{"id":1253,"date":"2019-05-08T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T21:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/?p=1253"},"modified":"2026-02-09T00:37:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T00:37:43","slug":"krigsminner-etter-andre-verdenskrig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/krigsminner-etter-andre-verdenskrig\/","title":{"rendered":"War memories after the Second World War"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Lyngen, the Germans realised that, geographically speaking, the area is the first natural defence barrier where it is possible to defend against a military attack from the east. The area has long fjords and high mountains.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text: Tania Lopez<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1942 and 1943, around 100,000 Russian prisoners of war arrived in Norway. The majority of them ended up in Northern Norway. Many of the prisoners died due to malnutrition and miserable living conditions, while others were shot in the back after allegedly attempting to escape. In total, 13,700 of the Russian POWs died in Norway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prisoners who were sent to Lyngen were tasked with building a defence that would stretch from the Lyngenfjord to the Swedish border. This front line had to be completely continuous, blocked with barbed wire obstacles and covered by a mine belt. When the war ended in 1945, the construction had not been completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roads, defence positions and trenches were built on \u00c5r\u00f8yholmen. Two of the prisoners of war who worked on these military positions died on the island. They were both in their early thirties and died after a year in captivity. Egor from malnutrition and Ivan from cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
War memories. Photo: Tania Lopez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Operation Asphalt<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

After the war, in 1951, it was decided that the crosses and memorials that had been erected at the Russian graves around Norway should be removed, and that the remains found in the graves should be dug up and transported to Kj\u00f8tta in Sandnesj\u00f8en. This work was called \u00abOperation Asphalt\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Operation Asphalt, the two graves on \u00c5r\u00f8ya were also dug up, but due to the condition of the remains, they were buried again. The graves still exist and are located beyond a summer barn on V\u00e5gen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the end of the war, \u00c5r\u00f8yholmen was taken over by the Norwegian Defence in 1976. Ice climbing for civilians was then prohibited until 2005, when Lyngen, K\u00e5fjord and Storfjord municipalities bought the island as a recreational area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the north side of \u00c5r\u00f8ya, the remnants of the war and its aftermath are largely visible. There are several bunkers, firing positions and trenches. During the Cold War, bomb shelters and corridors were built. These have now been sealed and secured so that hikers can travel safely on the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The civilians who lived on \u00c5r\u00f8ya until the evacuation in autumn 1944 returned after the end of the war. When the Armed Forces took over in 1976, there were no longer any permanent residents on \u00c5r\u00f8ya.<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current links<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u00c5r\u00f8ya\/\u00c5r\u00f8yholmen, turliv.no<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyngen: \u00c5r\u00f8yholmen, ishavskysten.no<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Management plan for \u00c5r\u00f8yholmen 2017-2021, pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c5r\u00f8yholmen is released by the defence, NRK 2004<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buys \u00c5r\u00f8yholmen 2005, framtidinord.no<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NRK programme U: Report on K\u00e5fjord youths occupying \u00c5r\u00f8ya (approx. 01.50 min into the programme), 1992<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Lyngen, the Germans realised that, geographically speaking, the area is the first natural defence barrier where it is possible to defend against a military attack from the east. The area has long fjords and high mountains.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-1253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historie-og-religion","tag-aroya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1253"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2001,"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253\/revisions\/2001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nordligefolk.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}