On April 9, 1940, the Wermacht at the beginning of their successful Blitzkrieg (lightning war) against all of Europe, invaded Norway and Denmark. Denmark surrendered to the Germans within 24 hours, but Norway stood fast and fought the German invasion until they surrendered at the end of April 1940. This began five years of brutal Nazi Occupation, and thousands of Norwegians and Norwegian Jews perished at Nazi hands. At this time, Norway was run by the Norwegian Nazi, Vidkun Quisling, who got very cozy with Hitler and other top Nazis during this time.

The Norwegians did not enjoy being under Nazi control and almost immediately began to resist the occupation passively and violently. Troop trains were derailed by the Resistance, and German troops were snubbed by Norwegians almost everywhere they went in Norway.

The Nazis went after the Resistance with vengeance, and if a Norwegian Resistance Member was captured by the Gestapo, he was put under the most horrible torture. If that didn't work, the person was either executed or sent to a German Concentration Camp like Buchenwald or Dachau. The Resistance Museum has an awesome and moving display about the Gestapo's work in Norway along with a display on the Nazi Concentration Camp system. There are dramatic photographs along with instruments of torture used by the Nazis.

One of the displays showed both the Norwegian and German definition of Resistance. The Norwegians called it "the natural reaction of a community based on law, but were forced to the conclusion that their struggle against a ruthless enemy would have to be organized in secret if it was to prove effective." The Germans labeled this resistance "illegal" and did everything to squash it.

Norway was liberated by British troops under General Bernard Montgomery on 4 May 1945. After the war, Quisling was captured and sent back to Norway to await war crimes trials. Norway didn't have the death penalty, but it was reinstated when Quisling was put on trial because of the heinous crimes he and his Norwegian Nazis committed. Quisling was convicted of treason and other war crimes and was executed in 1945 by the Norwegians.

Photography is allowed in the Resistance Museum, and I am proud to say I ran through three rolls of film. The museum is open the same hours as the Castle, and it will cost you about $2 admission. The displays are in Norwegian and English and well worth your time.

*Displays are in English and Norwegian
The story begins with the Norwegian traitor--Vidkun Quisling--who, in 1940, masterminded and assisted the takeover of his country by the German Army.
This museum offers this information quietly and honestly as it describes the horrors placed on every citizen of this country. The first thing to be controlled was the radio. Hitler didn't want the people to be educated or to hear the news from England. He figured that he could control the people in this way, so a decree was established that it was illegal to have a radio and would result in prision or death if you had one. Ha! Little did he understand the Norge mind! Illegal radio shops sprung up all over the land. There is a heart-wrenching story about a prisioner who fashioned his dentures in such a way to get a radio signal while he was held in prision.
There are other "I SPY" kind of gadgets such as hollow healed shoes (Maxwell Smart in the TV show wasn't the first to do this!) and railroad cars where the plumbing fixtures unscrewed to hold microfilm for the allies. Even pens and hollow books were used to get information out of the country. There is an indepth display about the resistance fighters' mountain camps and how they camouflaged them while smuggling people and information into Sweden.
One of the most tearful exhibits concerns the story of Peter Moen who was a prisioner held in this compound and wrote a diary using toilet paper and a PIN to spell out the words. It was not found under the floorboards until reconstruction work began on the castle many years after the war had ended...and after Peter had been killed. He begs us to not forget and to not let their fight be in vain!

Each display is done with care and a combination of old photo's, voice recordings, or films from the era as well as artifacts. It covers the timeline from the occupation in 1940 until the end of the war in 1945. It seems as if Quisling disappears from the narration, but I knew that this could not be...so I asked the staff what happened to him.
In church-like voices...as if they were afraid to speak of such things...they told me that he had been hung for crimes after the war. It is almost as if these people cannot tolerate one more death for any reason whatsoever.
As you leave--a banner is hung above your head that will give you chills to the bone--It reads:

WE WILL NEVER BE TAKEN AGAIN!

This is not a mere sign posted on the wall. It is a deadly promise to the entire world!