scheme claim they were locked up in mental homes, denied education and faced decades of prejudice. Now a group of Norwegian "war children", born as part of a German plan to create a genetically pure race, are taking their case to the European court, demanding compensation and recognition of their suffering. Up to 12,000 children with a Norwegian mother and a German father were born in Norway during world war II under the Lebensborn (Fountain of Life) scheme, introduced by SS chief Heinrich Himmler in 1935 to propagate Aryan children. Outside Nazi Germany, Norway was the jewel of the programme.

On 9th. April 1940, Hitler invaded Norway     capecodtoday :: 2006-11-29 :: Norway: WWII Nazi Occupation
The main spur for the invasion of Norway was Hitler’s experiences as a corporal in WWI, when he had seen the British naval blockade strangling Germany. To avoid making the same mistake again, he needed access to the North sea, which meant control of Norway. Any attack there had to be by sea, so Adolf went to his chief sailor, Admiral Raeder: who replied that such an expedition was impossible. Norway was different from other campaigns: (1) Amphibious attacks are the most risky in all warfare. (4) Only limited number of panzers, backbone of Nazi campaigns, could be carried and they would be less effective in the terrain.

Lebensborn program still a source of pain - Norwegian view     post-gazette :: 2006-11-26 :: Lebensborn - Nazi Master Race - Aryan race
Anne-Lise Fredriksen was walking one day when her husband told her to straighten up so her back wouldn't ache later. To his shock, she burst into tears. Her husband's remark had dredged up a far darker memory, from the time when she was a girl growing up in Norway. Because her father had been a Nazi soldier during the occupation of Norway in World War II, children threw rocks at her, adults chased her away from public gatherings. She is one of 9,000 to 12,000 Norwegian children part of the Nazis' Lebensborn program, begun by SS chief Heinrich Himmler to increase the supply of blond-haired, blue-eyed "Aryan" children.

Infamous Nazi collaborator's Mansion Opens in Norway     sfgate :: 2006-08-24 :: WWII Ruins, Bunkers, Battlefields & Historic sites
A sprawling Villa Grande mansion used by Norwegian Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling during World War II opened as a center to oppose the hatred and treachery he represented. Almost 60 years after Quisling was executed by Norway for setting up a puppet government that collaborated with German occupation forces, his name remains as a synonym for traitor. When German troops invaded Norway in 1940, Quisling proclaimed himself "Minister President," and moved into Villa Grande in 1941. In a bunker of narrow, arched tunnels under the house, a Nazi eagle and the words "Heil Hitler" remain painted on the white wall.

Ove Pederson served in a special Army unit - Viking Battalion     startribune :: 2006-07-06 :: Special Forces & Missions of WWII
During World War II, Ove Pederson served in a special battalion, the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate) or Viking Battalion, made up mostly of Norwegian-Americans. After victory was secured in Europe, they entered Norway to move German soldiers and their Russian prisoners of war out of Norway. During the war he saw a lot of combat, in the hedgerows of France and during the Battle of the Bulge. Once a sniper ignored his Red Cross armband, which he held up in the air while helping a wounded G.I. The sniper shot right through the armband.

Unknown Documentary of German invasion found     upi.com :: 2006-06-22 :: Nazi documentary films
Professor Jostein Saakvitne has found a previously unknown German documentary of the invasion of Norway by Germany during World War II. He stumbled across the film "Kampf um Norwegen" -- or "Struggle for Norway" -- at a German Internet auction. The 80-minute documentary of the invasion of Norway in 1940 was commissioned by the German Armed Forces High Command. "The film contains both known footage, but longer than we have previously seen, and a range of new scenes that have probably never been made public before."

Expedition to recreate heroic Arctic trek of Norwegian commando     icwales :: 2006-03-17 :: Norway: WWII Nazi Occupation
A former Welch Guard will lead a team in a bid to recreate the epic journey of one of the WW2's bravest resistance heroes. Baalsrud was a Norwegian commando who survived against all the odds when his boat was blown up near the Norwegian port of Tromso in 1943. He escaped alone into the icy wilderness north of the Arctic Circle after German troops had killed all his compatriots. His struggle to survive led to an trek across northern Norway, Finland and Sweden during which he killed a German officer with a single shot, survived an avalanche, lived in a snow-hole for almost a fortnight and was forced to cut off his own toes to avoid gangrene after he contracted frostbite.

