Aftenposten: Norwegian soldiers in Warsaw during WWII

Prominent Norwegians claim that Cast Lead was “similar to” or even “worse than” what happened in Warsaw during WWII, among them: NORWAC doctor Mads Gilbert, former first secretary – now consul – Trine Lilleng, mayor of Tromsø Arild Hausberg and leader of Rødt (Red – a socialist political party) Torstein Dahle. As none of them have been called upon to elaborate on their historical perspectives it is difficult to understand precisely which events they refer to – the massacres following the 1943 ghetto uprising or the massacres following the 1944 city-wide uprising? As it happens Norwegians actually participated in the latter, if not the former. Here is an unauthorized translation from Aftenposten (the term frontkjempere refers to Norwegian soliders fighting for Hitler – approximately 6000 Norwegians did so):

Norwegians were war-criminals

Most of the frontkjempere participated in ”normal” acts of war. But a handfull of the Norwegians in Hitler’s service served in units which committed terrible atrocities, a new book discloses.

Four Norwegian frontkjempere were killed while serving in the units which exterminated the civilian population in Warsaw early in the autumn of 1944:

* The first to be killed, was an 18 year old boy from Lier.

* The next was a 17 year old from Oslo.

* The third was a 19 year, also he was from Oslo.

* The fourth was a 25 year old from Bergen. If he fell in Warsaw or was killed shortly afterwards in Hungary, remains unclear.

This completely new information is disclosed in the book De som falt (Those who fell), which is being published today. The book is written by NRK journalist Eirik Veum, and the photographic material is assembled by Geri Brenden. The book presents, for the first time, a complete list over all of the 836 Norwegians who fell during their service with German units during WWII. By examining all the fallen, the two have provided a contribution to the answer of one of the most difficult questions in modern Norwegian history; if Norwegians took part in the obvious atrocities on the East front.

In his book Eirik Veum emphasizes how the large majority of the Norwegians who enlisted in German units participated in ”normal” warfare, if one disregards the fact that Hitler’s war from the onset was a criminal violation of international law. But by examining comprehensive sources the two authors can establish the following:

SS-Röntgensturmbann, a unit which originally was set up as a medical service unit for the Waffen SS, consisted of approximately 100 soldiers in 1944. Apparently 20 of these were Norwegian. The unit was set in to put down tre uprising in Warsaw in 1944.

Annihilation

Nazi-Germany’s war on tre civilians in Warszaw belongs to the darkest chapters in WWII. When Hitler on August 1^st 1944 received news of how the Polish resistance had rebelled, he gave orders for the city to be demolished and the population annihilated. On August 4^th fresh German forces are in place, among them soldiers from SS-Röntgensturmbann, which if necessary may be sent into the battle. It is now that the three, possibly four Norwegians fall. What they concretely were doing, nobody knows today, except that they were serving in units which participated in the annihilation of the Polish civilian population.

In the ruthless battle against the Poles also Sonderregiment Dirlewanger was sent in. This was a punishment unit for SS soldiers who had been sentenced to death for different offences. The soldiers were given the choice between execution or joining up with the unit of the convicted sexual offender Oskar Dirlewanger. An unknown number of Norwegians served, at different times, in Dirlewanger’s unit. All in all four Norwegians die whilst serving in the unit, Veum and Brenden document.

Now as then, there are good and bad Norwegians. Which bracket would you place Gilbert, Hausberg and Dahle in?