White Buses - Scandinavian Prisoners in Germany

Scandinavian Prisoners in Germany

Denmark and Norway were invaded by Germany on April 9, 1940. A number of Norwegians were immediately arrested, two months later the occupying force established the first prisoners' camp at Ulven outside Bergen.

Tension intensified between the Nazi authorities and the resistance. Consequently, more Norwegians were arrested and detained, initially in Norwegian prisons and camps and deported to camps in Germany. The first Norwegians arrived at Sachsenhausen on August 29, 1940, but they were released and sent home in December. Regular deportations from Norway began in the spring of 1941.

Arrests in Denmark began with the resignation of the coalition government on August 29, 1943.

The Scandinavian prisoners in Germany were divided into various categories, from the so-called civil interned who lived privately and had certain freedoms, to the Nacht und Nebel (NN) or "Night and Fog" prisoners who were destined to be worked to death. As the number of Scandinavian prisoners increased, various groups organised relief work for them. The Norwegian seamen's priests in Hamburg, Arne Berge and Conrad Vogt-Svendsen, visited prisoners, brought them food and brought letters to their families in Norway and Denmark. Vogt-Svendsen also made contact with the civilians interned at Gross Kreutz, the Norwegian families Hjort and Seip. Together with other Scandinavians the group at Gross Kreutz compiled extensive lists of prisoners and their location. The lists were then sent to the Norwegian government-in-exile in London through the Swedish embassy in Berlin. In Stockholm the Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff engaged himself heavily with the fate of the Scandinavian prisoners. By the end of 1944 there were around 8,000 Norwegian prisoners in Germany, in addition to some 1,125 Norwegian prisoners of war.

On the Danish side Admiral Carl Hammerich had long worked with secret plans for an expedition code-named the Jyllandskorps to save Danish and Norwegian prisoners from the German camps. Hammerich had good connections with both the Norwegian seaman's priests, the Gross Kreutz group and with Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm. By the beginning of 1945 there were around 6,000 Danish prisoners in Germany. During 1944 the Danes made extensive planning efforts, including the registration of prisoners and plans for transporting resources and making available food, shelter and quarantine for the prisoners, if they succeeded in reaching Denmark. Hammerich visited Stockholm in February, April and July 1944 and discussed the plans with Ditleff.