Beisfjord massacre

In order to build defences in Norway against the Allies, the Germans brought in around 5,000 Yugoslavian political prisoners and prisoners-of-war—in addition to prisoners 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. In 2013 Dagbladet quoted Knut Flovik Thoresen saying—in regards to the camps that were to cost the lives of 2,368 Yugoslavs—that "Norwegian [camp] guards' [in North Norway] gruesome violations against Yugoslav prisoners in Norway during the war, were so cruel that I have hardly ever read about more brutal acts". Furthermore, many of the victims were Serbs from the independent state of Croatia (NDH)—not partisans, but chosen based on ethnicity. In the first deployment of camp guards that were sent to North Norway, some used their bayonets so often "that even the Germans had enough of it". The second group were not issued bayonets, for fear that they would become as bloodthirsty. (The guards from these groups came from Hirdvaktbataljonen—a battalion within Hirden, 500) The number of individuals victimized by SS-kommandant Hermann Dolp and his German and Norwegian subordinates, might total 3,000 or even 4,000. In 2013, Flovik Thoresen said, "You can be sure that if Norwegian prisoners had been exposed to similar [atrocities], then many of the perpetrators would have been sentenced to death. Instead most were let off with sentences more lenient than those received by women who served as nurses at the front lines". There were 31 camps between Bergen and Hammerfest during World War II. Furthermore, "after the war, everyone in the Public Roads Administration denied involvement with the Yugoslavian prisoners." "As many as 150 000 foreign POWs, political prisoners and forced laborers were in Norway between 1941 and 1945. Over 13 700 died. The majority performed heavy labour construction work on Nordland Line, Highway 50 ([present-day] E6 ) thru North Norway, fortifications and airports." The largest group of prisoners were Soviets, followed by Poles and Yugoslavs. The Yugoslavs worked on the following roads: the "Blood Road—Blodveien—from Rognan to Langsølet, Elsfjord—Korgen, on the Bjørnefjell Road towards Kiruna and on the road between Karasjok and the Finnish Border". "The Germans prioritized access to iron ore mines in Kiruna and the nickel mines in Petsamo", rather than following plans of the NPRA. ==The massacre==

On 24 June 1942, 900 Yugoslav prisoners arrived at the Fagernes Pier in Narvik. "They start to walk the ten kilometer long road to Beisfjord" (...) Five prisoners are hit, and die along the road, and one is shot and killed" On 12 July 1942 "some German officers, a German- and a Norwegian physician came for an inspection of the camp" (...) The SS officers' suspicion of typhoid fever was confirmed by this [Norwegian] doctor. Typhoid fever must be diagnosed thru blood- or stool samples. (...) The physical symptoms that the prisoners had, concurred, but neither the Norwegian- or German MD took blood tests. The Norwegian doctor picked out 85 prisoners who allegedly had typhoid fever. He supposedly did not examine them thoroughly, but [he] picked out the prisoners from a distance because they looked frail. They were immediately sent to the infirmary". Prisoners with various illnesses were moved into two barracks, which were surrounded by barbed wire. guards and some German superiors. during the massacre. (The guard staff of the camp consisted of around 150 men from Ordnungspolizei—controlled by the SS—and around 50 Norwegian guards who were volunteers. At Bjørnfjell they were quarantined, and the camp at Øvre Jernvann was established. "On 22 July, two days after arrival at Bjørnfjell, all the prisoners had to run around the camp six times. Those prisoners who were not able, were shot." 10 prisoners were picked out and shot "farther down by the lake" [Jernvann]. Runs of this kind were held at other times, resulting in deaths every time. After five weeks on the mountain, 242 prisoners were dead. "The last 43 were [those classified as] sick who were shot" during the hike back to Beisfjord. ==Legacy==

In the spring of 1946 "seven of the circa twenty SS officers that worked at the camps at Beisfjord and Øvre Jernvann, were arrested and transported to Beograd" (...) Everyone received the death sentence. Also Norwegian guards that had killed or violated prisoners, were arrested after the war and convicted", according to HL-senteret. In 1949 a monument in memory of the Yugoslavs [at Beisfjord] was erected. ==Reactions to the massacre==

Pål Nygaard (author and researcher) said that "Not long after the war" Nils Christie "took an interest in the Yugoslavian prisoners. Christie thought that research (en studie) of their prison guards, was the best way we in Norway could gain knowledge and understanding (...) He wanted to dig deeper where others waved off the actions [merely] as evil. In Norway there was little interest in reading – or listening to him. Killings and brutality belonged to the others, the bad: occupants. – Still it is like that". because members of a paramilitary force of NorwegiansHirdenparticipated in the atrocities". The same article said that Norway's Department of Justice had scheduled a meeting with Zuroff on 20 November 2013, but a misunderstanding within the department led to Zuroff not being notified. State Secretary Vidar Brein-Karlsen has said that he will gladly meet with representatives from the Wiesenthal Centre to hear what they have to say. ==See also==

• Mladjenović, Ljubo. Oversatt av Brit Bakker. «Beisfjordtragedien», Oslo: Grøndahl, 1989. • Nygaard, Paal Store drømmer og harde realiteter ["great dreams and tough reality"] (2014) ==External links==