Grini prison camp was a Nazi

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 concentration camp in Bærum

Bærum

is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandvika. Bærum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. A suburb of Oslo, Bærum is located on the west coast of the city....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, which operated between 1941 and May 1945

Victory in Europe Day

Victory in Europe Day commemorates 8 May 1945 , the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not...

.

History

Grini was originally built as a women's prison, near an old croft

Croft (land)

A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer.- Etymology :...

 named Ilen (also written Ihlen), on land bought from the Løvenskiold family by the Norwegian state. The construction of a women's prison started in 1938, but despite being more or less finished in 1940, it did not come into use for its original purpose: Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

's invasion of Norway

Operation Weserübung

Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...

 on 9 April 1940, during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, instead precipitated the use of the site for detention by the Nazi regime. At first, the Nazis used the prison to detain Norwegian officers captured during the Norwegian Campaign

Norwegian Campaign

The Norwegian Campaign was a military campaign that was fought in Norway during the Second World War between the Allies and Germany, after the latter's invasion of the country. In April 1940, the United Kingdom and France came to Norway's aid with an expeditionary force...

 fighting. This use was discontinued in June 1940, when Norway capitulated. The prison was then used to house Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

 soldiers, until a concentration camp was established on 14 June 1941. The first detainees were sent from Åneby concentration camp, the use of which was at the same time discontinued. Shortly afterwards, the ranks of prisoners were increased by detainees captured during Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...

. The camp was run by Schutzstaffel

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

 and Gestapo

Gestapo

The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...

 personnel, who renamed the camp Polizeihäftlingslager Grini. The name corresponds to a nearby farm and surrounding residential district

Grini

Grini prison camp was a Nazi concentration camp in Bærum, Norway, which operated between 1941 and May 1945.-History:Grini was originally built as a women's prison, near an old croft named Ilen , on land bought from the Løvenskiold family by the Norwegian state...

 located a short distance southeast of the camp, but historically the area at Ilen had no connection to Grini farm.

At first inmates were detained on the premises of the original prison, but in 1942 an extra barracks had to be built to enlarge capacity. Grini was used primarily for Norwegian political prisoner

Political prisoner

According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....

s, but the detention of more regular criminals followed. Many were held at Grini before being shipped to camps in Germany; 3,402 people in total passed through the camp en route to camps in Germany itself. Similarly, many teachers who took part in the civil disobedience of 1942 were held at Grini for one day before being taken to Kirkenes

Kirkenes

is a town in the municipality of Sør-Varanger in the county of Finnmark in the far northeast of Norway...

 via Jørstadmoen

Jørstadmoen

Jørstadmoen is a village in Lillehammer municipality, in Oppland, Norway....

. A small number of foreign citizens were also held there. Altogether, 19,247 prisoners passed through Grini, and at most (in February 1945) there were 6,208, although not all of these actually sat at Grini at a given time.

The total number killed at Grini is unknown, though the Gestapo and police often used the area for purposes of torture

Torture

Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

 and at least eight people were executed there. British airborne troops sent by glider to sabotage the Norsk Hydro

Norsk Hydro

Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...

 heavy-water plant during Operation Freshman

Operation Freshman

Operation Freshman was the codename given to a British airborne operation conducted in November 1942 during World War II. It was the first British airborne operation conducted using gliders, and its target was the Vemork Norsk Hydro chemical plant in Norway which produced heavy water for Nazi Germany...

 crashed in Norway due to foul weather. The five uninjured survivors were taken prisoner and held at Grini concentration camp until 18 January 1943, when they were taken to nearby woods, blindfolded and shot in the back of the head by the Gestapo

Gestapo

The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...

. This was a war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

, in breach of the Geneva Convention. Executions normally took place at Akershus Fortress

Akershus Fortress

Akershus Fortress or Akershus Castle is a medieval castle that was built to protect Oslo, the capital of Norway. It has also been used as a prison.- Construction :...

 or Trandumskogen

Trandumskogen

Trandumskogen is a forest located in Ullensaker, Akershus county, Norway. It was the site of one of the first discoveries in May 1945 of German mass graves in Norway. The German executioner Oskar Hans was the officer in command of the unit performing the executions.In total 173 Norwegians, 6...

.

Camps in other parts of Norway, including Fannrem

Fannrem concentration camp

Fannrem concentration camp was a concentration camp in the municipality of Orkdal in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It was established as an annex to the Grini concentration camp by the Nazi authorities in Norway in October 1944 and lasted until the end of the war.The camp consisted of military...

, Kvænangen

Kvænangen concentration camp

Kvænangen concentration camp was established in the municipality of Kvænangen in Northern Norway by the Nazi administration of occupied Norway in August 1942, as annex to Grini. It consisted of two subcamps, Veidal and Badderen, which was also known as Veiskaret...

 and Bardufoss

Bardufoss concentration camp

The Bardufoss concentration camp is located in Northern Norway in the municipality of Målselv. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, the Nazi authorities established a "concentration camp in the town of Bardufoss," as an annex to the Grini concentration camp. It opened in March 1944 to...

, were organized as part of the Grini system. German forces also maintained a military camp at Huseby, not far from Grini.

Prison life

Other than guards, the German occupiers devoted few personnel to the camp. Since many politicians, academics and cultural personalities were detained at Grini, a certain level of internal organization was established. Prisoners worked in manufacturing, agriculture and other manual labor. Much of this manual labor took place outside the camp. Some detainees maintained their pre-war specialties, such as literary historian Francis Bull

Francis Bull

Francis Bull was a Norwegian literary historian, professor at the University of Oslo for more than thirty years, essayist and speaker, and magazine editor.-Early and personal life:...

 who secretly held several lectures, and managed to publish three books with material written during his three-year stay at Grini.

