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'', '' no, Falstad fangeleir'', construction=1895-1910 Falstad concentration camp ( Norwegian: ''Falstad fangeleir'',
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
: ''SS-Strafgefangenenlager Falstad'') was situated in the village of Ekne in what was the municipality of Skogn (now in the municipality of
Levanger Levanger is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the district of Innherred. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Levanger. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Alstadhaug, Ekn ...
in
Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...
county) in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. It was used mostly for
political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their politics, political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, al ...
s from
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
-occupied territories.


Falstad boarding school

The boarding school for boys at Falstad was founded as part of the general movement in Europe generally and Norway in particular, to reform the
penal system A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
, especially for children. Prison director Anders Daae took the initiative in founding a private institution in
Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...
, to be modeled after similar schools in Europe. He raised funds primarily through the ''Trondhjems Brændevinssamlag'' (Trondheim liquor cooperative) and ''Trondhjems Sparebank'' (Trondheim Savings Bank) and acquired the farm known as Nedre Falstad for in 1895, along with the farm buildings. It was explicitly originated to serve the needs of the "misguided" ( no, vanartede) rather than criminal youth through education, labor, and a "Christian spirit." The main building burned down the same year the institution was established. New buildings were constructed, and in 1910, the
Norwegian government The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the prime minister of Norway. Legislative power ...
took over the operations of the school. In 1921, there was another fire, and the new brick structures that followed were based on 19th century prison designs, with a courtyard in the middle of a rectangular building.


Use as a prison camp

Nazi German authorities first visited Falstad in August 1941 with the hope of making it a center for the
Lebensborn Lebensborn e.V. (literally: "Fount of Life") was an SS-initiated, state-supported, registered association in Nazi Germany with the stated goal of increasing the number of children born who met the Nazi standards of "racially pure" and "healt ...
program in Norway, but found it unsuitable for this task. However, they quickly decided to put it to use as a prison camp in September 1941. The inhabitants of Ekne were put under severe restrictions, and the first prisoners arrived—about 170
Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard ...
who had volunteered and then reneged on being a part of the Todt Organisation. The Danish inmates spent three months in the camp, using the time to start construction of the
barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is ...
fence and watch towers. Within the command structure of the German occupying authorities in Norway, Falstad came under the civilian authority of ''
Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Ger ...
'' Josef Terboven through Wilhelm Rediess, who was in charge of all German police, including the ''SS'' and ''
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...
'', and Heinrich Fehlis, who was "''Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst''," conveniently abbreviated to ''BdS''. For reasons that remain unclear, Falstad was part of the Fifth Section, known as the "''Kriminalpolizei''," or criminal police. For all practical purposes, however, Falstad became the personal prison of Gerhard Flesch, who was the leader of the regional ''
Einsatzkommando During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellec ...
'' V, with the title ''KdS'' Drontheim. The camp inmate population grew steadily, new buildings were erected. Prison barracks were built southeast of the main building, utility buildings were constructed around the center, and the commander's quarters were erected nearby on the other side of the river. In all, the grounds were monitored from three watchtowers.These later buildings have all been demolished, see Reitan (1999) The camp authorities burned what documents they could before the liberation of 1945, but it is estimated that at least 4,500 prisoners passed through Falstad. Citizens of at least 13 countries were among these inmates. Although the camp was intended for political prisoners, several thousand
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
(POWs) were kept there. Most of them were sent to other camps in Germany or Poland, or to
Grini concentration camp '', '' no, Grini fangeleir'', location= Bærum, Viken, Norway, location map=Viken#Norway, built by=Norway, original use=Constructed as a women's prison, operated by=Nazi Germany, notable inmates=List of Grini prisoners, liberated by=Harry Söderm ...
, in Norway. The camp also became notorious for its use as a transit camp for the deportation of Norwegian Jews to Auschwitz. Forty-seven Jewish men were imprisoned at Falstad at one point or another. One, Ephraim Wolff Koritzinsky, died of cancer at
Levanger Hospital Levanger Hospital ( no, Sykehuset Levanger) is a hospital located in the town of Levanger in the municipality of Levanger in Trøndelag county, Norway. The hospital is located along the road Kirkegata on the west side of the town of Levanger. A ...
on 15 May 1942. At least eight were murdered at Falstad. The main characteristic of the camp was forced, hard, and largely meaningless labor. Degradations and abuse were commonplace, particularly under the administration of ''SS-Hauptscharführer'' Gogol and Edward F. Lambrecht, a prison guard known among the prisoners as ''Gråbein'' (Grayleg)—an appellation used in reference to wolves.


