Falstad prison camp

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Falstad camp, May 12, 1945

The Falstad prisoner camp (Norwegian: Falstad Fangeleir ) was a prisoner camp for the German Security Police (Sipo) and the Security Service (SD) in North Trøndelag near Trondheim in Norway from spring 1942 until the end of World War II .

Prison camp

Since the Norwegian collaborationist government of Vidkun Quisling had no support among the Norwegian population, the German sat Reich Commissioner for occupied Norway Josef Terboven to an ever more radical policy of occupation. Prison camps were set up under the Sipo and SD to accommodate political opponents.

In September 1941, 170 Danes were the first prisoners to be housed in the former boarding school in Falstad near Trondheim, who set up the camp's first guard facilities.

In the spring of 1942, Sipo and SD officially opened the camp, and it was administered by Department V (Criminal Police). By the end of the war, a total of six SS officers were responsible for managing the camp. These were: Paul Schöning, Paul Gogol, Scharschmidt, Werner Jeck, Georg Bauer and Karl Denk. Around 4,500 prisoners from 13 countries were held in Falstad by the end of the war. In addition to brutal punishments, many prisoners suffered from forced labor . Individual prisoner commandos had to work at Wehrmacht bases in the region. Political opponents and Jews were deported from Falstad to concentration camps.

Executions in Falstadskogen

Inauguration of the memorial in Falstadskogen, October 12, 1947

The camp's guards repeatedly used the nearby forest as a place of execution. A total of over 200 prisoners, including 43 Norwegian resistance fighters, over 100 Soviet prisoners of war and 74 Yugoslav partisans were murdered there.

post war period

Between 1945 and 1949 the camp served the Norwegian state under the name Innherad Forced Labor Camp, first as an internment camp and then as a labor camp for convicted collaborators. From 1949 the buildings were used as a school. Today it is home to the "Falstad Center" which, following political controversies, is limited to depicting the period from 1940 to 1945.

The first individual and mass graves were discovered in the forest near Falstad immediately after the liberation. In 1947, the Norwegian Crown Prince Olav inaugurated a monument there that plays a central role in commemorative ceremonies and anniversaries.

literature

  • Dirk Riedel: Norway . In: Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 9: Labor education camps, ghettos, youth protection camps, police detention camps, special camps, gypsy camps, forced labor camps. CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-57238-8 , p. 430 ff.
  • Jon Reitan: Falstad - History and Memories of a Nazi Camp . In: Politics of the past and cultures of remembrance in the shadow of the Second World War . Ed .: Bohn, Cornelißen, Lammers, Klartext 2008, ISBN 978-3-89861-988-2 , pp. 185 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dirk Riedel: Norway. In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. Munich 2009, Vol. 9, p. 432.
  2. ↑ Dirk Riedel: Norway. In: The Place of Terror. P. 435.
  3. ↑ Dirk Riedel: Norway. In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. Munich 2009, Vol. 9, p. 436.
  4. ↑ Dirk Riedel: Norway. In: The Place of Terror. P. 436.
  5. ↑ Innherad Forced Labor Camp . The Falstad Center, accessed January 19, 2018
  6. ^ Jon Reitan: Falstad - History and Memories of a Nazi Camp . In: Politics of the past and cultures of remembrance in the shadow of the Second World War . Ed .: Bohn, Cornelißen, Lammers, Klartext 2008, ISBN 978-3-89861-988-2 , p. 193.
  7. ^ The Falstad Center . accessed January 19, 2018
  8. ↑ Dirk Riedel: Norway. In: The Place of Terror. P. 440.

Coordinates: 63 ° 41 ′ 29 ″  N , 11 ° 2 ′ 21 ″  E