Nazi invasion of Norway - For 5 years no outside connection to the world     auburnpub :: 2006-02-18
Henry Aadahl stood on a dock in a Norwegian shipping town as 1,500 soldiers from Nazi Germany unloaded from a troop transporter. Adolf Hitler had ordered the invasion of Norway and Denmark for the spring of 1940. The Nazi invasion cut off Norway from the rest of the world. In the first year of the German occupation, the Aadahl family was lucky to salvage some potatoes or salted herring. A neighbor had "turned Nazi" and reported Aadahl. On his 16th birthday the neighbor and a Gestapo officer arrived. Aadahl was not the only American citizen who had been rounded up 10 months after Third Reich declared war on the US. 85 men and 129 women were sent to a Nazi camp.

Mother of Mine delivers vivid child's view of WWII     variety :: 2006-01-14 :: Children of WWII Wartime
Finland's evacuation of more than 70,000 children to Sweden, Denmark and Norway during World War II, the world's largest such undertaking, receives affecting treatment in "Mother of Mine," the official Finnish submission to the Academy Awards.

Story of a Norwegian Resistance group member during WWII     cnc :: 2005-12-02 :: Norway: WWII Nazi Occupation
He was only 18 when he was taken from his parents’ home in Oslo, Norway by the Norwegian Nazi police. Arne Brun Lie was in the Special Forces for the Norwegian government and was part of a Resistance group working against the Nazis during World War II. He was captured and taken under Hitler’s Nacht und Nebel, the Night and Fog Decree. Lie spent weeks in a Nazi prison on death row. Above his cell, a red-lettered sign read, "very dangerous prisoner." Three of his friends were executed at the prison. Lie’s military papers were lost and the Gestapo could not execute him, instead they sent him to Dachau.

Kon-Tiki adventurer cooperated with Nazi scientist     AFP :: 2005-11-23 :: Nazi scientists and Nazi science
Celebrated Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, best known for his daring expedition to Polynesia on the Kon-Tiki raft, briefly cooperated with a Nazi scientist, according to a new biography. In February 1938, the acclaimed anthropologist traveled to Germany to visit Nazi racial scientist Hans Guenther and honor him with the skull of a native of the Marquesas Islands. -- "We (Guenther and Heyerdahl) both hold everything French in real contempt. One cannot find a people more fake, more impolite and more uncultured," Heyerdahl said.

For a Nazi Outpost of Vidkun Quisling - An Ethical Retrofit     Washingtonpost :: 2005-11-20 :: Norway: WWII Nazi Occupation
Vidkun Quisling was the head of Norway's collaborationist government during the 1940-45 Nazi occupation, and the imposing Villa Grande was his home and headquarters. "This is a house that has a strong aura of power and an authoritarian style." In spring of 1945, Norwegian resistance fighters entered Oslo. They made their way to the wooded peninsula on the fjord and surrounded the villa. Quisling had planned to fight, but his supporters deserted him and he surrendered without a shot fired. Within months, he was tried by a Norwegian court, branded a traitor and executed.

WWII war children take Norway to court     UPI :: 2005-11-15
More than 100 Children born to Norwegian mothers and German fathers during WWII are suing the government for allegedly failing to protect their rights. Claiming they had been physically and mentally abused in Norwegian schools, molested in orphanages, mistreated by public health personnel and even committed to psychiatric institutions. Called "krigsbarna" or, more derogatorily, "tyskerungene" in Norway, the children generally were the otherwise innocent products of relationships between Norwegian women and German soldiers in Norway during the Nazi occupation.

Norway finally forgives women who slept with Nazi soldiers     telegraph.co.uk :: 2005-10-27 :: Lebensborn - Nazi Master Race - Aryan race
Norwegian women who slept with German soldiers during the WW2 and have been denied a special pension ever since as punishment are finally to be forgiven. Known as "tysketöser", German whores, they have until now been excluded from the war pension paid to all who remained true to "good national principles" during the occupation. Now Norway's government has quietly reversed its policy of discrimination against the women and will start paying the money to the few dozen still left. "These women are no longer to be punished for the love stories of their youth that took place 60 years ago."

Lebensborn - Nazi past haunts "Aryan" children     bbc :: 2005-06-13
Between 1935 and 1945, around 10,000 German and 9,000 Norwegian children with "Aryan" characteristics of blond hair and blue eyes were born into a Nazi-run programme called "Lebensborn" or "Fountain of Life". It was part of the Nazis' plan to create a "master race". 60 years later, many are still living with the psychological scars. Gisela Heidenreich was born out of an affair with an SS commander. Her mother also worked as a secretary for Lebensborn. Heinrich Himmler encouraged affairs between SS soldiers and Aryan women, to increase the stock of "racially valuable" Germans in response to falling birth rates.

See also:
'Collectors: Collectables'
'WWII Special Forces'
'British Nazis & Royal Fascists'
'Lebensborn: Fountain of Life'.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2010. All rights reserved. Contact.