Executions in Falstadskogen

The camp commanders used the nearby forest (Falstadskogen) as a site for extrajudicial executions of POWs, and following show trials of political and Jewish prisoners. The first executions took place on 7 March 1942, when Olav Sverre Benjaminsen, Abel Lazar Bernstein, David Isaksen, Wulf Isaksen, and David Wolfsohn were shot. All of these, except Benjaminsen, were Jewish. In June 1942, Ljuban Vukovic, a Yugoslav POW, was made the first grave digger in the forest. He survived and became an important witness in the post-war trials. On 6 October 1942, the Nazi authorities imposed
martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...
on sections of central Norway, and at least 170 non-Norwegian prisoners and 34 Norwegian political prisoners were killed in the forest (Falstadskogen) just south of Falstad. Among these were Hirsch Komissar, who was Jewish. On 13 November 1942, Moritz Abrahamsen, Kalman Glick, and Herman Schidorsky, all Jewish, were killed. On 16 February 1943, Toralf Berg—a resistance fighter—was also executed. During the summer of 1943, a change in the command of the camp led to improved conditions for the remaining prisoners. Throughout all this, more than 150 unnamed POWs were shot in the forest. During 4–5 May 1945, the camp authorities sought to
exhume Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
and hide the bodies of their victims, sinking about 25 in the
fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...
near the camp. Efforts to find, exhume, identify and bury the victims are ongoing. The original estimate of 202 dead is considered low.


Commanders and officials

* There were six camp commandants at Falstad during the war: Paul Schöning, Paul Gogol, Scharschmidt (first name unknown), Werner Jeck, Georg Bauer, and Karl Denk. None of these were prosecuted for war crimes in Norway, though Denk may have faced trial in Germany for unrelated charges. * Gerhard Flesch, ''Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD Trondheim'' 1941 to 1945 was sentenced to death during the
Legal purge in Norway after World War II The purge in Norway after World War II was a purge that took place between May 1945 and August 1948 against anyone who was deemed to have collaborated with the German occupation of the country. Several thousand Norwegians and foreign citizens w ...
. * Walter Hollack, ''Gestapo'' officer who acted as "prosecutor" during the tribunals in 1942, was sentenced to a life term of hard labor, but was pardoned in 1953 and deported on 22 June that year. * Hans Roth, section leader and for a short period executive officer, noted for his proclivity for beating up prisoners, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, but was pardoned and deported on 16 June 1950. *
Oscar Hans Oscar Hans (born 6 February 1910, date of death unknown) was a German war criminal, leader of a SS-Sonderkommando during the occupation of Norway. He was born in Volmeringen, Lorraine, German Empire. Hans led the execution of more than 300 perso ...
, leader of the ''
Sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ''special unit'') were work units made up of German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber vict ...
'' and commander of the firing squads that killed prisoners, was originally sentenced to death, but this was commuted by the Norwegian supreme court. He was deported to Germany on 10 December 1947. * Josef Schlossmacher, ''Gestapo'' official in Trondheim, was incriminated on several aspects of the executions at Falstad, but charges against him were dropped. *
Julius Nielson Julius Hans Christian Nielson (26 October 1898 – July 10, 1948) was a German SS officer attached to the Gestapo. He was stationed in Norway during World War II and worked as the Commander of the Security Police and the SD in Trondheim. He wa ...
, a ''Gestapo'' official who played an active role in capturing and sending prisoners to Falstad, was sentenced to death and executed in Trondheim on 10 July 1948.


After the war

After the war the camp was used for prisoners close to the defeated Nazi rule, under the name ''Innherrad forced labour camp''. Between 1951 and 1992, the camp once again functioned as a school, this time for the mentally impaired. It went through a number of name changes during this time. In August 2000,
Stiftelsen Falstadsenteret
' (The Falstad Centre Foundation) was established as a "national centre for the education and documentation of the history of imprisonment in the Second World War, humanitarian international law and human rights."


See also

* List of Nazi-German concentration camps *
German Resistance to Nazism Many individuals and groups in Germany that were opposed to the Nazi regime engaged in active resistance, including attempts to remove Adolf Hitler from power by assassination or by overthrowing his established regime. German resistance was n ...
*
Glossary of Nazi Germany This is a list of words, terms, concepts and slogans of Nazi Germany used in the historiography covering the Nazi regime. Some words were coined by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi Party members. Other words and concepts were borrowed and appropriated ...
*
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
* List of books about Nazi Germany * List of concentration and internment camps * Nazi concentration camps in Norway *
Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
*
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
*
Nazi songs Nazi songs are songs and marches created by the Nazi Party. In modern Germany, the public singing or performing of songs exclusively associated with the Nazi Party is now illegal. Background There is often confusion between songs written specifica ...
*
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...


References

* * * * * * * * * Wilfried Wiedemann / Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn (ed.): ''Landschaft und Gedächtnis. Bergen-Belsen, Esterwegen, Falstad, Majdanek''. München 2011. English and German,


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falstad Concentration Camp Nazi concentration camps in Norway 1941 establishments in Norway Organizations established in 1941 Levanger