World War II

Germany invaded Norway on 9 April 1940. The German occupation lasted until May 1945. Sør-Varanger’s location meant that it was of great importance to Nazi Germany’s campaign against the Soviet Union. The German war machine became part of everyday life for the people of the border country.

German troops lined up in Storgata, Kirkenes, 1942. “Fortress Kirkenes” was by then well established. Kirkenes was strategically important for Nazi Germany in its attempt to take Murmansk. Naturally, this made Kirkenes a target for the Soviet Union’s bomber planes. Air-raid shelters were a part of everyday life for the population during the Nazi occupation. (Photo: Edvardsen. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

Kirkenes after the bombing on 4 July 1944. The town lay in ruins. Homes were gone. Only a few houses remained standing. For many, the post-war period was very hard; it took a long time before supplies came to Sør-Varanger. (Photo: Unknown. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

Signpost at Lønbom square in Kirkenes, 1943, featuring the names of many Austrian towns. Many Nazi soldiers were from Austria and were used to harsh winter conditions. But the Russian winter on the Litsa front proved too tough for thousands of soldiers. (Photo: German pilot. Lent by Hiltrud Vozz. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

The Litsa front in the summer of 1941. German field kitchen being brought to the positions. Thousands of Russian and German soldiers died on the Litsa front. The casualty figures have varied greatly and are still uncertain, but the German casualties on the Litsa front probably reached 35,000 men, including wounded. Russian historians estimate that the Red Army had as many as 73,000 dead and 129,000 wounded, 202,000 casualties in total. (Photo: Unknown. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

The German bridge at Hestefoss on the Pasvik river was destroyed by explosives in 1944. The Germans employed scorched earth tactics when they left the area. Fortunately, not many privately owned buildings in the Pasvik valley were burned. (Photo: Petra Johnsen. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

Russian soldiers at Boris Gleb. (Photo: The Red Army. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

“The Russians swam over the Pasvik river at Trangsund,” says Åse Andersen. Åse’s father, Olav Kærnæ, told how they took materials from the cowshed and built rafts to get the soldiers across quicker. The Germans were on the farm, but one of the girls on the farm told them that the Russians were on their way. That made the Germans get a move on; they ran with their shoes in their hands! In the picture we see Olav Kærnæ on the farm at Trangsund in 1980 with the Pasvik river in the background. (Photo lent by Åse Andersen)

The liberation in 1944. Sør-Varanger was the first area in Norway to be liberated, on 24 October 1944. The Germans were in a tremendous hurry to leave, and had insufficient time to evacuate the entire population. Over 2,000 people lived in the mine tunnels in Bjørnevatn; ten children were born in A/S Sydvaranger’s tunnel. (Photo: The Red Army. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

The last Russian divisions leave Sør-Varanger and Norway on 25 September 1945. Some feared that they would stay. The people of Sør-Varanger will always remember that the Red Army liberated them from the German occupation. (Photo: Karlsen. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

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“Fortress Kirkenes”

“Fortress Kirkenes” was the Germans’ most northerly entrenchment in Europe. Hitler’s plan was to attack the Soviet Union in both the north and the south. Sør-Varanger was to be the bridgehead in the attack against Murmansk. The ports of both Kirkenes and Murmansk are free of ice all year round; this was important for warships and supply ships.

Military build-up

The first German soldiers came to East Finnmark in June-July 1940. During the autumn and winter huge forces and colossal amounts of arms and materials were transported to the border with Finland. The attack on the Soviet Union began on 22 June 1941 after a huge military build-up in Finnmark, particularly in the Kirkenes area. The German attack on the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 made Norway an important strategic point in the war between the great powers. Finnmark and Finland became military deployment areas on the northern front.

German ships in the fjord

“I remember when German ships sailed into Bøkfjorden for the first time. It was in June 1940. We were salmon fishing at sea. The Germans had a band on deck playing military marches. It resounded all round the fjord. My grandfather said: «Hope they get out again fast»,” recounted Ingvald Henriksen, who was 13 years old in 1940.

Over a thousand air raids

The Germans completely dominated the lives of the local population of this north-eastern area, both in their workplaces and in their homes. The fact that Fortress Kirkenes was of course an important target for the Soviet Russian allies did not make the situation easier. Over a thousand air raids during the war years say it all. Kirkenes was bombed to destruction.