The diet at Grini was poor. After the war, it caused a certain stir in the populace when it was perceived that Nazi prisoners of the liberated Norway were treated better than prisoners of the Nazi regime; among other things the diet in Norwegian prisons was much better. On the other hand, Grini was more hospitable to resistance prisoners than the similar camps in Germany.

Liberation

On 7 May 1945 Harry Söderman

Harry Söderman

Harry Söderman was a Swedish police officer and criminalist.He was a pioneer of modern criminology in Scandinavia, and the first head of the National Laboratory of Forensic Science in Sweden between 1939 and 1953.-Personal life:...

, who was in charge of the education of the Norwegian police troops in Sweden

Norwegian police troops in Sweden during World War II

The Norwegian police troops in Sweden during World War II consisted of around 13,000 troops, recruited from Norwegian refugees and trained at a number of secret camps in Sweden.-Background:...

, arrived in the camp and ordered commander Zeidler to arrange an assembly, first for the 5,000 male prisoners, and then for the 500 females. The women were released immediately, while the male detainees were asked to stay in the camp for a few days until transport could be arranged, and leadership of the camp was handed over to the prisoners' representatives. Prisoners from Møllergata 19

Møllergata 19

Møllergata 19 is an address in Oslo, Norway where the city's main police station and jail was located. The address gained notoriety during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, when the Nazi security police kept its headquarters here...

 and Victoria Terrasse

Victoria Terrasse

Victoria Terrasse is a building complex in central Oslo, Norway.Built in the 1880s, it was taken over the by Norwegian government in 1913 and put to use by the police and various political departments....

 were transferred to Grini the same day.

After the war

After the liberation of Norway in May 1945, the prison was used for Norwegians tried or convicted of treason or collaboration, as a part of the legal purge in Norway after World War II

Legal purge in Norway after World War II

When the occupation of Norway ended in May 1945, several thousand Norwegians and foreign citizens were tried and convicted for various acts that the occupying powers sanctioned...

. Since the name "Grini" was now associated with the Norwegian resistance movement

Norwegian resistance movement

The Norwegian resistance to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:...

, hence seen as heroic, the camp was renamed Ilebu. The new name also reflected the actual location of the camp better. 3,440 people were imprisoned here in July 1945. The conditions in the camp were unhealthy, with beri-beri breaking out in the summer. A guard reported that punitive exercise was used in a harsh way. on 13 October 1945 Utrykningspolitiet performed a razzia. During the razzia, prosecutor Lauritz Jenssen Dorenfeldt and the wife of camp director Helge Gleditsch were wrongly rounded up in the yard.

It was closed in 1951 but reopened in the same year under the name Ila as a "landsfengsel og sikringsanstalt" (national prison and security institution), a prison for criminals serving long-term sentences.

Much of the camp, including the barracks, has been torn down. One preserved barracks building today stands at Kadettangen

Kadettangen

Kadettangen is a small peninsula outside of Sandvika in Bærum, Norway. Originally named Sandvikstangen, it got its current name from the cadet training conducted by the Norwegian Military Academy for the better part of the nineteenth century...

. There is also a museum, the Grini Museum, near today's Ila prison. The preserved barracks was moved back in 2010.

Printed documentation

Architect Odd Nansen

Odd Nansen

Odd Nansen was a Norwegian architect, author, and humanitarian, credited with his humanitarian efforts on behalf of Jews in the early years of World War II and for being a founder of UNICEF.-Biography:...

 managed to preserve most of his diaries from Grini and Sachsenhausen, and selections from these were issued in 1946 as the three-volume book Fra dag til dag (From Day to Day). Volume one covers the period from January 1942 to August 1942, volume two covers August 1942 to August 1943, and volume three covers Nansen's stay in Sachsenhausen. In 1946 and 1947 the two-volume book Griniboken (The Grini Book) was issued, edited by August Lange

August Lange

Christian August Manthey Lange was a Norwegian educator, non-fiction writer and cultural attaché.-Personal life:...

 and Johan Schreiner

Johan Schreiner

Johan Christian Schreiner was a Norwegian historian. He was a professor at the University of Oslo, and his speciality was the Middle Ages.-Personal life:...

, with contributions from several of the detainees. The first volume describes daily life at Grini as it developed over the years, including separate articles on the women's department, on the "Haft" departments (for men and women), and on "Fallskjermen", the department for those who were sentenced to death and awaiting execution. The second volume covers the internal organisation, such as the labor, farm work, and healthcare regimes, in more detail, and also discusses cultural and religious life. The external locations (Kvænangen, Kongsvinger, Bardufoss, and others) are described. There are also chapters on the undercover resistance at Grini, such as the news service, espionage, and the secret finger-signing language which was developed. Børre R. Giertsen's 1946 book Norsk fangeleksikon. Grinifangene

Norsk fangeleksikon. Grinifangene

Norsk fangeleksikon. Grinifangene is a Norwegian biographical dictionary with details on prisoners incarcerated at the Grini concentration camp between 1941 and 1945....

(Norwegian Prisoner Encyclopedia: the Grini Prisoners) contains an overview of the German staff at Grini, as well as an chronologically ordered list of the prisoners, starting with the Solvær hostages incarcerated at Åneby 15 March 1941.