Norway 1995: My "Immigrant Song" Experience

"Come to the land of the ice and snow where the midnight sun sets and hot springs flow. . .Valhalla I am coming. . ." howls Led Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant at the beginning of one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs, The Immigrant Song (1971). Every time I listen to that song on the radio, my Viking blood boils, and it was close to exploding during my 1995 adventure to Norway.

In previous journals, I have written about my adventures in the Norwegian capital of Oslo and a visit to my great-grandfather Johan Fernstrom's hometown in Arendal in the Sorlandet of Southeastern Norway, where some of my distant relatives still live. This journal will be about my moving and personal journey to the Resistance Museum, where the history of the Norwegian resistance against the Nazi Occupation of Norway is meticulously depicted in live and photographic exhibits. There will also be an entry about my twilight ferry boat ride to Hovedoy (ho-va-day-a) Island, home to an ancient monastery. The journal will also include a day trip to Kristiansand's Dyrenpark, an open-air zoo, amusement park, and swimming pool for children of all ages.

Quick Tips:

Along with blasting The Immigrant Song full-blast in your car or home, other ways to learn about Norway's experiences during World War II and the Resistance Museum, read Rick Steve's Europe Through The Backdoor: Scandinavia for more information on visiting the Resistance Museum. Lonely Planet is also an excellent source for planning your Norway trip.

Other excellent sources are Raul Hillenberg's The Persection of the European Jews, which touches base about the Norwegian Holocaust. One of my favorite books as a child was Snow Treasure, which is based on the true story about the Norwegian Resistance's efforts to smuggle millions of dollars of gold bullion out of Norway during the Occupation. A movie was made based on the book in the 1960's with James Franciscus, but it did not follow the book and was very disappointing to me. The book might be available through Amazon.com, where you can find other great books about Norway and its history.

If you are interested in learning about how the Norwegian Government runs, take a tour of the Stortinget (Parliament Building). Located on Oslo's main drag, Karl Johans Gate 22, this 1866 building is very impressive. In 1995, the Stortinget was going under renovations, and I didn't have a chance to visit inside, but today, you can take a guided English tour from 1 July to 20 August for free. In the off-season, tours of the Stortinget are only in Norwegian and on Saturdays only.

Best Way To Get Around:

Oslo is a very safe and accessible city for one to get around. With a population of under 500,000, the city is small and if you were to get lost in Oslo, many of the natives speak English and will kindly get you in the right direction.

The best way to get to the Resistance Museum from your hotel is to take the bus to Downtown Oslo and walk to the waterfront Akershus Castle. I used to walk from the Bissel District through one of Oslo's parks and by The Royal Palace (go about 1:30 and catch the changing of the guard), on my way to Downtown Oslo and the Oslofjord.

Kristiansand is located on the Southeastern tip of Norway and is easily accessible by train or bus from Oslo. The train is the fastest way, but fares are expensive, so it's advisable for one to get a Europass when travelling around Norway.

If you are really adventurous, you can rent a car or have friends take you to Kristiansand. The Dyrenpark is best reached by car or bus and is on the outskirts of Kristiansand.

When I went to Norway in the Summer of 1995, I had done a lot of reading about where to visit and the history of this beautiful country where my ancestors lived. One of the places that really stuck out and got me going was The Resistance Museum, a place where the Norwegian people proudly display their struggles and triumphs over the Nazi Occupation of their country from April 1940-May 1945. Located on the grounds of Akershus Castle, this place is well-worth a couple of hours of your time when you visit Oslo.

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.

I was visiting my distant relatives, who lived on Hisoy Island off the coast of Arendal, Norway. One of the daughters Anna Cecile, was married and had a young son Jan Axel, who wanted to visit the zoo while I was there. So on 1 July, we were off to The Dyrenpark, a huge open air zoo located on the outskirts of Kristiansand, one of Norway's biggest cities in Southeastern Norway.

Kristiansand is about a half-hour from Arendal by car, and we arrived at Dyrenpark about late-morning. After paying the admission fee to get inside, we began a day at Dyrenpark.

Dyrenpark is a beautifully laid out animal park with hundreds of species of animals who are housed in environments identical to their homes in the wild. There are lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! (I couldn't resist that one!) But I was dying to see the wolves who are housed at Dyrenpark being a big wolf fan and owner of a couple of dogs with a little wolf in them. On the way to the wolves, we walked all over the place seeing many deer and other forest creatures. So beautiful, and I was happy to get some great close-up shots of the deer as they were feeding off a water tube. Finally, we made it to the wolf's lair, but the lazy bums were sleeping inside their caves. Bummer!

After seeing most of the zoo and the disappointment of seeing Loki and Katie's Norwegian relatives, we headed to the petting zoo and amusement park. There, we fed and petted a bunch of goats and sheep and saw a mini Norwegian Village. There is also a Pirate show that is something like Las Vegas's Treasure Island Pirate extravaganza that we caught before going to lunch.

