Family Trove: Akershus Fortress, Oslo, Norway

Akershus Fortree from the Deck of the Cruse Ship

Our departure from Oslo was going to be late, which gave Ray and me some time to explore Akerhaus Fortress. We could easily walk there because our ship docked right beside the fortress. There is no entry fee to visit the fortress, but we did pay about five dollars to visit the Resistance Museum which was one of the buildings inside the fortress. The museum closed at 4:00, which gave us time to see most of the exhibits, but we could have spent a lot more time there. There were other buildings in the fortress that we will have to visit our next time we are in Oslo.

The Akerhaus Fortress has a 700 year old history. It was built as protection from a Swedish earl who attacked it in 1363. The attack was unsuccessful, and Akerhaus Fortress became a stronghold in Oslo. I lost count on how many times the castle has been besieged, but in those many times, it was never conquered by a foreign country. It did did surrender without combat to Nazi Germany and was under Nazi control from 1940-1945. The Germans used it as a military headquarters, prison and and also a place of execution. There were many who resisted and at the end of the war, a memorial was built to honor them and later this amazing Norwegian Resistance Museum was built. I am glad we chose this museum to visit. It was sad, in many parts, but that sadness made me realize the importance of resistance, and how difficult it can be.

This is the memorial for those in the resistance.

I am going to show you a picture of the part of Akerhaus that we saw. The one with the toilet paper was the most difficult for me to grasp. The human spirit in such dire times and such horrible conditions was a large part of the success the end of the war.

This is the toilet paper that was the diary of Petter Moen. He would prick letters in the toilet and stuff the sheets of toilet paper in a ventilating shaft. I found this heart wrenching as I pictured the difficulty he must have had punching holes to form letters, to form words. He did not know if this diary would ever be found, and yet he documented what life was like as a prisoner of the Gestapo. He never lived to know that his story is now part of our history.

Toilet Paper Diary

Here is a closer view of the toilet paper. The letters and words are easier to see.

These are rifles with bayonets that the Nazi's used while occupying Norway. There is a letter stuck onto one bayonet that we think the resisters put there as protest for what the letter says. There was a sign that said the rifles were put together in the shape of a swastika, but neither one of us could see the shape.

Here is the note. I translated it the best I could.

Translation: (I did translate a lot of this on my own, but I do thank, Google Translate to make my words make sense.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recording

The Reich's government asks the Royal Norwegian government to immediately take the following measures.

1.) Call on the government to the people and the Wehrmacht to refrain from any resistance against the German troops in the occupation of the country.

2.) Order to the Norwegian Wehrmacht to (?? This is where the bayonet goes through the letter.) with the incoming troops and to make the necessary arrangements for loyal cooperation to German commanders. The Norwegian troops are left in possession of their weapons as far as their behavior allows.

As a sign of the willingness to cooperate, the white flags of the parliament are to be shown next to the national flag on the military installations to approaching German troops.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We did not have time to visit the former living quarters of one of the Royal family (Princess Margaret of Denmark lived there in 1363 when she married Haakon the Sixth.). There was also a church that we did not get to visit. This is why I hope we make it back to Oslo. There was so much in this one fortress that we would like to see.