Contact with the soldiers

The war left deep traces among the population of the Pasvik valley and Sør-Varanger. In many ways, the rural communities came out of it better than Kirkenes, and most buildings in the countryside were still standing after the war. Many people who were children during the war tell of their good contact with the soldiers. “They were only young boys sent to the north. Most of them behaved well,” say many in the Pasvik valley. “They would sometimes give us sweets or a bit of food.”

Prison camps

The Germans took many Russian soldiers prisoner during the fighting. Several prison camps were built in Sør-Varanger, with a total of 14 camps in Pasvik. The prisoners were treated virtually like animals. Very many Russian prisoners lost their lives due to malnutrition or exhaustion, or they were simply executed. The sight of the emaciated prisoners made an indelible impression on the local population. Many managed to smuggle a piece of bread or other food to the Russian prisoners. Sometimes the prisoners gave the locals carved wooden figures, tin boxes or other handmade objects in gratitude for their help.

Partisans

Many individuals enrolled in the service of the Soviet Union during the war in order to fight the Nazis. They received training in the Soviet Union before being sent back to Norway to report to the Soviets. These people were called partisans. One of the most well-known is probably Osvald Harjo from Pasvik, who spent more than ten years in Soviet prison camps. He did not return to Norway until Prime Minister Gerhardsen took up his case in a meeting in Moscow. The partisans lived a dangerous life, as they could be discovered by the Germans at any time. Or they could be informed on. If they were caught, execution and death awaited them. Many partisans ended their lives in the border area.

The Arctic Ocean front against Murmansk

There was little in the soldiers’ exhausting journey across marshes and rivers that resembled the dreams their generals had had about marching gloriously into Murmansk. There were long distances over a roadless, sometimes ice-cold and barren landscape. Stones, mountains and precipices, deep mud, swift rapids and Russian soldiers offering stubborn resistance barred the way to Murmansk. The frost came and the cold crept through clothing and into the bones. The thrust against the Soviet Union stranded in the Litsa valley, not far from Murmansk.
The Germans had underestimated both the terrain and the Russian resistance. The Russians made better use of the terrain than the invaders, and many Russians had experience from the Finnish-Russian war.

The Russian winter

Both the Germans and Russians got lost in one fateful storm at Litsa and many perished from cold and exhaustion. Their forces were halved because of snow blindness and frostbite. The fight caused incomprehensible suffering.

«Arktis ist nichts»
The General’s words at Litsa
The Arctic is nothing
Arktis ist nichts
The General’s lies and fictions
to those who felt the cold
The soldiers in the snow
in the nights on Musta Tunturi
and the snow storm at Litsa
.........
From «Krig i Grenseland» (“War in the Border Country”) by Hans-Kristian Eriksen

Liberation

The Germans never reached Murmansk. In the autumn of 1944, the Soviet forces managed to press the German troops westwards. In October that same year the first Soviet soldiers crossed the border into Norway. Sør-Varanger was liberated as the first area in Norway.

Tysk parade ved Skansen i Storgata, Kirkenes 1942. (Foto: Edvardsen. Sør-Varangeer museums samlinger)

German parade at Skansen in Storgata, Kirkenes, 1942. (Photo: Edvardsen. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

Katastrofedagen 4. juli 1944. Over 140 hus og bygninger brant på grunn av sovjetiske bombeangrep. (Foto: Bundesarkiv, Tyskland. Sør-Varanger museums samlinger)

4 July 1944, when over 140 houses and buildings burned in Soviet bombing attacks.
(Photo: Bundesarkiv, Germany. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

Bombing. Branner. Frykt. Hverdag for befolkningen i Kirkenes under krigen. (Foto: Bundesarkiv, Tyskland. Sør-Varanger museums samlinger)

Bombing. Fires. Fear. Daily life for the people of Kirkenes during the war. (Photo: Bundesarkiv, Germany. Sør-Varanger Museum Collections)

Oversikt over tyske anlegg i Sør-Varanger. (Illustrasjon: Johan B. Siira)

Overview of German installations in Sør-Varanger. (Illustration: Johan B. Siira. "Sør-Varanger under 2. verdenskrig", Sør-Varanger Historielag)

Minnegudstjeneste i Kirkenes kirke under 60-års jubileet for frigjøringen av Sør-Varanger. (Foto: Yngve Grønvik, Sør-Varanger Avis)

Russian war veterans at a memorial service in Kirkenes Church to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Sør-Varanger. (Photo: Yngve Grønvik, Sør-Varanger Avis)