Dyrenpark has many restaurants that one can eat at, and we chose a pizza place for lunch. By the time lunch arrived, Jon Axel was chomping at the bit to go swimming at the big pool and waterpark at Dyrenpark. He was told by his father, Jon Andre, to be patient and when we finished lunch, we would take him to the pool. So after lunch, it was off to the pool for the young pup to go for a dip. Many families were there enjoying the waters, but I rested on a lounge chair since the water was too cold for me. Jon Axel had a ball swimming in the pool and playing on the slide for an hour or so, and we adults talked while watching him.

The day ended for all of us about 3pm, and we headed back to Hisoy happy for the day out at the zoo.

Over six million Jewish men, women, and children perished during the Holocaust from 1933-1945. Mostly every country in Europe occupied by the Nazis was affected by the Holocaust in one way or another and most of their Jewish populations perished either by execution, starvation, or by gas in one of the Nazi death camps in Poland or Germany.

Scandinavia had a small Jewish population at the beginning of World War II. Both Denmark and Norway had about 7,000 each and they lived an assimilated life in Norway or Denmark free of the anti-Semitism that plagued the German and other European Jews.

The Danish and Norwegian Jews were pretty much untouched by the Nazi decrees that were put on the Jews of Poland and other countries. But that was to change in 1943. In October 1943, the Nazis started to deport the Danish Jews, but the Danish people heard about the deportation before they were to happen through a German diplomat friendly to the Danish people and cause. By the time the Nazis came to deport the Danish Jews, many of their Christian friends had sent them into hiding while waiting for safe passage to Sweden. Within a few days, 7,200 Danish Jews were sent to safety in Sweden by boat thanks to the Danish Resistance. Only about 400 Danish Jews were sent to the Theresienstadt Concentration camp in Czechoslovakia and were fairly treated there until liberation in 1945.

The Norwegian Jews were not as lucky as their Danish counterparts. The Germans deported over 3,000 Norwegian Jews to Auschwitz in 1943 via ship and train. Half of these people perished in the gas chambers including 74 children. There is a display in the Norwegian Resistance Museum that is a reminder of these children and the 1.5 million children who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

The most tragic story of the Norwegian Holocaust was the deportation of the 770 Jewish residents of Trondheim in Northern Norway. They were deported to a Norwegian Concentration camp where they awaited ships to take them to Germany. From Germany they were sent by train to Auschwitz where most of the Trondheim Jewish Population perished in the gas chambers.

A small and moving display is on display at the Resistance Museum about the Holocaust in Norway. It was very moving to me, and although thousands of Norwegian Jews perished in the camps, they are not forgotten by the Norwegian people.

I spent a month in Norway in June and July 1995. I spent a week in Oslo followed by two weeks in the Sorlandet. Then I returned to Oslo and spent my remaining week in Oslo checking out places I had missed the first time around. I was staying at a friend's place in the Bissel District, which is famous for its annual track meet that was going on at the time of my visit, but I didn't go to any of the competitions.

I kept busy by walking around town during the day and sightseeing (I came home to Idaho 10 pounds lighter than when I left) and spending time with my pen-friend. One night after dinner, we went for a walk to the Oslo Fjord and got on a ferryboat. Per thought it would be a great idea to visit Hovedoy Island (ho-vah-day-ah), one of the tiny islands in the Oslofjord. I was game for seeing new places, and I enjoyed the ferryboat ride over to Hovedoy Island and saw some beautiful scenery along the way.

About a half-hour after boarding the ferry in Oslo, we arrived at Hovedoy Island and got off on the small dock that the island uses for the ferryboats. Per and I got on the trail surrounding the island and started to walk and sightsee.

Hovedoy Island isn't a big tourist trap, and it has managed to retain its quaint and ancient buildings and has not been commercialized. Hovedoy Island has an old theater that still gives performances, and I saw a wooden poster on the theater door that was hand-painted in Toll, the Scandinavian painting style that is seen all over Norway and the Norwegian immigrant population in Minnesota. So detailed and beautiful.

After the theater, Per and I arrived at the islands big attraction, an ancient 12th Century monastery that was before us in ruins. Until the 16th Century, Norway, like many other European nations, was Catholic and monasteries were all over the country. After Martin Luther broke from the Catholic Church in Germany and founded his own religion, Protestantism and Lutheranism, Norway eventually became predominately Lutheran and remains so today.

The monastery was a beautiful ruin in stone that took up a lot of land on the island. Per and I spent a good 20 minutes walking around the ruins and climbing up on the stone foundation.

After the monastery, Per and I got back on the trail to complete the circle around the island. Hovedoy Island is also home to an old home that is known as The Captain's House that was home to a ship's captain in the island's heyday, and The Old Armory still stands on Hovedoy Island in its brick splendor.

Sadly the trip to Hovedoy Island had to come to an end, and we had to catch the ferry back to Oslo. A tour of Hovedoy Island is well worth your time, and will take about three hours including the round trip ferryboat ride. Looking at my pictures from my trip to Hovedoy, I wonder why I hadn't included this hidden Norwegian gem in previous journals, but I am happy to share it with you today.