Espeland concentration camp was established in Arna, Norway, now a part of Bergen, by the Nazi authorities of occupied Norway in the summer of 1943. It was largely built by slave labor from the other concentration camp near Bergen, Ulven concentration camp. All prisoners from Ulven were transferred to this camp, which quickly became overcrowded.
Prisoners were mistreated and often brutalized, and the camp had a separate section for chain gangs and prisoners who were kept in solitary confinement. When liberated in 1945, there were 200 prisoners at Espeland.
After the war it was used for prisoners with relations to the now-succumbed Nazi rule. According to Kjell Fjørtoft, abuse occurred in the camp.
Famous quotes containing the word camp:
“The triumphs of peace have been in some proximity to war. Whilst the hand was still familiar with the sword-hilt, whilst the habits of the camp were still visible in the port and complexion of the gentleman, his intellectual power culminated; the compression and tension of these stern conditions is a training for the finest and softest arts, and can rarely be compensated in tranquil times, except by some analogous vigor drawn from occupations as hardy as war.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)