Leaving Norway

Last morning in Oslo so we decided a quick visit to the Resistance Museum was in order….I know ,I said no museums but it is a small one and then I promise coffee in the sun.The museum is in the Fortress.

Look you got a quick trip down memory lane . Norway was taken by surprise when Germany invaded in  1940. They were unprepared. Towns were bombed and destroyed. Fishing boats ( the Shetland Bus)  took both the bullion and young men to Britain. They also carried supplies and messages back to Norway. These models show some of the events   

Radios were the lifeblood of the community.

Books, chair legs and cameras hid the radios.

People used everything to conceal their radios.

Radios were detected by machines like this used by the Gestapo.

Conditions under occupation was one of resistance but staying under the notice of the Gestapo. Torture, imprisonment or death were the risk those who didn’t escape to England or Sweden took.

Teachers and the church leaders objected to the regime, Newspapers were suppressed but underground issues were printed in basements and handed out. Radios were banned but were hidden in unusual ways so people could continue to know what was happening.

Microdots  became a new technology.

Overall I think the museum was interesting but I didn’t walk out feeling that I knew the day to day affect on the people during occupation. This was particularly important as so many resistance fighters would have been  tortured and executed here in the Fortress.

Okay you have earned your coffee. Let’s sit in the sun and then walk back via the harbour.

Goodbye Norway. Are you sad?